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About MNA Public Policy News Events Public Policy Resources Michigan Participation Project Serve Michigan Projects and Campaigns
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Frequently Asked Questions on the Economic Recovery PlanThis page provides answers to frequently asked questions from the nonprofit community about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the associated federal stimulus dollars that are or could be available for nonprofit organizations in Michigan. For more information on the ARRA, including detailed reports and a free webinar, click here. Frequently Asked Questions Reports and Information from the Michigan Recovery Office
Where do I find...
General Information
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Many of the competitive grant opportunities mentioned in the FAQs below are no longer available; however, some may still be open and accepting applications. Additionally, we are expecting a new round of competitive grants to be made available sometime in September. For an up-to-date listing of available competitive grant opportunities, visit the Michigan Recovery Office website. You may still find it useful to identify a type of competitive grant from the FAQs below and then cross-reference that grant to the Michigan Recovery Office to see if it is still available. Types of Available Funding
Disbursement of Funds Technical Questions
Reports and Information from the Michigan Recovery Office Competitive Grant Opportunities While many competitive grant opportunities are now closed, some are still available and we are expecting a new round of competitive grant opportunities to be made available beginning sometime in September. For a list of currently available competitive grant opportunities, visit the Michigan Recovery Office website on a regular basis. By clicking on the interactive maps available on the Michigan Recovery Office's website, you can view a report of how the dollars from the Recovery Act are at work in your community. The map breaks down all reports by county. Role of the Michigan Recovery Office To learn more about the role of the Michigan Recovery Office and the resources it provides, click here. Strict accountability and transparency in the use of Recovery Act funds is required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Click here for info related to this important responsibility, including project certifications, reports, and other required documents. View a list of commonly asked questions and answers from the Michigan Recovery Office, including an explanation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), what this Act means for Michigan, and a breakdown of many of the ways in which ARRA dollars will benefit the citizens of our state. Where do I find... Where do I find the list of available competitive grants? This list is available on the State of Michigan Recovery Office website. Visit http://michigan.gov/recovery and click on "Grant Opportunities." Where do I find instructions for applying for competitive grants? Application instructions vary by grant. To locate instructions for the grant(s) you would like to apply for, visit the State of Michigan Recovery Office website, click on "Grant Opportunities" and select your desired grant. A link to more information, including application instructions, will be posted as soon as it is available. Please note: Some grants are posted before application instructions are provided by the granting agency. Links to the application instructions will be posted on the State's website as soon as they are received. If your desired grant does not currently include application instructions, check back on a daily basis to monitor updates. Where do I find Grant Writing tips? MNA provides a number of resources to nonprofits to assist in their grant writing efforts. To access this list of resources, visit our page on Funding Resources and Grant Writing. Where do I find a list of local municipalities that have been awarded stimulus dollars? Visit www.michigan.gov/recovery and click on the "Interactive County Map" link on the left side of the page. The map has links to every county in the state with detailed information about Recovery Act allocations. You are also encouraged to contact your local municipalities directly to ask this question in order to receive the most up-to-date information. General Information How often are new competitive grants being announced/posted online? How often is new information being provided on the grant opportunities already published? The Michigan Recovery office website is updated on a regular basis, often daily. New grants are posted as the state receives information from the granting agency. Updated information on existing grants, including application instructions and deadlines, is also being posted on a regular basis. You are encouraged to check the state website daily for new information on grants for which your organization may be eligible to apply. You can also sign up for email updates from the Michigan Recovery Office. If I apply for a competitive grant, how long will it take to find out if my grant application will be funded? It depends. Federal agencies in charge of disbursing funds are under a lot of pressure to authorize and distribute awards quickly; however, there is not currently a set timeline that determines how quickly you will hear a determination on your grant application. Are smaller organizations at a disadvantage when applying for stimulus funds? Are larger nonprofits more likely to receive the dollars? No. There is no preference for one size of organization over the other. The dollars that are available are so vast and so varied in scope and purpose that all organizations should apply for any dollars for which they qualify. There is not a preference for small vs. large organizations, urban vs. rural communities, one state over another state, etc. All qualified groups are encouraged to apply. Are faith-based organizations in any way prohibited or discouraged from applying for funding? No. The question when applying for funds is simply whether or not your organization is eligible to receive the monies according to the posted eligibility requirements. Faith-based organizations are encouraged to apply for any dollars which they may be eligible to receive. What happened to the list of shovel-ready projects that the Governor's office collected a few months ago? When the Governor's office called for communities to submit their project ideas, the details of the stimulus plan were not fully known. However, the state wanted to be ready to put the dollars to work as soon as they were available. