Funding Opportunities

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS or the Agency), a Rural Development (RD) agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), announces the acceptance of applications for Broadband Technical Assistance (BTA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024. Broadband Technical Assistance provides competitive cooperative agreement funding to eligible entities to receive or deliver broadband technical assistance and training that promotes the expansion of broadband. Program funds must be used to support broadband technical assistance activities that promote the expansion of broadband into rural areas. Examples of broadband technical assistance projects may include conducting feasibility studies, completing network designs, and developing broadband financial assistance applications.

The Agency encourages applicants to consider projects that will advance the following key priorities.

Assisting rural communities recover economically through more and better market opportunities and through improved infrastructure;
Ensuring all rural residents have equitable access to RD programs and benefits from RD funded projects; and
Reducing climate pollution and increasing resilience to the impacts of climate change through economic support to rural communities.

All applicants should carefully review and prepare their applications according to instructions in the BTA Application Guide and program resources. This Application Guide and program resources can be found on the BTA website at: https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/telecommunications-programs/b…. Additionally, program requirements can be found in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) available in the Federal Register at https://federalregister.gov/d/2024-13691

The goal of the RAISE program is to fund eligible surface transportation projects that will have a significant local or regional impact that advance the Departmental priorities of safety, equity, climate and sustainability, and workforce development, job quality, and wealth creation, consistent with law, and as described in the Department’s Strategic Plan4 and in executive orders.

The Department seeks to fund projects under the RAISE program that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector; incorporate evidence-based climate resilience measures and features; avoid adverse environmental impacts to air or water quality, wetlands, and endangered species; and address the disproportionate negative environmental impacts of transportation on disadvantaged communities, consistent with Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad (86 FR 7619).

In addition, the Department seeks to award projects under the RAISE program that proactively evaluate whether a project will create proportional impacts to all populations in a project area and increase equitable access to project benefits, consistent with Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government (86 FR 7009). The Department also seeks to award projects that address environmental justice, particularly for communities that have experienced decades of underinvestment and are most impacted by climate change, pollution, and environmental hazards, consistent with Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad (86 FR 7619). The RAISE program advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative which set the goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain climate, clean energy, and other covered Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities.

In addition, the Department intends to use the RAISE program to support the creation of goodpaying jobs with the free and fair choice to join a union and the incorporation of strong labor standards and training and placement programs, especially registered apprenticeships, in project planning stages, consistent with Executive Order 14025, Worker Organizing and Empowerment (86 FR 22829), and Executive Order 14052, Implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (86 FR 64335). The Department also intends to use the RAISE program to support wealth creation, consistent with the Department's Equity Action Plan, through the inclusion of local inclusive economic development and entrepreneurship such as the utilization of Disadvantaged Business Enterprises or 8(a) firms. The BIL included provisions for Metropolitan Planning Organizations to consider integrating transportation planning, housing, employment opportunities, and economic development strategies. 5 The Department strongly encourages applicants to utilize these new planning coordination opportunities in their proposed projects and describe them in their applications. Note, the RAISE program can only fund the surface transportation infrastructure elements of a project that may also include housing, employment opportunities, and economic development strategies.

Section E of this NOFO, which outlines FY 2024 RAISE Grant merit criteria, describes the process for selecting projects that further these goals. Section F.3 describes progress and performance reporting requirements for selected projects, including the relationship between that reporting and the program’s selection criteria. The FY 2024 RAISE NOFO includes a Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods (RCN) Program Extra element. Applications for the FY 2024 RAISE grant program that have identical project scope to applications that were submitted and evaluated under the FY 2023 Reconnecting Communities Neighborhoods Program competition and received the designation of “RCN Program Extra,” will automatically advance for second-tier analysis if they receive an overall merit rating of “Recommended” and have at least one “High” rating in a priority criterion. See Section E.2. The Department expects projects that rated well under the FY 2023 RCN Program criteria will do well under the FY 2024 RAISE program criteria.

This Innovation Challenge seeks to fund research projects and teams that will, in accordance with USDA’s S&RS, drive U.S. agricultural science successfully and cooperatively forward into the next generation of sustainable, resilient, and healthy food systems. With a focus on the next generation of research, this opportunity emphasizes providing resources to support highly creative and highly promising early-career researchers. Proposals will undergo an administrative review followed by a technical peer review.

