The U.S. Department of Transportation recently issued a notice of funding opportunity or NOFO for the third round of its Reconnecting Communities Pilot program. Applications are due by September 30.
[Above photo by USDOT]
The agency said in a statement that more than $600 million in fiscal year 2024 grants is available for both capital construction and community planning projects via this NOFO.
For this round, USDOT emphasized that communities that are interested in the program but not yet ready to submit an application for funding can request free technical assistance through the agency’s Reconnecting Communities Institute to explore project feasibility.
USDOT also noted that, in 2023, it combined the Reconnecting Communities Pilot – created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – with the Neighborhood Access and Equity or NAE program discretionary grant program created by the Inflation Reduction Act.
In March, the agency said the now-combined programs – which goes by the name “RCN discretionary grant program” – issued more than $3.3 billion to 132 infrastructure projects in 41 states and the District of Columbia, with 17 of those projects headed up by state departments of transportation, according to USDOT documents.
Grants from both programs seek to “reconnect” communities cut off in the past by transportation infrastructure, leaving such neighborhoods in many cases bereft of direct access to schools, jobs, medical offices, and places of worship, the agency said.
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