Ohio Mayors Alliance

A Bipartisan Coalition of Mayors in Ohio’s Largest Cities.

Federal Resources Collaboration Lab

Current and Upcoming State and Federal Grant Opportunities for Cities

Federal Grant Funding

  • US EPA Community Change Grants: The US EPA is accepting applications for $2 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding available to support community-driven projects that build capacity for communities to tackle environmental and climate justice challenges, strengthen their climate resilience, and advance clean energy. Local governments can partner with local community-based organizations. Applications are due November 21, 2024.
  • The Reconnecting Communities Institute is a new U.S. Department of Transportation center for learning to help reconnect communities that were harmed, isolated, and cut off from opportunity by transportation infrastructure. RCI support is available to grantees and prospective grantees of the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program to strengthen local capacity in planning and implementing innovative community reconnection projects. The form to express interest in RCI support is now live! Click here to request support on the RCI website.
  • The US Dept. of Energy released a 2nd round of funding for its Resilient and Efficient Codes Implementation grants, which prioritize collaboration among state and local partners to update and modernize local building and zoning codes in ways that increase energy efficiency. Up to $90 million will be awarded.

State Grant Funding

CyberOhio Local Government Grant Fund: applications are now being accepted. Grants support city programs to prevent cyberattacks and increase protections for government databases.

Climate and Pollution Reduction

  • Abandoned Gas Station Cleanup Grant – This grant provides funding to assess and clean up former gas and service stations with documented petroleum releases. Local government entities and land banks who own an eligible property or who have an agreement with the landowner may apply.
  • For information about current and upcoming state and federal climate and clean energy grant opportunities, please visit the Infrastructure Grant Assistance Program (IGAP) page hosted by our partner Power a Clean Future Ohio. PCFO members can get free technical assistance in preparing grant application materials through IGAP.

Housing

Economic Development

  • The Department of Development is now accepting proposals for the All Ohio Future Fund. The purpose is to support local communities with site-readiness and preparation to attract economic development opportunities.

Public Safety

  • The Office of Criminal Justice Services is accepting applications for its Body Worn Camera Grant Program. A webinar for the Ohio Body-Worn Camera Grant Program will be held by OCJS on Oct. 23 from 10-11:30 a.m. The training webinar is not mandatory but will provide helpful information on both application preparation and the review process. Applications are due Nov. 20, 2024.

Ohio Water Development Authority Loan Programs

  • The OWDA offers a variety of programs that provide low-cost loans to local governments to address water infrastructure, coastal erosion, dams, and distressed watersheds. More information here.

US Dept of Transportation Awards $30 million to Ohio Cities through RAISE Grants

OMA jointly released the following press release to celebrate and highlight the success of 3 Ohio cities—Toledo, Cincinnati, and Youngstown—that are members of both groups. These grants are a good illustration of the many ways Ohio cities are taking advantage of federal funds to fund needed infrastructure, advance complete streets policies, and make cities safer for all forms of transportation.

Columbus, OH – The U.S. Department of Transportation recently announced the recipients of the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grants, which aim to promote sustainable transportation initiatives nationwide. Four Ohio cities received funds from the RAISE grants, including Power a Clean Future Ohio (PCFO) and Ohio Mayors Alliance (OMA) members Cincinnati, Toledo, and Youngstown. The City of Kent also received funding from the program. The grant program is funded through the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a Biden Administration priority that was signed into law in 2021.

PCFO is dedicated to working with local communities to develop equitable clean energy solutions to benefit the well-being of residents, the environment, and the economy. To accomplish that mission, PCFO works with many partners. OMA brings together the mayors of Ohio’s largest cities to foster best practice sharing and provide valuable resources and information to help them meet their goals. Together, OMA and PCFO are working to ensure that local governments have the support and resources needed to take advantage of federal resources and bring needed infrastructure funding to Ohio communities.

“Power a Clean Future Ohio is proud to share the accomplishments of our member communities as they use these funds towards projects that will lower GHG emissions in their community and expand transportation options for their residents. By providing resources to our member communities, such as our Infrastructure Grant Assistance Program, we know Ohio cities will continue to successfully acquire federal funding,” said Cassandra Clevenger, Deputy Director of PCFO. 

“Preserving the fiscal stability of their cities is a critical and ongoing challenge for mayors across Ohio, and finding additional funds in local government budgets can be a challenge,” said OMA Executive Director Keary McCarthy. “These federal grants will boost both metro and regional economies, while helping to ensure that mayors’ local infrastructure priorities can be addressed quickly and effectively.”

