2018 Consolidated Funding Application Opportunities

New funding opportunities are now available through the New York State Consolidated Funding Application (CFA) website. The CFA process is a fundamental shift in the way state resources are allocated, ensuring less bureaucracy and greater efficiency to fulfill local economic development needs.

Utilizing the CFA as the single entry point for access to economic development funding, applicants will no longer have to slowly navigate multiple agencies and sources without any mechanism for coordination. Now, economic development projects will use the CFA as a support mechanism to access multiple state funding sources through one application, making the process quicker, easier, and more productive.

Here are some of the available resources that are in line with CDRPC’s mission:

NYS Community Development Block Grant Program | $20 million

This grant program is for small communities and counties in New York State with a great opportunity to undertake activities that focus on community development needs such as creating or expanding job opportunities, providing safe affordable housing, and/or addressing local public infrastructure and public facilities issues. The primary statutory objective of the CDBG program is to develop viable communities by providing decent housing and a suitable living environment by expanding economic opportunities, principally for persons of low and moderate income.

Eligible Activities / Program Benefit Requirements:

NYS CDBG applicants must address and resolve a specific community or economic development need within one of the following areas:

• Public Infrastructure
• Public Facilities
• Microenterprise
• Community Planning

New York Main Street Program | $6.2 million

NYMS provides resources to invest in projects that provide economic development and housing opportunities in downtown, mixed-use commercial districts. A primary goal of the program is to stimulate reinvestment and leverage additional funds to establish and sustain downtown and neighborhood revitalization efforts.

Eligible applicants for NYMS program applications are:

• Units of Local Government; or
• Organizations incorporated under the NYS Not-for-Profit Corporation Law that have been providing relevant service to the community for at least one year prior to application.

DOS Local Waterfront Revitalization Program | $15 million

LWRP is for municipalities located along New York’s coasts or designated inland waterways to advance the preparation or implementation of strategies for community and waterfront revitalization through the following grant categories:

• Preparing or Updating a Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP)
• Preparing an LWRP Component, including a Watershed Management Plan
• Updating an LWRP to Mitigate Future Physical Climate Risks
• Implementing a Local Waterfront Revitalization Program or a completed LWRP Component.
• Celebrating the Bicentennial of the Erie Canal – Improving Public Waterfront Access for Canal Communities

Eligible applicants are villages, towns, or cities and counties (with the consent and on behalf of one or more villages, towns, or cities) which are located along New York’s coasts or inland waterways as designated pursuant to Executive Law, Article 42. The list of coastal waterbodies and designated inland waterways is available here.

NYSERDA Energy Efficiency Programs | $35 million

Program provides eligible New York State commercial, industrial, and institutional end users with objective and customized engineering analysis to help make informed energy decisions. FlexTech is funded on a first-come, first-served basis until funds are exhausted. Eligible Applicants are New York State electricity distribution customers of a participating utility company, who pay into the System Benefits Charge (SBC). The SBC may be a line item on the customer’s utility bills.

Eligible applicants include, but are not limited to:

• Commercial Facilities
• Industrial Facilities
• Public and Private K-12 schools
• Colleges and Universities
• Healthcare Facilities
• Agricultural Facilities
• Municipalities (Local Government)
• State Agencies & Government
• Not-for-profit Corporations

Water Quality Improvement Projects (WQIP) Program | $79 million

The Water Quality Improvement Project (WQIP) program is a competitive, statewide reimbursement grant program open to local governments and not-for-profit corporations for implementation projects that directly address documented water quality impairments or protect a drinking water source.

Eligible types of applicants

Generally, applicants meeting the following criteria are eligible for WQIP funds. There is some variability among eligible applicants for specific project types. Applicant eligibility criteria are more clearly identified under each specific WQIP project type contained in this Request for Applications (RFA).

• Municipalities
• Municipal corporations
• Regulated traditional Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s)
• Soil and water conservation districts
• Not-for-profit corporations, (Only land acquisition for source water protection projects OR aquatic habitat restoration projects)

Eligible types of projects

• Wastewater Treatment Improvement
• Non-agricultural Nonpoint Source Abatement and Control
• Land Acquisition Projects for Source Water Protection
• Salt Storage
• Aquatic Habitat Restoration
• Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s)

Climate Smart Communities Program | $8.78 million

Funding is available for inventory, assessment, planning, and implementation projects that advance the work of municipalities to address climate change. Priorities for the 2018 round include adaptation actions that reduce flood risk and increase preparedness for future extreme weather conditions, greenhouse-gas mitigation activities related to transportation and reduction of food waste, and specific Climate Smart Communities certification actions that advance a municipality’s ability to implement adaptation and mitigation projects.

Eligibility
All municipalities in the State of New York are eligible to apply for funding in response to this request for applications (RFA). For the purpose of this RFA, a municipality is defined as a county, city, town, village, or borough of the City of New York. Political subdivisions such as municipal corporations, school districts, district corporations, boards of cooperative educational services, fire districts, public benefit corporations, industrial development authorities and similar organizations are not eligible to serve as lead municipal applicants in response to this RFA.

DOS Local Government Efficiency Grants | $4 million

The Local Government Efficiency (LGE) Grant program provides funding to local governments to identify best practices and implement actions focused on reducing municipal expenditures, limiting the growth in property taxes and increasing efficiencies in service delivery. Projects can include local government reorganization, functional consolidation and shared services, city or county charter revisions that include functional consolidation, and establishment of regional service delivery.

Local government efficiency projects must implement new opportunities for financial savings or exhibit potential to modernize existing services. Additional benefits may include improving organization or management structures or improving public access to services.

Eligible applicants
Counties, cities, towns, villages, special improvement districts, fire districts, public libraries, association libraries, public library systems – if they advance a joint application on behalf of member libraries, water authorities, sewer authorities, regional planning and development boards, school districts, and Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) only to the extent they advance certain joint applications.