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("Recovery Act"), signed into law by President Obama on February 17, outlined how the dollars will flow to the states. Much of the funding will come through existing formulas that determine how much funding is available and the types of projects that qualify, including transportation, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, and at-risk and special education funds for K-12 schools. The remaining funding will come to Michigan primarily through competitive grants for which local communities, schools and nonprofits will be eligible to apply. This means that most of the stimulus funds will not be distributed through the state as originally anticipated, but rather through federal agencies. In order to locate funding for your project(s), you will likely need to look at available formula dollars and competitive grants to find out if and how your program(s) may be eligible for funding. You will then need to apply directly to the agency responsible for distributing that stream of funding. A large number of competitive grant opportunities are available for funding specific projects. Visit the State of Michigan's Recovery Office website and click on "Grant Opportunities" to review available grants for which your "shovel-ready" projects might qualify, then submit your proposal according to the application criteria specified. Should nonprofits check with local elected officials and municipalities about opportunities for re-grants or local appropriations? Yes. Many local municipalities are receiving funding that will be distributed directly through that local entity. The fastest way to determine whether your local municipality is receiving such funding is to contact them directly. You can also check the State of Michigan's Recovery Office website for a list of announcements on funds awarded to local municipalities and other groups. Types of Available Funding Important Update about available competitive grants What funding is available for the retrofitting of old buildings to make them more energy efficient? There is significant money available for anything that involves greening, whether that be the retrofitting of old buildings, schools, public buildings, public housing, weatherization of private homes, etc. This funding is flowing via several different mechanisms. Local communities receive many of these direct appropriations through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant. Many of these dollars have already been allocated and assigned for energy efficiency improvement in public buildings so that communities can reduce their long term energy costs. There are also grant opportunities available through that same program. The state energy program (housed in the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth), like weatherization, is seeing a significant increase in this funding and will likely use a large part of the increased funding for this purpose. Schools are receiving a significant amount of dollars, and they could choose to use some of these monies to upgrade their facilities, e.g. for technology upgrades or energy improvements to help them improve their long term costs. Depending on the type of building, there are a number of different pots of money that might be available, but overall there are significant dollars targeted at greening efforts. To apply for these dollars, you need to go to the agency responsible for the distribution of the dollars. In most cases, this is a federal agency such as the Department of Energy or perhaps the Department of Education. Some dollars have already flowed to local municipalities who may choose to use their dollars (such as the funding provided through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants) for these purposes, and those local municipalities will determine how the dollars get appropriated and spent. But the vast majority of these dollars will be appropriated through the competitive grant process, and all of these applications need to be submitted directly to the appropriate federal agency. Important Update about available competitive grants What funding is available for Health Clinics? The dollars that have been allocated thus far are for the Community Health Centers line item in the Federal Recovery Act, and those dollars are targeted specifically at federally qualified health centers. But that is not the only funding mechanism available through HHS. There will be a number of competitive grant opportunities that health care providers of all kinds will be able to access. There is funding from the Prevention and Wellness Fund, which will provide a variety of different grant opportunities. For example, there may be grants available to help fund a smoking cessation program, or other such types of programs. Those grant applications are not available yet and the state is still waiting to receive guidance on that fund. There is also HHS funding targeted specifically at rural facilities. Every federal agency is defining "rural" a bit differently, so it is not yet known what will constitute "rural" according to HHS, but in general the dollars will be targeted at smaller communities who might have free clinics or smaller clinics that need either capital infrastructure improvements or programming dollars. The Electronic Health Record Development Program will be a source of a significant amount of dollars, and the first dollars that will flow through that program will flow directly to providers. Medicare and Medicaid providers will receive the first allocation of dollars to help them develop the Electronic Medical Record Keeping programming before the bigger dollars come in to create the state Health Care IT System (a network for local providers to link to in