Community Connectors Grant Application

Full application information

Begin by reading the full application that has all details about eligibility, requirements, criteria for selection, and the selection process:

Download and read the full application (PDF)

Apply online below using the application form below

TIP: We strongly recommend preparing all of your answers in advance using this blank template file and then pasting them into the online application and submitting all at once. (Download that application as a .docx file) Do not type your answers only into the form and risk losing all of your work.

Applications are due by July 15, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time. Please don’t wait until the last minute to prepare and submit your application. There is an online presentation with Q&A taking place on June 6, 2023. You can register here. (The recording will be posted afterward on the main grant page.)

Questions? Please submit through the online form at https://smartgrowthamerica.org/program/community-connectors-grants/contact-form/

Community Connectors grant application

Supporting leaders in small and mid-sized communities—in and out of government—to repair the damage of divisive infrastructure.

Applicant info

Please provide the information for the main point of contact for the "lead applicant" as noted below.

Name(Required)

First Last

Email(Required)

Phone(Required)

Best contact number

Address(Required)

Street Address Address Line 2 City State / Province / Region ZIP / Postal Code

Website

1) Project type and description

(1-A) Project development:(Required)

This program aims to assist communities with projects and ideas that span a spectrum from nascent to more concrete. Please choose the option below that best fits your team’s project and application. As noted in the detailed application, all applications will be split into Project Type categories and then evaluated against other applications within each type—not against the full pool of applicants.

Please check only one box.

Type 1: Advancing a Specific Project: We have a well-developed project concept, for which we may have already procured some level of funding to advance. We may have also already prepared an application for Reconnecting Communities program funding or other comparable programs, or need help getting a solid application over the finish line.

Type 2: Developing a Project: We have a specific idea for a project, which we need to better scope and develop, and procure funding sources to advance. Writing a Reconnecting Communities grant application would be either not possible or very difficult for us at this time.

Type 3: Considering an Approach: We have a corridor or area that is in need of repair, reconfiguration, or demolition and replacement, and we need help to study and develop the best potential solutions together.

(1-B) What type of infrastructure(s) is creating the damage or disconnection?(Required)

Please choose what best describes the type of infrastructure that has damaged and divided the community. For example, such as displacing residents to build the infrastructure, impairing access to destinations, making travel by a range of modes unsafe or inconvenient, or prioritizing thru-travelers and commuters at the expense of the local community. Please check only one box.

Local or arterial roadway

Limited access highway (interstate, tollway, etc)

Rail or transit line

Missing basic infrastructure (sidewalks, crosswalks, lighting, curbs, etc)

Other

(1-C) Project description:(Required)

Describe your proposed project scope, idea, or corridor. As noted, projects across the three types will span a spectrum of readiness and refinement, so teams without well-defined projects are not expected to have a refined narrative of the project, though they should be able to describe the corridor, neighborhood, or divisive infrastructure in question. Please write a single paragraph of no more than 500 characters (~75 words).

(1-D) Draft scope for capacity-building grant:(Required)

Describe a rough scope for the capacity-building grant and explain why the specific items in your scope are the most vital needs for your project. (**Scopes will be developed and/or further refined in the convening, so the draft scope is not necessarily binding for selected project teams.) 1600 characters maximum (~250 words).

(1-E) Outcomes(Required)

What outcomes and benefits do you most want to accomplish/realize through this project? Please select the anticipated outcomes that are most significant to your team with your specific project. Select no more than four outcomes from the list.

Safety: Project has significant benefits beyond common practice for planning, designing, or building infrastructure to protect, reduce, or mitigate systemic safety issues.

Environmental benefits: Project has significant benefits beyond common practice for planning, designing, or building infrastructure that targets a known documented environmental problem. This includes a priority on climate mitigation or adaptation, and climate resilience, including hardening, addressing flooding, urban heat island effects, and others.

Quality of life: Quality of life is an explicit project purpose and the project has significant benefits beyond common practice for planning, designing, or building infrastructure, etc. E.g., the applicants might envision a new plaza that will host farmers’ markets on the weekend and a range of community events on weeknight.

Mobility and community connectivity: Improved mobility and community connectivity is an explicit project purpose and the project has significant benefits, etc.

Inclusive development of the local economy: The project will support the local economy and the well-being of local businesses and households. This may include the goals of creating a wide range of new jobs and/or improving local/regional economic competitiveness/opportunity. E.g., the new connections envisioned by the applicants connect downtown visitors to neighborhoods that feature ethnic restaurants and cultural tourism opportunities.

State of good repair: Improving overall state of repair is an explicit project purpose.

