Funding Opportunities

EDA has authority to provide grants to meet the full range of communities’ and regions’ economic development needs from planning and technical assistance to construction of infrastructure. These grants are made through a series of Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) that can be found on EDA’s website at https://www.eda.gov/funding/funding-opportunities and are designed to support the economic development activities most useful to a community based on its needs and circumstances. EDA funds community or regionally generated ideas and assists communities to advance to the next level of economic development.

This NOFO, which supersedes the FY20 PWEAA NOFO, sets out EDA’s application submission and review procedures for two of EDA’s core economic development programs authorized under the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 3121 et seq.) (PWEDA): (1) Public Works and Economic Development Facilities (Public Works) and (2) Economic Adjustment Assistance (EAA).

EDA supports bottom-up strategies that build on regional assets to spur economic growth and resiliency. EDA encourages its grantees throughout the country to develop initiatives that present new ideas and creative approaches to advance economic prosperity in distressed communities.

Through this NOFO EDA intends to advance general economic development in accordance with EDA’s investment priorities, but also to pursue projects that, where practicable, incorporate specific priorities related to equity, workforce development, and climate change resiliency so that investments can benefit everyone for decades to come.

The Environmental Sustainability program is part of the Environmental Engineering and Sustainability Cluster together with 1) the Environmental Engineering program and 2) the Nanoscale Interactions program. The goal of the Environmental Sustainability program is to promote sustainable engineered systems that support human well-being and that are also compatible with sustaining natural (environmental) systems. These systems provide ecological services vital for human survival. Research efforts supported by the program typically consider long time horizons and may incorporate contributions from the social sciences and ethics. The program supports engineering research that seeks to balance society's need to provide ecological protection and maintain stable economic conditions. There are five principal general research areas that are supported.

Circular Bioeconomy Engineering: This area includes research that enables sustainable societal use of food, energy, water, nitrogen, phosphorus, and materials, with the reduction and eventual elimination of fossil fuel combustion that lacks carbon capture. The program encourages research that helps build the raw material basis for the functioning of society principally on biomass, drawing heavily on sustainable agriculture and forestry. Additionally, material flows must reduce or preferably eliminate waste, with an emphasis on closed-loop or “circular” processing.

Industrial ecology: Topics of interest include advancements in modeling such as life cycle assessment, materials flow analysis, net energy analysis, input/output economic models, and novel metrics for measuring sustainable systems. Innovations in industrial ecology are encouraged.

Green engineering: Research is encouraged to advance the sustainability of manufacturing processes, green buildings, and infrastructure. Many programs in the Engineering Directorate support research in environmentally benign manufacturing or chemical processes. The Environmental Sustainability program supports research that would affect more than one chemical or manufacturing process or that takes a systems or holistic approach to green engineering for infrastructure or green buildings. Improvements in distribution and collection systems that will advance smart growth strategies and ameliorate effects of growth are research areas that are supported by Environmental Sustainability. Innovations in management of stormwater, recycling and reuse of drinking water, and other green engineering techniques to support sustainability may also be fruitful areas for research.

Ecological engineering: Proposals should focus on the engineering aspects of restoring ecological function to natural systems. Engineering research in the enhancement of natural capital to foster sustainable development is encouraged.

Earth systems engineering:Earth systems engineering considers aspects of large-scale engineering research that involve mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation to climate change, and other global concerns.

The California Tahoe Conservancy (Conservancy) leads California's efforts to restore and enhance the extraordinary natural and recreational resources of the Lake Tahoe Basin. The principal goal of the Conservancy's Science and Lake Improvement Account program (SB 630, 2013) is to support near-shore environmental improvement program activities and projects, particularly projects that manage aquatic invasive species or improve public access to sovereign land in Lake Tahoe.More specifically, such projects manage aquatic invasive species, or improve public access to sovereign land in Lake Tahoe, including planning and site improvement or reconstruction projects on public land, and land acquisitions from willing sellers. SB 630 (2013) allocates the Conservancy approximately $350,000 annually. Please contact staff at robert.larsen@resources.ca.gov and 916.402.7508 for more information.

These projects must be consistent with the State’s climate adaptation strategy (Safeguarding California Plan), contribute to the carbon sequestration goals of AB 32, and support WCB’s Strategic Plan. In addition, projects will be consistent with other statewide plans and priorities, including the California Water Action Plan and California State Wildlife Action Plan 2015 Update.

Program funding is directed toward projects that:

Protect and restore ecosystems on natural and working lands to provide climate change adaptation and resilience for wildlife.
Assist natural and working lands managers in implementing practices that provide climate adaptation and resilience.
Increase carbon sequestration in natural and working lands, and provide additional social, economic, and environmental benefits, or "co-benefits".

This program provides affordable funding to develop essential community facilities in rural areas. An essential community facility is defined as a facility that provides an essential service to the local community for the orderly development of the community in a primarily rural area, and does not include private, commercial or business undertakings.

The Community Heart & Soul Seed Grant Program provides $10,000 in funding for resident-driven groups in small cities and towns to start the Community Heart & Soul model. Grant funding requires a $10,000 cash match from the participating municipality or a partnering organization.

Mini Grants are small grants of up to $2,000 that are available year-round to support innovative public programs that increase understanding of the human experience. Applicants may request up to $2,000 in Mini Grants per fiscal year (November 1 – October 31). Mini Grants can be used for capacity-building, program planning, and implementation of programs. Capacity-building may include training and education for constituents to help plan and/or implement public humanities engagements. The applicant organization’s budget must not exceed $500,000. Larger institutions must partner with a smaller institution that will lead the program or project. For more information please see the Arizona Humanities Grant Guidelines.

This program helps eligible communities prepare, or recover from, an emergency that threatens the availability of safe, reliable drinking water.

Implementation grants are awarded to support the one-time third-party start-up costs for Sustained Collaborations. Implementation grants may be used to pay for the costs of lawyers, accountants, and consultants, lease-breaking, moving costs, technology integration, severance, collateral materials (new business cards, signs, etc.), and other one-time costs for activities necessary to complete the transactions. Grants may not be used to cover staff time.

Exploration grants are available to support the one-time third-party costs associated with exploring the feasibility of a proposed transaction. Exploration grants may be used to pay for external facilitators, consultants, offsite meetings for relevant Board members and staff, etc. Grants may not be used to cover staff time.