order to become part of a broader network). Ultimately there are a number of different categories of health care dollars that will be available for providers of all kinds, big and small, rural and urban. Important Update about available competitive grants Is funding only available for Federally Qualified Health Clinics (FQHC), or will other clinics qualify for funding as well? (Updated April 30, 2009) Important Update about available competitive grants Is funding available for free health clinics? (Updated April 30, 2009) Important Update about available competitive grants What funding is available for dental clinics? The formula dollar funding stream in the Electronic Health Record Development Program is likely the only formula dollar mechanism available for dental clinics. There may, however, be a number of competitive grants for which dental clinics would qualify, and they may also qualify for funding under the Prevention and Wellness Fund. Visit the State of Michigan's Recovery Office website for an updated listing of available competitive grants. Important Update about available competitive grants What funding is available for substance abuse clinics? Dollars will likely be available through such funding streams as the Prevention and Wellness Fund, various health-related grants, and potentially through Byrne JAG. (Byrne JAG funding is targeted at the justice assistance grants, which provides for specialty courts and specialty treatment programs through the criminal justice system.) On the treatment side there are a number of potential grant opportunities. Visit the State of Michigan's Recovery Office website for a list of available grants. Important Update about available competitive grants What funding is available for after-school programs and/or juvenile justice/at-risk programs? The vast majority of education dollars ($2.2 billion total) are going to flow directly to local schools, and the local schools will decide how those dollars are to be spent. Organizations looking to find funding for after-school programs associated with the K-12 student population are encouraged to connect with their local school district to pursue funding opportunities. Title I, Part D funds have been allocated. These funds are used to provide programs that serve children and youth who are in locally operated correctional facilities or are attending community day programs for delinquent children and youth. You can visit the county maps on the state's Recovery website to see how much funds each school district in any given county will receive. Another option is competitive grants. Some competitive grants will be administered through the State Department of Education, others will be federally administered through the U.S. Department of Education. Each targets specific areas within education. For example, there is funding available for school lunch equipment. If you are connected with a facility that provides meals for children, whether it’s a Head Start facility or a school building itself, there’s a grant opportunity to upgrade equipment inside those facilities. This grant will be administered by the State Department of Education. There will be grant programs for education technology to allow schools to update their infrastructure or perhaps update computers in their library or provide new wiring so that all of their classrooms can have access to updated technology. Again, this would be a state administered grant. There are additional competitive grant dollars for early Head Start, and those dollars will be federally administered. Important Update about available competitive grants What funding is available for Arts & Culture groups? There are a couple of different pots of funding available for this category. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) received some additional funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that will be coming to Michigan through the Michigan Council of Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA), and NEA will be granting out those dollars to local arts and cultural organizations using the same process that they use annually to make their grants. The expected additional funding is approximately $350,000. The state is also anticipating that the NEA will have some competitive grants available as well for which you would need to apply directly to the NEA. Specific information from NEA on how this process would work is not yet available, but the state is anticipating that there will be that second round of competitive grants through the NEA. In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services has made $50 million in grants available to strengthen nonprofits and faith-based groups. The Strengthening Communities Fund (SCF) is divided into two parts. The Nonprofit Capacity Building program will make one-time, two-year awards of up to $1 million to lead organizations that will use the funds to support other faith-based or secular nonprofit organizations. The State, Local and Tribal Government Capacity Building program will make one-time, two-year awards of up to $250,000 to state, city, county and Indian/Native American tribal governments. Governments will use these grants to strengthen nonprofit organizations and increase the nonprofits' involvement in projects that help turn our economy around. More information about this grant is available from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Important Update about available competitive grants What funding is available for Historic Preservation? In terms of historic preservation, the state has received a number of requests for this kind of funding, both from arts and cultural organizations as well as from local communities who might have a city hall or some other building within their local municipality that falls under the category of "historic preservation." As mentioned under "What funding is available for the retrofitting of old buildings," there are significant dollars available for upgrading old buildings to make them more energy efficient. Many historic buildings fall into this category. Important Update about available competitive grants What funding is available for Housing and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)? There