EDA American Rescue Plan funding program: Statewide Planning, Research, and Networks

Included within the $3 billion American Rescue Plan Act funding package, the EDA has created the Statewide Planning, Research, and Networks program. The $90 million allocated for this program has been divided into two separate sections aimed at building regional economies for the future.

Statewide Planning Grants - $59 million

The Statewide Planning Grants are invitation-only grants sent to Governors, the Mayor of D.C., and some other territorial leaders. The Statewide Planning award does not exceed $1 million and is meant for use in a variety of planning actions including bringing together existing local or regional plans, analyzing the needs of impoverished communities and formulating disparity reduction strategies, and creating new economic development plans identifying industry clusters that may benefit from infrastructure projects and other actions to aid in their expansion. No matching funds are required for these grants, as they are made at a 100% rate. Lastly, construction activities cannot be funded through these grants, but feasibility studies may be depending on their scope.

Applications for these grants are due within 45 days of the invitation being received.

Research and Networks Grants - $31 million

This section of the larger program is divided into two separate and specific scopes. For the Research Program, awards are expected to be between $200,000 - $600,000. The primary focus of these grants is to support real-time research on and evaluation of other American Rescue Plan programs.

The Networks and Communities of Practice Program seeks to give awards amounting to totals between $2 million - $6 million. The central objectives of this portion of the program are to develop nationwide, sustainable networks for use by present and future EDA grantees like Economic Development Districts or Tribal Partners, and to provide technical assistance to award winners of the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, Coal Communities Commitment, and Good Jobs Challenge.

For both the research and networks grants, individuals and for-profit institutions are not eligible for awards. Like the Statewide Planning Grants, no matching funds are required within these applications, but applications that propose a match might be more competitive.

Applications are encouraged to be submitted by October 31st and are being reviewed on a rolling basis.

Resources

  • For more detailed information and the official NOFO, please visit grants.gov.
  • Please email your questions about the American Rescue Plan Research program to [email protected].
  • Please email your questions about the American Rescue Plan Networks program to [email protected].
  • For Statewide Planning inquiries, please visit eda.gov/contact to find contact information for your Economic Development Representative.