Livable Communities Act (LCA) participating communities can apply for grants to support affordable homeownership development, including acquisition and rehabilitation. The application deadline is Oct. 1.
The Affordable Homeownership program awards grants for projects that best meet the following two priorities:
The program supports primarily hard costs related to the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing, including land acquisition. Homeownership grants cannot pay for work done before the grant was awarded, except for land acquisition. Acquisition can be reimbursed if the land was purchased within one year (12 months) of the award.
Eligible uses for Affordable Homeownership grants
The Laura Jane Musser Fund would like to promote mutual understanding and cooperation between groups and citizens of different cultural backgrounds within defined geographical areas through collaborative, cross-cultural exchange projects. Projects must be intercultural and demonstrate intercultural exchange, rather than focused on just one culture. Local units of government or eligible to apply. Proposals will be accepted starting Sept. 16, 2024, and must be submitted online by Oct.16, 2024. Funding decisions will be announced by February 2025.
The application period is now open for the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program. The goal of the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program is to fund initiatives that ensure communities have the access and skills to fully participate in the digital world, regardless of their background or circumstances. This program will complement digital equity activities funded by the Capacity Grant Program. Applications must be received by Sept. 23.
Who will be eligible for funding?
The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) State Aid for Local Transportation (SALT) is kicking off the 2024 Active Transportation (AT) and Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Infrastructure Solicitations on Sept. 23, 2024. Both solicitations will run concurrently and provide up to $16.252 million and $8.5 million, respectively, for funding eligible bicycle and pedestrian improvements. Improvements funded by these grants will require a useful life of at least 10 years and must be ready for construction in 2025 or 2026.
Strong projects will:
The first month of the solicitation schedule will be a period of submittals for Letters of Intent. Applicant entities can, but are not required, to submit potential projects to allow state aid staff to provide feedback on application strength and readiness. The full application submittal period will begin on Nov. 4, 2024, and close on Jan. 17, 2025. Project selections will be announced on or before April 30, 2025.
The Minnesota Legislature enacted a one-time Emergency Ambulance Service Aid appropriation of $24,000,000 for aids payable in 2024. The application window for eligible ambulance services to apply for ambulance aid funds is now open. Applications are due to the Minnesota Emergency Medical Service Regulatory Board and the Minnesota Department of Revenue by Sept. 16.
Minnesota Department of Commerce is seeking applications for the Minnesota State Competitiveness Fund.
This legislatively created program is intended to increase the competitiveness of Minnesota in securing federal funding from the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Awards from these federal programs is critically important to ensuring the state’s economy is strong and growing.
The Minnesota State Legislature allocated $100 million for the Department of Commerce to award grant funding to eligible Minnesota entities and projects to enhance the likelihood of these entities receiving federal funding awards under the IIJA and IRA programs. Projects selected for SCF matching funds must demonstrate that the project will help meet the state’s clean energy and energy-related climate goals through renewable energy development, energy conservation, efficiency, or energy-related greenhouse gas reduction benefits.
The legislation stipulates:
Proposals are due Sept. 6, 2024.
The Railroad Crossing Elimination (RCE) Program provides federal funds for highway-rail crossing improvement projects and studies that focus on improving the safety and mobility of people and goods. Projects will improve the American rail infrastructure to enhance rail safety, improve the health and safety of communities, eliminate highway-rail and pathway-rail grade crossing that are frequently blocked by trains, and reduce the impacts that freight movement and railroad operations may have on underserved communities. Cities are eligible to apply.
Eligible projects include:
Application deadline is Sept. 23, 2024
The State Housing Tax Credit Program and Contribution Fund (SHTC Contribution Program) is a new statewide program that provides funding to help finance affordable multifamily and single-family housing developments and is funded entirely by taxpayer contributions. Funds contributed to the General Contribution Pool are awarded through a competitive request for proposals (RFP) process. Cities are eligible to apply.
Eligible uses of the funds include:
Minnesota Housing is now accepting applications for the 2024 SHTC Contribution Program. Applications are due Sept. 19.
The Bush Foundation’s Community Innovation (CI) grant program is a flexible program that invests in great ideas and the people who power them across our region. The program aims to:
The Minnesota Housing Partnership (MHP) is offering free assistance to rural communities to establish Local Housing Trust Funds (LHTF). Funds can be used for education on Local Housing Trust Funds, as well as implementation of LHTF programs and community engagement activities.
In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature appropriated $4.8 million to a Local Housing Trust Fund (LHTF) State Match Program; with $1 million appropriated in a prior year, available funds for the state match program total $5.8 million. An application for state match funds is likely to be released in late summer or early fall.
Cities, counties, tribes, and other government entities in Greater Minnesota can apply for funds for transportation infrastructure projects on state highways that support economic development through the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT).
MnDOT’s Transportation and Economic Development (TED) program is a competitive funding program designed to help generate economic benefits through investment in transportation infrastructure. In this round of the TED program, $4.445 million is available in Greater Minnesota for projects in calendar years 2025-2027. Funding available under the TED program can only be used on trunk highway eligible projects. Under this competitive solicitation, project points are awarded based on contributions to transportation and economic development with additional considerations for non-MnDOT funding and a project risk assessment.