Top proposals will then be shared with the Innovation Challenge Steering Committee. Based on the technical peer review and the Innovation Challenge Steering Committee review, proposals will be recommended for funding, based on the applicant’s ability to conduct the proposed research; integrate the themes of human health, climate-smart agriculture, and social equity, justice, and opportunity; and articulate innovative ideas for high-risk, high-reward research to improve nutrition security.

Funding will be provided for up to four (4) awards of between $350,000 and $500,000 each. The performance period for awards will be two years. In addition to funding, awardees will gain access to collaboration and networking opportunities with USDA and FFAR scientists and leaders.

The program was designed with the Kohler Company to fund creative, high-impact solutions developed by local change makers that provide access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to people in the United States, U.S. territories, and sovereign tribal nations.

ELIGIBILITY
Water is Life projects help expand WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) services at the community level. We’re interested in projects that are creative, community-led, and long-lasting.

To be eligible for Water is Life funds:
Your project must be based in the U.S., U.S. territories, or on sovereign tribal nations within U.S. borders. Projects on the Navajo Nation, Central Appalachia, and the Texas colonias will be prioritized in 2024, but we may consider other applicants depending on demand
Your project must measurably improve access to water, sanitation, and/or hygiene for the target recipients
Your project is designed to meet human needs. We do not fund livestock or agricultural water projects

If you’re applying on behalf of an organization, your organization must have an annual operating budget of less than $3 million

Research shows that intersecting systems of privilege and oppression produce and sustain wide and unjust variations in health. The Axes Initiative will support research to understand health at the intersections of social statuses such as race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and ability, by examining contributions of social and other determinants of health.

This NOFO requires a Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives (PEDP), which will be assessed as part of the scientific and technical peer review evaluation. Applications that fail to include a PEDP will be considered incomplete and will be withdrawn.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to read the NOFO instructions carefully and view the available PEDP guidance material (https://braininitiative.nih.gov/vision/plan-enhancing-diverse-perspecti…)

All proposals must specifically address how the proposed project will directly and measurably contribute to the accomplishment of the Pollinator Fund’s goals as outlined in NFWF’s Monarch Butterfly Business Plan. As such, all proposals must provide the number of acres restored or enhanced as a result of the project.

Proposals must include plans to restore or enhance a minimum of 100 acres in California or 500 acres in all other eligible states. For project ideas related to overwintering sites in California that anticipate preserving, restoring, or improving less than 100 acres, please contact Senior Program Manager Crystal Boyd (crystal.boyd@nfwf.org) to discuss before applying. Acres may be counted from multiple sites; the sites do not need to be contiguous. Since 2015, successful proposals have included a median of 960 acres and an average of 2,120 acres restored or enhanced.

If a project is expected to benefit multiple at-risk native insect pollinator species, the applicant should list the relevant species and how they will benefit. Priority will be given to projects that benefit the monarch butterfly and one or more native insect pollinator species that are federally listed, candidate, or proposed native insect pollinators.

Community Impact and Engagement: Projects that incorporate outreach to communities, foster community engagement, and pursue collaborative management leading to measurable conservation benefits are encouraged. When possible, projects should be developed through community input and co-design processes. Additionally, projects should engage community-level partners (e.g., municipalities, NGOs, community organizations, community leaders) to help design, implement, and maintain projects to secure maximum benefits for communities, maintenance, and sustainability post-grant award.

Each applicant will identify one category that best describes the project. The Pollinator Fund seeks projects in the following two categories:

1. Technical Assistance for Private Working Lands

Funding in this category will support implementation of technical assistance to increase the number of private landowners voluntarily engaged in monarch butterfly and pollinator conservation practices on private working lands. Up to $2 million is expected to be available for grants ranging from $150,000 to $500,000. Funding will be awarded for projects up to three years in length following finalization of the grant agreement.