Partnership and collaboration: Project has or will support and engage diverse people and communities beyond common practices by collaborating, ensuring equity and supporting the creation or expansion of high-quality jobs.

Innovation: Innovation is an explicit project purpose AND the project has significant benefits beyond common practices for planning, designing, or building infrastructure.

(1-F) Outcomes narrative(Required)

Expand on the outcomes you selected above in a narrative form. And then elaborate: What do you hope to accomplish by reconnecting a community? If you are successful, what will be different? What are the benefits you anticipate the project to produce? What would success look like for your project? Please provide a clear, narrative description of the changes that your team hopes to bring, including any quantifiable and measurable outcomes. 1600 characters maximum (~250 words).

(1-G) Looking to the future(Required)

Briefly, explain how you might plan to sustain/ continue this work, even after the grant period? 1600 characters maximum (~250 words).

(1-H) Timeline(Required)

For type 1 projects, outline your expected timeline for the project, including any major milestones, and any relevant recent historical milestones to date. For all other projects, outline your ideal timeline for the overall project. 1600 characters maximum (~250 words). Answering with a bulleted list is acceptable.

2) Community information and teaming arrangement

(2-A) Community overview(Required)

Describe your community and the affected project area (if known), including data on demographic information (population, race, income, etc), community type (urban, suburban, exurban, rural), land use (residential, commercial, industrial, mixed use, etc), important destinations (job center, schools, etc). (3200 characters maximums (~500 words).

(2-B) Lead organization, team description, lead entity, and partners:(Required)

Maximum length for these three bullets is 3200 characters (~500 words)

Lead organization: Every applicant team must identify a lead organization with the ability to manage incoming grant funding and serve as the administrative home for each team. List and describe the lead organization and briefly describe their history with managing subgrants and administration.
Team description: Who is committed to participate as part of the team? Describe the other organizations/entities that will be a part of your core team, including those most likely to participate as the six team members in the convening.)
Partners and informal team members: Who are the other partners outside of the core team above? The program has space for six people from each team to actively participate in the convening, though the teams may be larger than six persons for the virtual learning exchanges and broader program purposes.

(2-C) Community co–empowerment and engagement.(Required)

3200 characters maximum (~500 words)

If the lead applicant is a government entity, how do you intend to involve the communities impacted and ensure they participate in decisions to be made and included fully in the benefits of the plan? If the lead applicant is a community or a community-based organization, how do you intend to engage the owners of the infrastructure and the relevant local or state government agencies? Applications that have both strong community and government leadership are most likely to advance.
Engagement: Describe the strategy and scope of your community engagement thus far on your project. Who has been involved in developing this project idea? Who are the primary stakeholders? How have the affected residents and neighborhoods been engaged and involved in the process? Who has been leading the project and the overall effort to date?

(2-D) Commitment of the leadership and project team:(Required)

Advancing these projects will require significant commitment and time from the community leadership, team members, and the wider project team. Please summarize your team’s level of commitment to advancing a concrete project and seeing it through to fruition. Feel free to include any applicable letters of support from community members or leaders, local elected leaders, organization CEOs, etc. Describe your team’s level of commitment in no more than 1600 characters (~250 words). Append any relevant letters with other supplemental info as a single PDF attachment to question 5A at end of this application.

3) Capacity challenges

(3-A) Capacity(Required)

What are your biggest capacity challenges for advancing your project that this grant and/or TA can support? Describe the organizational and knowledge-based capacity challenges to a potential project that this program could help augment and build, even if the grant can only solve a small portion of these challenges. What are your greatest capacity challenges overall? 3200 characters maximum (~500 words)

4) Convening

(4-A) Convening and Learning Exchange attendance:

We anticipate hosting a two-day learning exchange workshop for all selected teams in November 2023 (the week of November 13) in Atlanta where projects will be developed and scoped. To be eligible for selection, teams must commit to attending. Note: Travel and participation expenses will be covered for ~6 members of each team.

Yes, our team commits to attending

No, we have special circumstances to explain

(4-B) Convening and Learning Exchange attendance:

If you selected "no" above, explain any reasons why key members from your team would not be able to attend. If applicable, 450 characters maximum (~150 words)

5) Optional supplemental materials

5-A) Optional supplemental info

Submit any letters of support as part of question #2-D here. If applicable, please combine with any other supplemental materials you wish to include (Reconnecting Communities applications, basic project briefs assembled for other purposes, core presentation materials about the project). Combine and upload as one single PDF.

Accepted file types: pdf, Max. file size: 300 MB.

5-B) Other information

Any helpful links you’d like to include (existing project website, etc.), please include here. If applicable, write short text here