Dear [firstname],

Welcome to my March grants newsletter! I know that the Trump Administration’s attempt to freeze federal funding is still causing a great deal of anxiety and confusion as litigation continues to unfold in the courts. Please know that I am working hard every day to fight back and continue delivering for our constituents.

Due to the confusion and lack of clarity from the Trump Administration, I highly recommend that you follow relevant agency newsletters and the grants.gov webpage for your grants of interest to see which are canceled, paused, or may have changed eligibility criteria. If this has affected you or your organization, please share your information with me here.

I am excited to share upcoming grants and federal funding opportunities for local governments, universities, community organizations, businesses, and individuals.

You can find up-to-date information on open federal grants here. This spreadsheet will be updated throughout the month and includes a wide variety of grants related to agriculture, community development, disaster prevention and relief, food and nutrition, transportation, and much more. The grants can be easily sorted and filtered by category to help find grants related to specific needs.

Additionally, you can find an extensive list of funding opportunities for local governments updated regularly by the Colorado Department of Local Affairs here. This user-friendly dashboard includes federal and state funding opportunities and can be filtered by category, program, award type, awarding agency, and eligible applicants.

Upcoming Grants:

This month, there are some major federal grants open around funding for rural communities and fire and disaster mitigation. Below are some of the available federal funding opportunities, listed in order by category and deadline. The following grants are still open and accepting applicants at the time of sending this newsletter.

Rural:

The Department of Health and Human Services has a Rural Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) Planning and Development grant program for local governments, small businesses, and nonprofits to improve health care in rural areas for seniors. Interested parties should apply by April 17, 2025.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Community Connect Grant Program provides funding for broadband service that fosters economic growth and aids educational, health care, and public safety efforts. Applications are due April 21, 2025. 

The Colorado State Forest Service is accepting applications for the new Rural Grant Navigator grant program. Non-governmental organizations that provide services to rural Colorado Communities applying for state or federal grants related to wildfire mitigation and preparedness are eligible. Applications will be accepted through May 2, 2025. 

The Department of Agriculture’s Community Facilities Loan and Grant Program provides funding opportunities to develop community facilities in rural areas that provide essential services to local communities.  Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Fire and Disaster Management:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has the open Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program, which provides funding for local governments to invest in projects around hazard risk mitigation and preparing for disasters like flooding and wildfire. The deadline to apply is April 18, 2025, and interested parties can also request free technical assistance for the BRIC program here.

FEMA also has an open Flood Mitigation Assistance grant program for local and county governments to carry out risk and damage mitigation projects around flooding. Applicants should apply by April 18, 2025.

Behavioral Health:

The Center for Disease Control Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program is open to non-profits, local governments, schools, and counties to establish and strengthen the efforts of community coalitions to prevent youth substance use. Applications are due May 5, 2025.

Education:

The Department of Health and Human Services Head Start and Early Head Start Grant Program is open to local public or private non-profit organizations that can provide Head Start and/or Early Head Start services to children and families. Applications are due no later than April 29, 2025.

The National Science Foundation has a Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, which provides funding for elementary and secondary mathematics and science teachers in school districts experiencing teacher shortages in those fields. You can get more information on the grant posting here. The deadline for applications is August 26, 2025.

Energy:

The Department of Energy also has a Carbon Utilization Procurement Grant program open for local governments to reduce their energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Interested applicants should apply by April 30, 2025.

Arts, Culture, and the Humanities:

The National Endowment for the Humanities is accepting applications for projects that address significant challenges in preserving or providing access to humanities resources and collections. Applications are due May 20, 2025.

Technical Assistance:

Something I often hear when meeting with local governments and organizations is that they are interested in taking advantage of federal funding opportunities but simply do not have the capacity to submit a competitive application. Thankfully, you don't have to go through this process alone. My office has compiled a list of resources provided by state and federal government agencies designed to help grant applicants here.

I often hear from groups who find a grant that interests them but aren’t sure when the grant application will reopen or feel the deadline is too soon for them to write a competitive application. To help groups plan for upcoming grants, my office has compiled a list of past opening and closing dates for major grants here.

Education:

The Department of Education funds the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center, which offers a variety of free technical assistance resources for early childhood education and childcare providers.

Energy:

The Department of Energy provides a technical assistance program called Clean Energy to Communities Learning Cohorts for local governments, nonprofits, and electric utilities to form partnerships, have access to experts, and receive guidance on clean energy projects. Interested applicants can apply here.

Through funding from the Department of Energy, the Energy Ready organization provides free technical assistance to local governments wishing to implement solar and wind energy within their communities as well as electric vehicle charging stations. Interested parties can find more information here and apply for assistance here.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture will provide free technical assistance for Colorado rural businesses and agricultural producers for the USDA’s  Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) program, including free assistance with technical reports and feasibility studies. REAP funding supports energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

Grants on the Horizon:

The Department of Health and Human Services has a planned Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Regional Centers Grant, which provides funding for non-profits, states, local governments, health facilities, and institutes of higher education to address the opioid epidemic. This funding opportunity is expected to open on May 1, 2025.

Application Tip of the Month:

In the midst of uncertainty at the federal level around federal funding opportunities and technical assistance resources, the State of Colorado continues to provide support and guidance for grant applicants. Here are some of the resources that the state government provides:

The Office of the Governor established 14 Regional Grant Navigator positions to help provide free technical assistance for local governments looking to apply to the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law grants. Interested local governments can find the contact information for their grant navigator and find more information on the program here.

The State of Colorado allocated a total of $10 million in aid for local match requirements (the portion of a project that a federal grant does not cover) to help smaller local governments with fewer resources to apply for Bipartisan Infrastructure Law grants. Interested parties can find more information here.

The State of Colorado set aside $1 million for grant writing and technical assistance for municipalities and state agencies applying for grants funded by the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Interested parties can find more information here and apply for assistance here.

The Department of Local Affairs holds a call every other month for local governments with partner agencies on funding opportunities and resources. Interested parties can find more information and register here.

Reminders from last month's newsletter:

You can always find a full list of the resources and grants (some of which are still open) from previous grant newsletters on my website here. 

If you know someone who would like to be added to my monthly grants newsletter, they can sign up for the newsletter here.

If you would like to request a letter of support from my office, please email co07grants@mail.house.gov. Please allow at least one week of processing time and include your application materials and a draft letter of support. Letter of support requests within a week of the deadline may not be able to be processed in time.

Please reach out with any questions, letters of support requests, or if you would like my office to keep an eye out for federal funding in specific areas.

Thanks for reading,