is significant additional funding that will flow through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), about $260 million additional funding for a variety of different housing programs. MSHDA has released an overview that outlines how they intend to spend those dollars. There are a variety of pots of money that will be available through MSHDA to fund a number of purposes related to housing. Specific examples of available funding include: homelessness prevention program dollars designed for transitional housing and other expenses related to getting people out of homelessness; retrofitting dollars for public housing; tax credits for the construction of public housing; and more. Visit MSHDA's website for more information. Important Update about available competitive grants What funding is available for Environmental Education? A number of different funding streams may be available for environmental education. All of the education dollars that are flowing will be spent according to the decisions of the local schools. There are some dollars available in the Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Research and Development, Deployment and Demonstration (EERERDDD) Fund, a grant that is being administered by the federal Department of Energy. One of the eligible categories for funding in that grant is renewable energy and energy efficiency demonstration projects, which specifically target community education and youth education in those categories. So there are funding streams available through the education realm and through various grant opportunities. Important Update about available competitive grants What funding is available for Land Conservation? Dollars will be flowing both through the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), targeted at a variety of environmental programs, from coastal habitat restoration to invasive species elimination and many other programs. A large number of dollars is flowing through the national Forest Preservation agency to target forest land and preservation. The majority of those funds are available through the competitive grant process, and the DNR is being very aggressive in partnering with local communities, nonprofits, and local stakeholders of all kinds (in addition to other state agencies), in pursuing those dollars. The first grant was due to NOAH last week, and at the state and local level Michigan applied for more than two dozen grants for coastal protection programs alone. There are tremendous dollars available for this category, all through the competitive grant process. Important Update about available competitive grants What funding is available for Workforce Development? There is a significant amount of money included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for training and education at all levels. Michigan has already received applications for a variety of categories funded through the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). There is money targeted at adults, youth, dislocated workers, etc., $136.2 million in funding for MichiganWorks! agencies at the end of April. Information about how much each of the 25 agencies received can be found online. The state is also expecting some additional workforce development dollars from the Youthbuild program, as well as some competitive grant opportunities. The High Growth of Emerging Industries grant, targeted at emerging sectors, is great for Michigan. The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program is significantly changed in the ARRA from its current structure. The program is targeted at workers who lose their jobs as a result of those jobs moving out of the country, and this program is something that Michigan has participated in at a high level in the past due to the massive changes in the auto industry. The TAA typically designated a particular worksite as “TAA” and those workers would become eligible for benefits; through the new version of the program as outlined in the ARRA, entire communities are eligible for TAA designation, and entire communities would then be eligible for the benefits that the TAA program provides. Important Update about available competitive grants What funding is available for homeless shelters? There is funding available through MSHDA for homelessness prevention services. Those monies are intended for both emergency shelter services as well as transitional housing (rent assistance as one example). Homelessness education dollars are available through the Department of Education to local school districts that provide services to communities with high percentages of homeless children. There are also a number of programs with dollars for emergency food assistance that target school services and community-based services (homeless shelters, food banks, etc.) as well as funding for those who provide congregate services through senior centers or other community facilities where there are congregate food services. There is a variety of funding mechanisms available for such programs, but keep in mind as you pursue funding that the demand for these types of dollars has increased all across the country, not just in Michigan, so there is significant demand for these dollars. Important Update about available competitive grants What funding is available for emergency shelters? Funding is available through a number of existing programs, such as the Stop Violence Against Women program for transitional housing, in addition to domestic violence services. Funding is also available through MSHDA for emergency shelter services. Important Update about available competitive grants What funding is available for national service? Michigan has received an additional $1 million from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) for AmeriCorps funding, that we expect will provide for an additional 76 AmeriCorps service members in Michigan over the next year. There is a significant amount of money also available through competitive grants. Not much specific information has been published about the competitive grants yet, but there is about $200 million available nationally for competitive grants from CNCS. Michigan has tremendous potential to apply for and receive more