Community Economic Development Projects

Deadline: May 28, 2009

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2009, contingent upon available funding, the Office of Community Services (OCS) will award Community Economic Development (CED) discretionary grant funds to Community Development Corporations (CDCs) for well-planned, financially viable, and innovative projects to enhance job creation and business development in low-income communities. The grants will be made as part of a broader strategy to address objectives such as arresting tendencies toward financial dependency, chronic unemployment, and community deterioration in urban and rural areas.

These grants are intended to help CDCs, alone or in partnership with third-party partners, create business development and expansion opportunities that will address the economic needs of low-income individuals through the creation of employment and business opportunities in low-income communities. Grantees must recruit low-income individuals to fill the positions, offer support to help those individuals successfully hold those jobs, and ensure that the businesses and the jobs created remain viable for at least two years after the end of the grant period. For CED grants, low-income individuals are defined as those living in households with incomes at or below 125 percent of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Guidelines on Poverty, found at http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/index.shtml.

In addition to a well-planned and viable strategy for business creation or expansion, applicants must have in place: (1) written financial commitments for all non-CED funding, (2) needed management, staff, and other resources, (3) evidence of site control in the form of a lease agreement or deed, and (4) referral sources to help identify low-income individuals to fill the positions.

In FY 2009, OCS has a specific interest in funding strong projects that will create jobs in high growth sectors, or that operate in states that currently receive no CED or Job Opportunities for Low-income Individuals (JOLI) funding.

Go to http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/open/HHS-2009-ACF-OCS-EE-0034.html for more information.