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Home My WebLink AboutMT Dept of Commercef tr• s ?M TO: FROM: SUBJECT: DATE: MONTANA. DEPARTMENT OF COMMER Local Government Assistance Division 1424 9th Avenue PO Box 200523 Helena, MT 59620-0523 D{ C' 'L*CE? Local Government Officials and Others Interested in the Montana Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program Gus Byrom, CDBG Program Manager for Housing and Public Facilities6 R1-- 1. Planning Grants for the Fiscal 2002/2003 CDBG Programs 2. 2002/2003 Application Guidelines for Housing and Public Facilities Projects 3. Dates and Locations for 2002 Public Facilities and Housing Application Workshops February 8, 2002 1. Planning Grants for the Fiscal 200212003 CDBG Programs Introduction The Montana CDBG Program is inviting applications for grants to assist local governments in preparing plans, studies, analyses, or research in certain specific areas related to community development. The grants can be used for a variety of planning activities such as conducting a community needs assessment, preparing or updating a comprehensive plan or growth policy, preparing a neighborhood redevelopment plan, a community housing study, community income survey, capital improvement plan, or similar planning efforts needed to help a community address critical needs, including the initial planning necessary to get a project underway, or to conduct other important community planning activities. Application Deadline and Available Funds The application deadline for 2002 Planning Grants will be Friday, April 26, 2002. The CDBG program has allocated $200,000 for the Planning Grants with a maximum ceiling of $20,000 per grant for 2002. It is the intent that another $200,000 would be available for a grant competition to be held in the Spring of 2003. The attached guidelines provide details on eligible applicants; eligible planning activities; maximum grants and required match; application ranking criteria; grant administration requirements; and the overall application process. COAL BOARD (406) 444-2400 • CDBO (406) 444.2468 ? CTAF (406) 444-3757 • HRMI BOARD (406) 444-3757 ? TSEP (406) 444-2400 2002/2003 Application Guidelines for Housing and Public Facilities Projects For 2002/2003, CDBG will issue separate sets of Application Guidelines for Housing and Public Facilities projects. The CDBG Public Facilities Application Guidelines will be available in March. The CDBG Housing Application Guidelines will be available prior to the upcoming Housing Application workshops in April. Public Facilities applications for 2002 will be due on May 31, 2002. In response to pressure from Congress and HUD to expedite the expenditure of CDBG funds, the Montana CDBG Program will adopt the proposals offered this winter to compress the application grant cycle for 2002 and 2003. Housing applications for both Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2002 and FFY 2003 will be due during the fall of 2002. In addition, the normal deadline for FFY 2003 Public Facilities applications will be moved to January, 2003. See Figure 1 attached for exact deadlines. In essence, the Department will conduct grant competitions for both FFY 2002 and 2003 funding allocations over a 12-month period. This doubling of the grant competitions will be a one-time only event. The objective of this proposal is to establish a long-term annual grant application cycle for future years that would provide for the ranking of both housing and public facility applications in the calendar year prior to the actual receipt of the FFY CDBG allocation that would fund those projects. This would allow MDOC to award grants to communities immediately upon notification of that year's CDBG allocation. A Note on Coordinating Water and Sewer CDBG Grant Applications with the Treasure State Endowment Program Consistent with current policy, MDOC will not accept public facility applications on May 31 for IFFY 2002 CDBG funds for projects that would also require Treasure State Endowment Program (TSEP) funds to be requested from the 2003 Legislature. Public facility projects that propose to use both CDBG and TSEP funding (subiect to 2003 legislative approval) would have to apply for the CDBG FFY 2003 grant competition with the application being due January 10, 2003. This would avoid committing FFY 2002 CDBG funds to public facility projects, which could not even begin start up activities until after legislative approval in May, 2003. The FFY 2002 public facilities competition (deadline - May 31, 2002) will be limited to public facility projects that propose to use funding sources other than TSEP funds, or projects that already have a TSEP awarded from earlier legislatures. The Public Facilities competition includes the full range of eligible public facilities projects including water and wastewater projects or facilities such as senior centers, firehalls, Head Start centers, etc. 2 MONTANA CDBG PROGRAM Housing & Public Facilities 2002 Schedule 2003 Schedule 2004 Schedule Planning Grant Competition for FFY 2002 Grants Applications Due April 26, 2002 Announcement June, 2002 FALL OPEN FOR CDBG PROJECT MONITORING Housing Grant Competition for FFY 2002 and 2003 Grants Applications Due October 15, 2002 Announcement December. 2002 Public Facilities Grant ` Competition for FFY 2003 Grants Applications Due January 10, 2003 Announcement April,. 2003 Planning Grant Competition for FFY 2003 Grants Applications Due April 25, 2003 Announcement May, 2003 Public Facilities Competition for;` FFY 2004 Grants. Housing Grant Competition for FFY 2004 Grants Applications Due October 17. 2003 Announcement December, 2003 Planning Grant Competition for FFY 2004 Grants Applications Due April, 2004 Announcement May, 2004 Public Facilities Grant Competition for FFY 2005 Grants Applications Due June, 2004 Announcement September, 2004 FALL OPEN FOR CDBG PROJECT Housina Grant Competition for FFY 2005 Grants Applications Due October, 2004 Announcement December, 2004 2/8/2002 Figure 1 3 3. Dates and Locations for 2002 Public Facilities and Housing Application Workshops Public Facilities In cooperation with the Water, Wastewater, and Solid Waste Action Coordinating Team (WAASACT), the CDBG program will be co-hosting four workshops this Spring to familiarize local governments with federal and state low interest loan and grant programs that are available to assist local governments and water and sewer districts in financing water, sewer, and solid waste improvement projects, as well as other eligible CDBG activities (senior centers, Head Start centers, etc.) The dates and locations are as follows: Tues. - March 5 - WASACT - Holiday Inn Parkside - Missoula Wed. - March 6 - CDBG - Holiday Inn Parkside - Missoula Thurs. - March 7 - WASACT - West Coast Colonial Hotel - Helena Fri. - March 8 - CDBG - West Coast Colonial Hotel - Helena Tues. - March 12 - WASACT - Great Northern Development Corp. - Wolf Point Wed. - March 13 - CDBG - Great Northern Development Corp. - Wolf Point Thurs. - March 14 - WASACT - Northern Hotel - Billings Fri. - March 15 - CDBG - Northern Hotel - Billings Local government officials and all those interested in learning how to apply for funds to finance local infrastructure improvements are encouraged to attend one of these sessions. The second day of each workshop will focus solely on CDBG application requirements for public facility projects. The first day will include overviews of CDBG and all other public facilities and infrastructure funding programs in Montana. Housing The CDBG Program will be also co-hosting three workshops this April and May in cooperation with other housing programs to assist communities in dealing with their housing needs. These workshops will provide an overview of housing assistance programs. In addition, the second day of each workshop will provide hands-on technical assistance to local governments and non-profit community organizations addressing specific community housing issues. The dates and locations are as follows: Wednesday, April 17 & Thursday, April 18 - Hamilton Wednesday, April 24 & Thursday, April 25 - Havre Tuesday, May 7 & Wednesday, May 8 - Miles City Local government officials, housing authorities, and all non-profit organizations, agencies and individuals interested in affordable housing issues are encouraged to attend one of these sessions. 4