NLC Releases Two New Resources for Cities Across the Great Lakes Region
By: Ada Inman
National League of Cities (NLC) is an organization comprised of city, town and village leaders that are focused on improving the quality of life for their current and future constituents. Recently, NLC has released two new resources tailored towards cities located in the Great Lakes Region: The Great Lakes Federal Grant Navigation Program and an SPI-based guide to community needs.
The Great Lakes Federal Grant Navigation Program is a free program to assist local government staff with collecting the necessary data and applying for federal grants such as ARPA and IIJA.
NLC’s Federal Grant Navigation Program will assist your city’s staff through four key steps needed to successfully secure federal grant funding:
- Conduct a Data-Driven Needs Assessment
Using digital tools developed by NLC, the program will help your city measure which areas have the greatest needs, including nutrition, housing, and employment assistance. - Match your Community’s Needs with Funding Streams
The program will help your city identify which federal grants can best address the needs of your community, using the Social Progress Index framework focused on addressing basic human needs, foundations of community wellbeing, as well as economic opportunity and mobility. - Apply for Federal Grants
The program will pair your city with a local grant navigator highly experienced in municipal government to assist you with completing competitive grant applications to access federal funds. - Collect the Necessary Information for Treasury Department Reporting
Your local navigator will ensure you are collecting and keeping the relevant data needed to fulfill the Treasury Department’s reporting requirements once grant funding is awarded.
To learn more about eligibility requirements, how to sign up, and more, visit the NLC website here.
Released in conjunction with this program, the NLC Federal Grant Navigation Program map provides an analysis of hyper-local needs by measuring more than forty nationally disaggregated data points down to the census tract level.
When combined with the economic, demographic, and population profiles for each community, in each city or town, navigators can quickly build data-informed narratives around the utilization and impact of the America Rescue Plan Act funding.
Explore the NLC Federal Grant Navigation Program map here.If you have any questions regarding these resources, contact EPIC-N Staff at info@epicn.org.
