NYC Shares Its Playbook for Getting Federal Grant Funds

New York City has locked down $2.4 billion in federal funding for infrastructure projects over the last two years by rewiring its grants application process, according to a report released Monday.

In the report, New York City officials share a set of best practices to help other cities compete for federal dollars. President Joe Biden’s administration has long acknowledged that many potential grant applicants — especially first-timers — struggle to understand which opportunities are available to them, and often don’t have the staff or expertise to put together compelling applications.

Since the federal infrastructure and climate laws took effect, New York City has been on a winning streak: It received 66 awards to pay for projects that include a fleet of clean school buses, a $164 million restoration project at the Brooklyn Marine Terminal and a broad stormwater plan in neighborhoods that often flood.

One of the city’s most critical steps has been to create a central task force of about 20 city agencies to team up on funding proposals, said Meera Joshi, New York’s deputy mayor for operations.

“We’ve been pushing them to think creatively, to combine on grant applications, and then break a few norms that had previously been sort of set in stone,” Joshi said. “This is a really rare opportunity. Let’s have everyone apply for everything.”

That practice isn’t typical in most city governments. Andrew Kimball, president of the New York Economic Development Corporation (EDC), said most cities have “more of a ‘Hunger Games’ approach, where every agency is out on their own and running across conflict over limited dollars.”

Even in New York, just two offices — the EDC and the Department of Transportation — have historically done most of the city’s grant applications, Joshi said.

An application developed by multiple city agencies is also more likely to appeal to federal decisionmakers because it shows a higher likelihood that the money will be spent efficiently, according to Kimball.

Another strategy Joshi shared: When the city has been turned down for a grant, it’s met with federal officials to understand what went wrong.

“Those are extremely helpful because they help position you for the next time you apply,” Joshi said. For example, last month New York won a $96 million grant to build a waterfront greenway in Upper Manhattan, but it took three tries to get that funding, according to Joshi.

The report also calls on states to revise policies that hinder big cities from getting their hands on certain pots of money. For example, New York state only lets municipalities with fewer than 300,000 people get certain federal water infrastructure funds. That recommendation is likely to raise the ire of small cities that often have the hardest time competing for grants.

Josh acknowledged the built-in advantages New York has, as the nation’s biggest city. Its $112 billion budget is the largest of any in the nation, and Joshi conceded it doesn’t hurt that both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries live in Brooklyn.

“But that also means we have to be proactive about reaching out to the White House, reaching out to the agencies and personally advocating for the projects that we put in for,” Joshi said.

For smaller cities, the labyrinth of federal contracting processes has been a struggle, said Brittney Kohler, legislative director of transportation and infrastructure at the National League of Cities.

“We’ve gone from from zero to 60 in federal grants, which is great,” Kohler said. “But it also means that we’re running into the exact same problems that state entities complain about every day: federal processing, the lack of administrative support, the archaic processes of waiting for everything to happen before you get to move to the next step.”

Read More: For US Cities in Infrastructure Need, Grant Writers Wanted

To fill the needs gap, Kohler’s group is part of the Local Infrastructure Hub, which runs a grant application bootcamp designed to train cities to get better at applying for federal grants.

Bloomberg Philanthropies, which galvanized the consortium that formed the hub, also works to help mayors and city halls bolster their ability to go after opportunities like infrastructure funding.

“For most municipalities, securing federal funding is foreign terrain,” said James Anderson, who leads Bloomberg Philanthropies’ government innovation program. “A majority have never before received funding from a competitive federal grant. Yet that’s exactly what this moment is asking of our smaller urban, suburban, and rural communities.”

(Bloomberg Philanthropies is the philanthropic organization of Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, which owns Bloomberg News.)

To contact the author of this story:
Stephen Lee in Arlington at slee1618@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Nicole Flatow at nflatow@bloomberg.net

Zachary Sherwood

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