This category aims to support conservation planning and practice design with private landowners to advance voluntary conservation efforts on working lands that align with NRCS Working Lands for Wildlife frameworks or initiatives, and especially increase Working Lands for Wildlife participation among farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners in the Historically Underserved and Special Emphasis categories.*

2. Habitat Improvement

Funding in this category will support on-the-ground work to increase the quality, quantity, and connectivity of habitat for the monarch butterfly and other native insect pollinators. Up to $3.1 million is expected to be available for grants ranging from $200,000 to $300,000. Funding will be awarded for projects up to two years in length following finalization of the grant agreement.

Applicants in this category should define a step-by-step restoration plan including site preparation, equipment used, planting techniques, size of the project area, description of target native plant community, and maintenance plan (e.g., prescribed burning, mowing, grazing schedules).

If preparing a proposal that includes collecting or propagating native plants, applicants should describe the intended use of the seed or seedlings and how planting success will be monitored. Giveaways of milkweed seeds or seedlings are discouraged unless significant staff time is committed for follow-up, support, monitoring, and mapping with the milkweed recipients.

Plantings must include at least one species of regionally appropriate milkweed. To help meet the nutritional needs of a broad range of pollinator species, plantings must also provide at least three native blooming nectar species (in addition to milkweed) during each of the following periods: spring, summer, and fall.

Projects proposed to benefit other at-risk native insect pollinators should specify habitat needs for those species and how the proposed work will support their breeding, nectaring, nesting, or other habitat needs.

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 U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), in cooperation with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), is seeking applications for funding. OJP is committed to advancing work that promotes civil rights and equity, increases access to justice, supports crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system, strengthens community safety, protects the public from crime and evolving threats, and builds trust between law enforcement and the community.

With this solicitation, the Office of Justice Programs seeks to support a training and technical assistance (TTA) provider to facilitate the delivery of national-scale, high-quality TTA for justicefocused community-based organizations that primarily serve historically marginalized and underserved communities, including rural communities, to improve the quality of their programming and service delivery, increase their capacity for applying for and accessing OJP funding opportunities, and strengthen their infrastructure and administrative and financial controls to successfully meet OJP program goals and objectives, if funded.

This program furthers the DOJ’s mission to uphold the rule of law, to keep our country safe, and to protect civil rights.

The purpose of this program is to provide loan funding to finance power generation projects for Renewable Energy Resource (RER) systems or Energy Storage Systems (ESS) that support RER projects. The program goal is to support clean, affordable energy growth across the country through loans to eligible entities with varying levels of loan forgiveness for projects that generate and/or store electricity from RER.

Awards may be used to finance wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, or biomass renewable energy projects. Energy storage projects related to a renewable energy project are also eligible.

Applicants are encouraged to consider projects that will advance the following key priorities:

Assisting rural communities to recover economically through more and better market opportunities and through improved infrastructure
Ensuring all rural residents have equitable access to programs offered by the funding agency and benefits from funded projects
Reducing climate pollution and increasing resilience to the impacts of climate change through economic support to rural communities
Projects must be based on bankable power purchase agreements (PPAs) or through a financial guarantee that ensures the financial feasibility of the project. Energy must be sold for resale to eligible off-takers that may include both utility and non-utility customers. The technologies used must be commercially available.

The purpose of this program is to guarantee up to 90 percent of the unpaid principal and interest on loans borrowed by Indian tribes to support energy development projects and activities. The funding agency is particularly focused on catalyzing the use of commercially available technologies in Indian country. Projects employing commercial technologies are preferred. The program will support a broad range of energy-related projects, including:

Electricity generation, transmission and/or distribution facilities, utilizing renewable or conventional energy sources
Energy storage facilities, whether or not integrated with any of the above
Energy resource extraction, refining or processing facilities
Energy transportation facilities, including pipelines
District heating and cooling facilities
Cogeneration facilities
Distributed energy project portfolios, including portfolios of smaller distributed generation and storage facilities employed pursuant to a unified business plan
The program has the following policy priorities, as they relate to disadvantaged and tribal comunities:

Decrease energy burden
Decrease environmental exposure and burdens
Increase access to low-cost capital
Increase the clean energy job pipeline and job training for individuals
Increase clean energy enterprise creation
Increase energy democracy, including community ownership and other economic benefits associated with the energy transition
Increase parity in clean energy technology access and adoption
Increase energy resilience