Opportunities for Funding

This funding opportunity is to fund a demonstration project addressing the National Emergency Communications Plan (NECP) implementation gaps and rural medical communications. Emergency responders are not always trained for the types of incidents they encounter but can share valuable information and provide situational awareness during response and recovery efforts. Specifically, medical providers require communications systems and procedures to transmit patient information and coordinate an influx of patients following large-scale disasters or ongoing crises. As the whole community increases its engagement during emergencies and as technology advances, the need for medical communications and trained personnel increases to ensure coordinated and effective response.

In addition to evolving technology and responders, the NECP recommends improved planning and coordination across the Emergency Communications Ecosystem and across geographies, especially in rural areas. CISA recognizes the impact of geography on medical response and interoperable communications. Rural communities are often underserved regions with several health disparities, such as high mortality rates and cardiovascular diseases. Due to the dire health needs of rural communities, coordinated emergency response is often provided by a variety of medical providers and non-medical emergency responders.

To implement the NECP, CISA must continue to explore ways to improve communications among emergency responders and medical personnel, especially in rural communities. Thus, CISA is reestablishing the Rural Emergency Medical Communications Demonstration Project (REMCDP).

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) includes historic tax provisions that will accelerate the deployment of clean energy, clean vehicles, clean buildings, and clean manufacturing, and save communities money on their energy bills. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is partnering with the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to support implementation of several of these tax provisions.

Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) Elective Pay (often called “direct pay”) provisions, tax-exempt and governmental entities can, for the first time, receive a payment equal to the full value of tax credits for building qualifying clean energy projects. This new mechanism presents a potentially transformative opportunity for communities and non-profits, including many DOE grant and loan recipients, to directly benefit from federal tax credits for clean energy. In addition, the IRA modified the 179d energy efficient commercial building property tax deduction to increase the incentive for energy efficient investments and expand accessibility to tax-exempt entities. However, tax-exempt entities affected by these historic provisions (including state, territory, and local governments; Tribes; and non-profits) do not have significant experience with tax filings and often have limited capacity to dedicate to navigating IRS regulations and filing processes. This funding opportunity aims to address this knowledge gap, supporting the development of additional resources to guide communities as they claim IRA tax credits through Elective Pay and complete projects that create good-paying jobs, lower energy costs, and advance an equitable transition to a clean and resilient energy system.

The Elective Pay – Blueprints for Communities opportunity was launched in July 2024 to support the development of additional resources for these communities as they plan and execute projects which are eligible for clean energy tax credits through Elective Pay or the 179d energy efficient commercial building property tax deduction. The opportunity envisions blueprints as documents that will help guide interested entities through all stages of a sample project, identifying important considerations, opportunities, and restrictions along the road to claiming Elective Pay. Blueprints developed through this funding opportunity will address multiple topics central to planning and implementing an eligible project, potentially including but not limited to the following: building a project team; funding and financing; designing an eligible project; documentation and record keeping; tax year determination; prevailing wage, apprenticeship, and domestic content requirements; IRS pre-registration; and tax return filing.

This funding opportunity is managed by ENERGYWERX in partnership with DOE, a collaboration made possible through an innovative Partnership Intermediary Agreement set up by the DOE's Office of Technology Transitions. This agreement enables ENERGYWERX to broaden DOE’s engagement with innovative organizations and non-traditional partners, facilitating the rapid development, scaling, and deployment of clean energy solutions.

Applications for this funding opportunity opened on July 7, 2024, and will close at 3:00 p.m. (Eastern) on  August 8, 2024. DOE anticipates that applicants will be notified of their selection by August 2024 and that this engagement will run through February 2025.

Water Power Innovation Network The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) is issuing this $4.8 million funding opportunity announcement (FOA) “Water Power Innovation Network” to support business creation, entrepreneurship, and regional innovation for water power systems and solutions. WPTO enables research, development, and testing of emerging technologies to advance marine energy as well as next-generation hydropower and pumped storage systems for a flexible, reliable grid.

Through this FOA, WPTO seeks to fund new and/or expanded incubator or accelerator programs that enable entrepreneurship and accelerate water power innovation, business creation, and growth in communities and regions throughout the United States.

