This is a modification to the Community Economic Development Projects Program Announcement, HHS-2009-ACF-OCS-EE-0034, published to the ACF Grant Opportunities webpage on March 6, 2009. The application procedures are hereby modified.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

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.

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.   

MODIFICATION TO THE PUBLISHED ANNOUNCEMENT:

1. Pre-Application Conference Call. 
   
   

The Division of Community Discretionary Programs will be sponsoring a pre-application conference call for all parties interested in applying for the Community Economic Development Projects funding opportunity.  This conference call is to inform the public on this grant funding opportunity provide an overview of the CED program and review the program funding announcement.  Application requirements, procedures and timelines will be explained.

The pre-application conference call will be held April 27, 2009 at 2 P.M. EST.
To review the CED program announcement, please go to: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/dcdp/ced/index.html

Interested applicants should register for the call at: OCSRegistrar@icfi.com. You may also call 703-934-3212 with any questions. When we receive your registration, a PowerPoint presentation and the call-in access information will be sent to you.

If you are unable to participate in the live conference call, a recording and transcript of it will be available at the CED Web site: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/dcdp/ced/index.html following the conference call until the closing date of the announcement.

For additional questions, contact us at ocsgrant@acf.hhs.gov.

2. SECTION I. -  FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION - Description
   
Please edit paragraph 2 as follows:

The CED program provides funding for projects located in geographic service areas with a demonstrated need for the proposed project.

Please edit paragraph 24 (last paragraph in Description sections) by removing Oregon and adding District of Columbia as follows:

CED projects may be funded for work in any qualified geographic area, and in any viable industry. However, the program strongly encourages work in states that do not already have Community Economic Development (CED) or Job Opportunities for Low-Income individuals (JOLI) projects. Currently, these states are Alaska, Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Wyoming, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.  

3. SECTION I. - FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION - Definitions of Term
   
Please edit the definition for “Eligible Activities” as follows:

ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES - Activities that contribute to creation or expansion of sustainable new businesses and jobs within in an eligible project area.

And, delete the definition for “Eligible Project Area”:

ELIGIBLE PROJECT AREA - A geographic area within which both the unemployment rate and the poverty rate are equal to or greater than the state or national rates, using recent (within the past 5 years) statistics from published sources. All projects must be located within an eligible project area, and all jobs created and businesses created or expanded must be located within the project area.

4. SECTION IV. - APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION –



1. Address To Request Application Package:  Please replace “URL” with “Email” in the following text:  URL: Email: OCSGRANTS@ACF.hhs.gov

2. Content and Form of Application Submission: PROJECT DESCRIPTION –
Part I THE PROJECT DESCRIPTION OVERVIEW - APPROACH - 3.Financial Strategies
Please edit item “E” as follows:

E.  For Loan or Revolving Loan Fund Projects Only: the application should demonstrate that loans backed with CED funding will support low-income borrowers through higher risks and lower interest rates than traditional loans.

5. SECTION V. - APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION – 1. CRITERIA:
   

Criterion 1 – Objectives And Need For Assistance
Please edit item “D” as follows:

D.  The application demonstrates that the project will meet the program's objectives by serving low-income individuals through a project located in a low-income community and that all businesses and positions created under the project will be located within the project's service area.

Criterion 2 – Approach. 3.  Financial Strategies
Please add  item “E” as follows:

E.  For Loan or Revolving Loan Fund Projects Only: the application should demonstrate that loans backed with CED funding will support low-income borrowers through lower interest rates than traditional loans.

Criterion 5 – Evaluation.
Please edit as follows:

B.  The application demonstrates the logical connections between the project activities discussed in the Approach section and the outcomes discussed in the Results Objectives and Need for Assistance section.

6. SECTION VIII.-  OTHER INFORMATION-  Checklist –
   
Please edit the following items:

All information in this modification is accurate and replaces information specified in the March 6, 2009 Program Announcement.

ANNOUNCEMENT AVAILABILITY:

This CED Program Announcement is accessible at the ACF Grant Opportunities webpage: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/index.html or at http://www.Grants.gov.

For further information, please contact Rafael J. Elizalde at 1-800-281-9519 or OCSGRANTS@ACF.HHS.GOV.  

Posted on April 17, 2009