Community Development Block Grants - CV Public Facilities (CDBG-CV)
Federal Agency
Sub-Department
Community Planning and Development
Purpose
To help communities prevent, prepare for, and respond to the direct and indirect effects of the current COVID-19 pandemic and to mitigate future risk.
Applicant and/or Project Eligibility Requirements
Projects must meet the eligible CDBG activities, CDBG national objectives, and COVID-19 relevance. The term "public facilities" is broadly interpreted under CDBG to include publicly accessible facilities that are owned by public entities or nonprofit organizations such as libraries, community centers, and places where people receive services.
Decarbonization Considerations
Facility energy resiliency is key, and ensuring that power systems can effectively filter air, provide heating, cooling, and lighting, and support medical assistance is essential for effective resiliency. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas and other states faced numerous power outages due to Winter Storm Uri. A lack of reliable electricity, gas, and water forced many residents to congregate more closely to support each other, which limited their ability to effectively social distance. The same would be true for future heat waves and cold spells.
Equity Considerations
CDBG national objectives stress that funding must benefit low- and moderate-income persons, meet community development needs having a particular urgency (urgent need), and aid in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight. Ensuring that community resiliency hubs are sited in areas that best serve the most vulnerable neighborhoods will be critical, and robust community engagement can help in that planning. Regardless of the national objective met, at least 70% of a grantee’s CDBG-CV funds must be spent on activities that meet the CDBG national objective of benefitting low- and moderate-income people.
Helpful Tips
The proposed project must be designed to prevent, prepare for, or respond to the coronavirus. Grantees must document this relationship, often referred to as the "tieback," by documenting a logical relationship between the benefits of the assisted activity and the effects of the coronavirus. This tieback may relate to the current pandemic and may also relate to mitigating potential future coronavirus pandemic impacts. Applicants should ensure that they are making an effective connection between their facilities' energy resiliency and risk mitigation for COVID-19 or other pandemics and should discuss any questions with their CDBG program contact.
Other Notes
The public facilities activity category is generally intended to address the physical costs of improving the facility rather than provide support for operating costs or services that may be provided within the facility.