CED grant program

The purpose of the Community Economic Development (CED) program is to create employment and business development opportunities for low-income individuals.

For Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Community and Economic Development (CED) program, administered by the Office of Community Services (OCS) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), has announced it will provide approximately $27 million in grants ($800,000 maximum per project) to Community Development Corporations (CDCs) for projects designed to address the economic needs of low-income individuals and families through the creation of employment and business opportunities. A total of 35 awards is projected. It is expected that CED grantees will use the CED funds, along with other leveraged funds, to conduct activities that will lead to this job creation. For example, a CED grantee could make a loan to a small manufacturing business that would then use the funds to expand its facility physically and purchase additional equipment. This increase in capacity would allow the business to hire additional workers.

CED funding may also be used to provide technical and financial assistance in order to create sustainable new employment and business opportunities for recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and other low-income individuals whose income level does not exceed 125 percent of the Federal poverty level.

This year, in coordination with the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI), the CED program will provide up to $10 million of this funding to CDCs for CED projects located in food deserts and designed to improve access to healthy, affordable foods. HFFI is the first time the Federal government has coordinated its efforts to eliminate food deserts around the country. Together, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Department of Treasury (Treasury) and HHS have created the Healthy Food Financing Working Group (Working Group).

CED-funded projects can be non-construction or construction projects. The grant period for non-construction projects is three years; for construction projects, the grant period is five years. The CED Program permits facility construction as needed to support business creation, business expansion and/or job creation. However it is important to note that short-term construction jobs associated with preparing for business start-up or expansion are not counted when determining the number of jobs created under the CED program as they are designed to be temporary in nature.

For the purposes of this opportunity, underserved areas are the 17 states and territories that do not have active CED projects: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Utah, Wyoming, Vermont, West Virginia, American Samoa, Island of Guam, Northern Mariana Islands(CNMI), Puerto Rico and the U. S. Virgin Islands.

To be eligible for the CED program, an applicant must be a community development corporation (CDC). Click here for the application package. Proposal submissions are due by June 5, 2012.