funding, in addition to the 76 AmeriCorps slots we have already received. The additional AmeriCorps members allocated will flow through the Department of Human Services and the Michigan Community Service Commission. If you are interested in applying to host one or more of these additional AmeriCorps members, contact the Michigan Community Service Commission. Important Update about available competitive grants Once an application has been approved for funding, how are the monies flowing to the recipient organization? Are the dollars available right away, can we get advances, or are expenses reimbursed after the fact? It depends. How the money will flow and the timeframe for the movement of those dollars depends on the stream of funding through which the dollars are coming. The great majority of the dollars will be draw-down, essentially a reimbursement for expenditures. In some cases, for example through the Community Action Agencies (CAAs) on the weatherization side, typically a portion of the dollars are provided up front to the contractors. The reality that a large amount of these dollars will be in the form of reimbursements for expenditures is a difficult reality and something that the state is really struggling with, because the volume of dollars has increased so significantly and the amount the state would need to provide up front has significantly increased, and the state gets their federal money on the backside. So the state is working to try and figure out how to make the cash flow work so that everyone can do what they need to do to spend the money as quickly as possible. But each funding stream works so differently that it really depends on the program. An important note: For organizations that currently receive federal dollars and are anticipating receiving more dollars through their existing funding stream(s), assume that the funding will flow in the same way it does now. Whether that is ahead of time, after the fact, reimbursement, draw down, etc., assume that if you receive it now and are going to be receiving more through the same program, that the mechanism through which the dollars will flow will not change. Technical Questions What happens if my nonprofit can't spend all the money it receives from a grant in the allotted time period? You will likely be required to return it. The requirements for the grant will be stipulated in the contract agreement signed by the receiving organization, and it is extremely likely that any money not spent in the allotted time period will be required to be returned to the agency which granted those funds. It should be noted, however, that these grants often cover more than a single calendar year or a single fiscal year; they could be up to a three-year grant. So the timeline for expenditure of the funds will be spelled out within each individual grant and will vary from one grant to the next. Do the competitive grants require local match dollars? Some do, some don't. However, in many cases, that requirement for local match dollars is being waived. If there is a grant that requires local match dollars and your organization cannot meet that requirement, it is recommended that you petition for the waiving of that requirement. If you contact the State of Michigan's Recovery office to make a request, they will also advocate on your behalf for the waiving of this requirement. There is no guarantee of a waiver, but if that is the only thing keeping your orgnanization from applying for a grant, certainly make the request for a waiver. What are the reporting requirements associated with the stimulus dollars? What accountability measures does my organization need to have in place? There is not yet clear guidance on the evaluation and accountability measures that will be associated with these funds. The grant that you pursue will likely have great specificity both in terms of what you will be expected to provide up front and provide at the end of the life of the grant. The State of Michigan's Recovery office recommends that organizations make these assumptions:
How is job creation tied to the receipt of stimulus dollars? Are there certain requirements? Sustainability is the biggest challenge with these dollars, and it’s something every state is struggling with, whether at the state or local or school or organizational level. The goal of these funds is to create and preserve as many jobs as possible, and one of the things the state is encouraging recipients to do is to look at ways of investing the dollars that would reduce costs in the long run or create some sort of benefit long term so that the dollars that might have been spent in another way can be spent to maintain employment. For example, if a school district uses these dollars to reduce their heating and energy costs in all of their buildings, that frees up their general fund dollars the next year, and maybe if they have reduced their utility costs by 10%, that’s a couple of teacher's aids that they don’t have to lay off in the next year. You are encouraged to focus on creating sustainability wherever possible by reducing long term costs in areas other than employment. Can I request an extension to the filing deadline of a particular grant? You can ask. It is unlikely that the request will be granted due to the pressure at the federal level to get these grants out the door as quickly as possible, but certainly the worst that can happen is that you are told "no." Just make sure that your request is directed to the appropriate agency - direct it to the agency responsible for the distribution of the grant you are pursuing. Didn't get your question answered? Contact the State of Michigan Recovery Office. For more information on the economic recovery plan, including access to MNA's April 14 webinar with Ms. Leslee Fritz of the State of Michigan's Economic Recovery Office, click here. MNA will continue to provide information on the economic stimulus dollars as more details become available. This page is intended to be used as a preliminary resource in researching available stimulus dollars for nonprofit programs; MNA cannot guarantee accuracy or that the answers provided are up-to-date or comprehensive. |
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