Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Grant

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.