Through this FOA, new and/or expanded incubators and accelerators in water power will be able to collaborate with one another and build a stronger water power innovation network in support of accelerating water power technologies to market. Topic Area 1: Water Power Incubation and Acceleration. This topic area will fund programs that accelerate the commercialization and adoption of water power systems and solutions through incubation and acceleration programming and services that support entrepreneurs and small businesses in marine energy and/or hydropower. Questions regarding the FOA must be submitted to WPTOFOA@ee.doe.gov. To view the entire FOA document, visit the EERE Exchange Website at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov.

The California Climate Crisis Act (AB 1279, 2022) established targets to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 85% below 1990 levels and reach carbon neutrality by 2045.

The Department of Forestry and Fire Management – Urban and Community Forestry program is excited to announce the next round for the Tree Resource Enhancement and Engagement (TREE) Grant Program! This program is open ONLY to currently recognized Tree City USA, Tree Campus USA, and Tree Campus K-12 program participants and community organizations directly serving recognized Tree Cities and Campuses.

The purpose of this program is to support the management, improvement, and/or conservation of community forests by recognized Tree Cities and Tree Campuses. Funds may be used to promote and enhance the quality of Arizona's urban and community forests, and may also be used for engaging decision-makers through urban forest management initiatives.

The goals of this program are to:

Assist recognized Arizona Tree Cities and Tree Campuses in initiating or significantly improving their efforts to care for the community forest, including assistance for achieving canopy cover goals
Encourage recognized Tree Cities and Tree Campuses to develop and maintain a sustainable, balanced, and comprehensive community forestry program that is based on a current tree inventory and managed with the guidance of a community forestry professional
Promote community forestry benefits through the proper management and care of trees in Arizona's recognized Tree City and Tree Campus communities, including through harvesting programs
Eligible activities, listed in order of priority, are:

Development and adoption of a written community tree management plan or community readiness plan
Tree planting projects as part of a comprehensive management program to meet state, county, or community canopy coverage goals
Community tree inventory support
Removal of hazardous trees
Pruning according to American National Standards Institute (ANSI) A300 specifications (without topping)
Municipal tree ordinance development by a certified forestry professional
Training of city employees and volunteers to improve community forestry practices
Initial costs of certification for in-house employees by the International Society of Arboriculture
Other activities that meet needs identified in the Arizona Forest Action Plan
All projects involving tree planting must include a five-year maintenance plan. All trees purchased must meet the American Standard for Nursery Stock and Arizona Nursery Association standards. Planted trees must be guaranteed for one year after planting. All hazardous trees must be identified by a certified arborist, forester, or similarly qualified person.

Eligible costs include personnel/labor, operating costs and supplies, travel, contractual services, equipment, and indirect costs.

Eligibility is limited to currently recognized Tree City USA and Tree Campus USA program participants or community organizations directly serving Tree City/Campus participants.

HUD is funding studies to improve knowledge of housing-related health and safety hazards and to improve or develop new hazard assessment and control methods, with a focus on lead and other key residential health and safety hazards. HUD is especially interested in applications that will advance our knowledge of priority healthy homes issues by addressing important gaps in science related to the accurate and efficient identification of hazards and the implementation of cost-effective hazard mitigation. This includes studies using implementation sciences in identifying specific conditions under which residential environmental hazard interventions, that have been shown to be effective in specific housing types and residential settings, can be assessed in other contexts.

The overarching goal of the WCAHS Pilot/Feasibility Program is to encourage the development of creative research projects while nurturing researchers—particularly early-career and under-represented researchers—interested in improving agricultural health and safety for the western U.S. It is designed to fund short-term research projects to support the collection of preliminary data, attract new investigators to WCAHS and the field of agricultural health and safety, facilitate the exploration of innovative research directions, and engage and mentor early stage investigators as defined by the NIH.

The Arizona Iceberg Lettuce Research Council (“AILRC”) has established a Grant program to assist Arizona iceberg lettuce producers in identifying solutions to production issues. All research findings, abstracts, and reports resulting from funds awarded through this grant process shall be made available to Arizona iceberg lettuce producers through the AILRC. The AILRC is exempt from the provisions of Title 41, Chapter 24, Arizona Revised Statutes, relating to grants pursuant to A.R.S. § 41-2706(B)(6) and instead awards grants according to the competitive grant solicitation requirements of A.A.C. R3-9-106.

With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (Act) of 2022, Bureau of Reclamation’s (Reclamation) Native American and International Affairs Office (NAIAO) will carry out a Domestic Water Supplies for Disadvantaged Communities Program to assist Federally recognized Tribes or Tribal Organizations, as defined by 25 U.S.C. 5304(e), in the 17 western states for the planning, design, or construction of water projects to provide domestic water supplies to communities or households that do not have reliable access to domestic water supplies.

