Description
This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) continues investment in a national technical assistance program and provides new opportunities for state-, Tribal-, local-, and regional-level community support through the Thriving Communities Regional Pilot Program that will drive innovation, advance equity outcomes, and build a national pipeline of community-driven infrastructure projects. The Thriving Communities Program will offer deep-dive technical assistance to through cooperative agreements with eligible entities. Entities awarded a cooperative agreement will be "capacity builders" that will directly assist local governments that request technical assistance. Priority is given to assisting communities that are disadvantaged and/or transportation burdened or those that have limited technical capacity or budgets. The intent of technical assistance is to plan for, prepare, secure funding for, and deliver transformative infrastructure projects. Eligible TCP capacity builders should propose strategies to provide deep-dive technical assistance, planning and capacity building and build a robust Community of Practice involving diverse transportation and community stakeholders. Specifically, this includes facilitating the scoping, planning, development and delivery of transportation and community revitalization activities supported by DOT under titles 23, 46, and 49, United States Code, that increase mobility, reduce pollution from transportation sources, expand affordable transportation options, facilitate efficient land use, preserve or expand jobs, improve housing conditions, enhance connections to health care, education, and food security, or improve health outcomes. For FY23, the Department expects to award two different types of cooperative agreements through this NOFO, with up to $22 million total being available for award: TCP-National Capacity Builder cooperative agreements are anticipated to be in the range of $4-5 million each. Each National Capacity Builder will provide support to 15-20 communities selected by DOT. A National Capacity Builder may specialize in a specific subject area to create a national community of practice. Communities assigned to a National Capacity Builder will be located across the country. Up to five awards are expected for National Capacity Builders. TCP-Regional Capacity Builder cooperative agreements are anticipated to be in the range of $1-2 million each. Regional Capacity Builders will work with communities located in a specific region. The Regional Capacity Builder will identify the communities to receive technical assistance. Regional Capacity Builders are not forecasted to specialize on any one subject area. Up to five awards are expected for Regional Capacity Builders.