To be considered for funding, interested agencies may first submit an expression of interest form. District staff will then work with applicants to review the project and help them submit an application. Expressions of interest are requested by July 8, 2024. Full applications are due by Sept. 9, 2024.
The Safety Grant Program awards funds up to $10,000 to qualifying employers for projects designed to reduce the risk of injury and illness to their workers.
To qualify, an employer must meet several conditions, including but not limited to:
To qualify, the project must be supported by all public entities involved and comply with federal, state, and local regulations where applicable.
Businesses that are the current focus of the Minnesota OSHA Workplace Safety Consultation strategic plan will be given added priority. If your grant is approved, you will be notified in writing of the specific approval. Whether we approve your grant application or not, in no way diminishes, delays, or absolves you of any obligation to abate safety and health hazards. When a project is complete, the applicant must submit a certificate of completion form, with invoices and proof of payment, to the grants administrator, to initiate issuance of the grant. An employer that has received a grant for a particular worksite will not be eligible to receive another grant for that worksite during the two years after the date of their award.
The Solar on Public Buildings Grant Program will equip cities, towns, counties, and other local governments and Tribal Nations to lower utilities costs, increase energy independence, expand the clean energy workforce, and take essential action to address climate change.
$4.3 million in state funding will be distributed to local governments to build solar arrays (system size up to 40 kilowatts) across Xcel Energy territory in Minnesota. These grants can be paired with federal clean energy tax credits now available to local governments.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP) provides loan and grant funding to deliver energy efficiency and electrification improvements to HUD-assisted housing, which can fund retrofitting properties up to $40,000-$80,000 per unit. HUD is accepting applications on a rolling basis, two will be occurring in 2024. Funded under the Inflation Reduction Act, the GRRP is the first HUD program to invest simultaneously in energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions reductions, energy generation, and climate resilience strategies specifically in HUD-assisted multifamily housing.
Has your city applied for or is thinking about applying for federal energy-related Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) or Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) discretionary grant funding? Minnesota Cities are now eligible to apply for a portion of the $100 million Minnesota Department of Commerce State Competitiveness Fund for grants that seek to enhance the likelihood of receiving federal funding awards under the IIJA and IRA programs. Grants can be awarded up to $15 million to assist with federal funding matching requirements.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MNDOT) IIJA Technical Assistance Grant Program is now open. $2 Million in state funds is available to qualifying local units of government and tribal governments that seek to submit an application for a federal discretionary grant for a transportation purposes.
State technical assistance funds can be used to hire a consultant for identification of available grants, grant writing, analysis, data collection, technical review, legal interpretations, planning, pre-engineering, application finalization, and similar activities. Learn more and apply for an IIJA Technical Assistance Grant.
The state’s IT agency, Minnesota IT Services (MNIT), in partnership with the Minnesota Cybersecurity Task Force recently released the Whole-of-State Cybersecurity Plan that will be used to implement $23.5 million of funding from the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program and the Minnesota Legislature.
All state and local government entities are eligible to participate in the SLCGP, including:
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is accepting requests for technical assistance for the Thriving Communities technical assistance program. This funding will help local governments ensure housing needs are considered as part of their infrastructure plans. To be eligible, jurisdictions must be a unit of general local government that is receiving federal transportation funding to support a project that coordinates transportation and housing plans, programs, or investments to benefit residents and businesses located in a disadvantaged community. Priority will be given to jurisdictions with populations of less than 250,000 people, as well as to those receiving certain Department of Transportation competitive funds. Requests will be reviewed as they are received, on a rolling basis, beginning on March 15.
Residential Retrofits for Energy Equity (R2E2) will provide deep technical assistance to state, local, and tribal governments as well as community-based organizations to jumpstart energy upgrades for single family and multifamily affordable housing, especially in frontline communities. These retrofits will lower utility bills, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve residents’ health, create good-paying local jobs, and help mitigate racial inequity. R2E2 will kick off with training sessions in January for state, local, and community teams on scaling up building energy retrofits and leveraging the unprecedented federal funding available from COVID-19 relief programs, the bipartisan infrastructure law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and other sources. R2E2 is a partnership of the American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Elevate, Emerald Cities Collaborative, and HR&A Advisors, with People’s Climate Innovation Center advising on centering equity in the project and its outcomes and on facilitating community-driven planning processes.
Low-interest direct loans, grants, or a combination of the two are available to develop essential community facilities (not including private, commercial, or business undertakings) in rural areas through the Community Facilities Direct Loan & Grant program. The program is offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development. Funds can be used to purchase, construct, and/or improve essential community facilities, purchase equipment, and pay related project expenses. Rural areas, including cities, villages, townships, and federally recognized tribal lands, with no more than 20,000 residents according to the latest U.S. Census data, are eligible for this program. Applications for this program are accepted year-round.
The Community Heart & Soul Seed Grant Program provides $10,000 in startup funding for resident-driven groups in small cities and towns to implement the Community Heart & Soul model. Community Heart & Soul engages a motivated and dedicated group of individuals to help your town identify what matters most. The grant program is specifically designed for small cities and towns with populations of 2,500 to 30,000. Grant funding requires a $10,000 cash match from the participating municipality or a partnering organization.