The primary purpose of the Tribal Domestic Water Supplies Program is to fund projects for domestic water supplies to existing Tribal households or communities that do not have reliable access to domestic water supplies. Domestic water supplies are for human use and consumption. Domestic water supplies for communities include a communal benefit (e.g., school, hospital, nursing home, etc.).

SUMMARY INFORMATION
Federal Awarding Agency Name: U.S. Department of Agriculture – Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
Notice of Funding Opportunity Title: Wetland Mitigation Banking Program
Notice of Funding Opportunity Number: USDA-NRCS-NHQ-WMBP-24-NOFO0001315
Assistance Listing: This program is listed in the Assistance Listings (previously referred to as the Catalog of Federal Financial Assistance) on Sam.gov under 10.933 Wetland Mitigation Banking Program (WMBP) which can be found at: https://sam.gov/content/home.

SAM is a web-based, government-wide application that collects, validates, stores, and disseminates business information about the federal government's trading partners in support of the contract awards, grants, and electronic payment processes.

Notice of Funding Opportunity Summary
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) delivers conservation solutions so agricultural producers can protect natural resources and feed a growing world. NRCS provides leadership and funding to ensure that all programs and services are made accessible to all customers, fairly and equitably, with emphasis on reaching historically underserved farmers and ranchers and Native American tribal governments and organizations. NRCS is committed to advancing equity, justice, and equal opportunity to ensure equitable access to programs and services available on private agricultural and forest lands.

NRCS is announcing the availability of up to $7 million in WMBP grant funds for the development and establishment of mitigation banks and banking opportunities solely for agricultural producers with wetlands subject to the wetland conservation compliance provisions of the Food Security Act of 1985 (as amended). WMBP is a competitive grants program accepting proposals from: federally recognized Native American tribal governments; state and local units of government; for-profit entities; nonprofits with or without a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS other than institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; and public and state-controlled institutions of higher education. Applications will be accepted from eligible entities in any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Caribbean (Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands), and the Pacific Islands (Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). Priority will be given to banks in states with significant numbers of individual wetlands, wetland acres, and conservation compliance requests. Based on NRCS data, these states are: Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Ohio.

For new users of Grants.gov, see Section D. of the full Notice of Funding Opportunity for information about steps required before submitting an application via Grants.gov.

Key Dates
Applicants must submit their applications via Grants.gov by 11:59 pm Eastern Time on August 2, 2024. For technical issues with Grants.gov, contact Grants.gov Applicant Support at 1-800-518-4726 or support@grants.gov. Awarding agency staff cannot support applicants regarding Grants.gov accounts.
For inquiries specific to the content of the NFO requirements, contact the federal awarding agency contact (section G of this NFO). Please limit questions to those regarding specific information contained in this NFO (such as dates, page numbers, clarification of discrepancies, etc.). Questions related to eligibility, or the merits of a specific proposal will not be addressed. A webinar for potential WMBP applicants is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. (EST) on June 12, 2024. You can participate in the webinar through the following options:

Microsoft Teams: WMBP Webinar Link
Meeting ID: 235 488 356 751
Passcode: tykaMc
Call-In: +1 (202) 650-0123
PIN: 820 732 935#
The agency anticipates making selections by November 2024, and expects to execute awards by February 2025. These dates are estimates and are subject to change.

Federal Funding Floor and Ceiling Amounts
The estimated funding floor for this opportunity is $100,000 and the estimated funding ceiling is $1 million. The funding floor means the minimum agreement funding amount for the Federal share per agreement awarded. The ceiling is the maximum agreement funding amount for the Federal share per agreement awarded. These numbers refer to the total agreement amount, not any specific budget period.

Federal Financial Assistance Training
The funding available through this NFO is Federal financial assistance. Grants 101 Training is highly recommended for those seeking knowledge about Federal financial assistance. The training is free and available to the public via https://www.cfo.gov/resources/federal-financial-assistance-training/.
It consists of five modules covering each of the following topics: 1) laws, regulations, and guidance; 2) financial assistance mechanisms; 3) uniform guidance administrative requirements; 4) cost principles; and 5) risk management and single audit. FPAC agencies also apply Federal financial assistance regulations to certain non-assistance awards (e.g., non-assistance cooperative agreements).