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OUP invites Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) to apply for grants through its Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities (HSIAC) program. These grants can be used to revitalize local communities while fostering long-term changes in the way HSIs relate to their neighbors. The HSIAC program has facilitated numerous partnerships that are successfully addressing the most critical social and economic issues that this country is facing, including poverty, education, housing, healthcare, and local neighborhood capacity building. In addition, the program has assisted colleges and universities in integrating community engagement themes into their curriculum, academic studies, and student activities.

Eligible Applicants. All applicants must be institutions of higher education granting 2- or 4-year degrees that are accredited by a national or regional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Additionally, institutions must meet the definition of an HSI established in Title V of the 1998 amendment of the Higher Education Act of 1965. To meet this definition, at least 25 percent of the full-time undergraduate students enrolled in the institution must be Hispanic.

Eligible Activities. Each activity proposed for funding must meet both a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program national objective AND the CDBG eligibility requirements. Examples of eligible activities include:

• Acquisition of real property.
• Clearance and demolition.
• Rehabilitation of residential structures, including lead-based paint hazard evaluation and reduction and making accessibility modifications in accordance with the requirements of the Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794) and visitability modifications in accordance with the policy priorities described in HUD's Notice of Funding Availability General Section. Applicants that propose rehabilitation and/or construction of a building on campus must sustain that facility for the purpose of the activities proposed in this grant for at least 5 years after the end of the grant performance period.
• Acquisition, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or installation of public facilities and improvements, such as water and sewer facilities and streets, and compliance with accessibility requirements, such as those under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794) and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101).

• Relocation payments and other assistance for permanently and temporarily relocated individuals, families, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and farm operations where the assistance is: Required under the provisions of 24 CFR 570.606(b) or (c); or determined by the grantee to be appropriate under the provisions of 24 CFR 570.606(d).
• Direct homeownership assistance to low- and moderate-income persons, as provided in section 105(a) (25) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5305(a)(25)).
• Special economic development activities described at 24 CFR 570.203 and assistance to facilitate economic development by providing technical or financial assistance for the establishment, stabilization, and expansion of microenterprises, including minority enterprises.
• Assistance to community-based development organizations (CBDOs) to carry out neighborhood revitalization, community economic development, or energy conservation projects, in accordance with 24 CFR 570.204. This could include activities in support of a HUD-approved local entitlement grantee, CDBG Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy (NRS) or HUD-approvedState CDBG Community Revitalization Strategy (CRS).

• Public service activities such as general support activities that can help to stabilize a neighborhood and contribute to sustainable redevelopment of the area, including but not limited to such activities as those concerned with employment, crime prevention, childcare, healthcare services, drug abuse, education, housing counseling, energy conservation, homebuyer downpayment assistance, establishing and maintaining Neighborhood Networks centers in federally assisted or insured housing, job training and placement, and recreational needs.
• Up to 20 percent of the grant may be used for payments of reasonable grant administrative costs related to planning and executing of the project (e.g., preparation/submission of HUD reports). Detailed explanations of these costs are provided in OMB circular A–21, Cost Principles for Educational Institutions that can be accessed at the White House Web site at www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/index.html.
• These funds are not for the direct benefit of the institution; 51 percent or more of all funds must be utilized for the community and/or general public.
• Fair housing services designed tofurther civil rights objectives of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601–20) by making all persons, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and/or disability aware of the range of housing opportunities available to them.

Program Contact

Madlyn Wohlman-Rodriguez
Grant Specialist
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Office of University Partnerships
Room 8106
451 Seventh Street, SW
Washington, DC 20410
Telephone: (202) 402–5939
Fax: (202) 708–0309
Email: madlyn.wohlmanrodriguez@hud.gov