Community Economic Development Planning Grants

For programmatic or technical questions:
Chanel Jackson
855.792.6551
Chanel.Jackson@acf.hhs.gov

For grants management or budget questions:
Tim Chappelle
855.792.6551
ocstech@reviewops.org

Community Economic Development (CED) Planning Grants will provide funding for community development corporations to build administrative capacity to design a sustainable business project and package a viable grant application. An application should be submitted in a CED competition within 12 months of the end of the project period. Applications from rural areas are encouraged.

CED projects should work to address community barriers which may include lack of employment education and training programs; lack of public transportation; lack of markets; unavailability of financing, insurance, or bonding; inadequate social services, such as employment services, child care, or job training; high incidence of crime; substance use disorder; inadequate healthcare; or environmental hazards, such as toxic dump sites or leaking underground tanks.

Eligible activities include:

• Convene and organize stakeholders within the target community to strategize on shared economic development efforts, visions, and desired paths forward. Stakeholders include, but are not limited to, local government officials, entrepreneurs, schools, faith-based organizations, social service organizations, nonprofit organizations, chambers of commerce, and other business support organizations.
• Develop, update, or expand existing community economic development visioning statements and planning documents
• Obtain and expand community buy-in for planned economic development efforts
• Inventory existing data and conduct data collection efforts to assess local economic assets and identify viable markets for business development
• Identify existing federal, state, local, and private funding opportunities that can be leveraged, along with CED funds, to implement business development and job creation projects
• Develop and secure partnerships with social service providers, such as workforce development agencies and safety net providers to support economic development projects
• Develop a business plan for an identified business development or economic development opportunity that describes sources and uses of funding; market analysis and strategy; products, services, and target customer base; marketing and sales plan; management plan; and operations plan

To be eligible for the CED program, an applicant must meet all 3 conditions:

1. Applicant must be a private, nonprofit Community Development Corporation (CDC) with 501(c)(3) status
2. Applicant must have articles of incorporation or bylaws demonstrating that the CDC has as a principal purpose of planning, developing, or managing low-income housing or community development activities
3. The Board of Directors must have representation from each of the following: community residents, business leaders, and civic leaders.

Award ceiling: $150,000
Award floor: $75,000
Expected number of Awards: 10
Total program funding: $1,500,000

Links to the full announcement and online application process are available through grants.gov. The application instructions will be found on the related documents tab.