The funds will be used to support several projects in Ohio communities, including: 

  • Toledo: Connecting Toledo Neighborhoods to Opportunity (RAISE Grant Funding: $20,000,000): This project aims to add a protected sidewalk to the Dorr Street overpass of Interstate 75 and a new 10-foot-wide multi-use path that will extend approximately 0.75 miles into the Junction neighborhood. It will also make approximately 4.4 miles of complete streets enhancements, including ADA-compliant sidewalks, on-street protected bike lanes, LED lighting, artistic crosswalks, street trees, landscaping, seating, bike shelters, and a public transit mobility hub. 
  • Youngstown: Leveraging Infrastructure for Transportation (LIFT) (RAISE Grant Funding: $2,940,480): The project will complete engineering and final design for the reconstruction of WRTA’s Federal Station transit hub into a mixed-use transit-oriented facility that includes a sheltered passenger terminal, parking garage, electric vehicle charging stations, and amenities. 
  • Cincinnati: Cincinnati Westwood Northern Boulevard Corridor Plan (RAISE Grant Funding: $2,275,000): The project will study and develop conceptual design alternatives for improvements to the Northern Boulevard Corridor that are focused on pedestrians, bicycles, transit, and climate resiliency. 
  • Kent: East Main Street Corridor Improvements (RAISE Grant Funding: $5,250,000): The project will reconstruct a five-lane road to a four-lane road that includes a landscaped center median, sidewalk, multi-use trail, two roundabouts, bus pullouts, and pedestrian amenities. 

For more information about Power a Clean Future Ohio and the support and resources we provide to Ohio’s governments, please visit poweracleanfuture.org to learn more. To learn more about the Ohio Mayors Alliance, visit ohiomayorsalliance.org.

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Power a Clean Future Ohio is a nonprofit organization dedicated to working with local communities to develop equitable clean energy solutions to benefit the well-being of residents, the environment, and the economy. 

The Ohio Mayors Alliance is a bipartisan coalition of mayors of Ohio’s largest urban and suburban communities that works to strengthen Ohio’s cities and metropolitan regions

Toledo Leads the Way in Tackling Residents’ Medical Debt

Around 41% of Americans owe health care debt—and 12% of those who do owe more than $10,000. This debt draws money and resources away from families who most need an extra boost to cover rising expenses for housing, food, and transportation. Toledo city leaders have teamed up with Lucas County leaders to be among the first local governments in the country to allocate American Rescue Plan funds to buy and forgive residents’ medical debt.

The City of Toledo voted to allocate $800,000 of its ARP funds to the effort, and with county funds, a combined $1.6 million will go toward buying up the medical debt of Toledo and Lucas County residents. The non-profit organization RIP Medical Debt is working with Toledo to identify, purchase, and forgive debts for eligible residents.

Anyone with income below 400% of the federal poverty level will qualify to have their debt forgiven, and they need not apply. They will simply receive a notice that their debt has been purchased and will be forgiven. Toledo officials expect the $1.6 million investment to eliminate between $190 and $240 million of community members’ debt. This investment of federal funds amplifies a relatively small amount of money to make a big impact on thousands of Toledoans.

Affordable Housing, Ohio Legacy Cities, and the American Rescue Plan

Ohio doesn’t have enough affordable housing. No city in the state is exempt from this reality, though Ohio’s legacy cities—that is, post-industrial cities that have faced sustained population declines from peak historic levels and have higher than average poverty rates—face particular challenges. In most of these cities, housing stock is quite old and in need of many expensive repairs. In many cases, economic realities make it an unprofitable proposition to do needed repairs and build new affordable housing. In other words: the free market cannot solve this problem in OMA legacy cities such as Akron, Cleveland, Elyria, Lima, Lorain, Middletown, and Youngstown. This is where cities’ American Rescue Plan (ARP) dollars can have an immediate tangible impact.

Cleveland received over $500 million in American Rescue Plan funds, the 8th largest local fiscal recovery fund allocation in the nation, partly because poverty, historic inequity, and the age of the city’s housing stock all make the challenges facing Cleveland especially complex. In October 2022, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb’s “Housing for All” plans began to take root when Cleveland City Council dedicated $50 million to home repairs, rehabilitation loan pools for developers, and a housing gap financing fund that will provide incentives for construction of new affordable housing.

Lima is one of the largest cities in the middle of western Ohio, a region that is largely rural and agricultural. The city’s needs are especially stark in comparison to the much smaller, less diverse villages and townships surrounding it. Mayor Sharetta Smith has developed plans to dedicate over $3 million of Lima’s ARP funding to developing new housing, painting existing housing, and repairing, preserving, and renewing existing housing.

The City of Akron has used ARP funds to create a home repair program that provides homeowners with up to $25,000 for home repairs. The program is focused on essential repairs that improve health, safety, and well-being of a household. The city prioritized homes in particularly under-resourced neighborhoods, applicants’ income, and the need for emergency repairs. 

According to the Greater Ohio Policy Center, weak real estate markets in many Ohio cities make investing in those cities risky for investors. Thus, improving the quality and value of existing homes is one key part of ensuring that more homes can be built. Home repair programs, incentives for contractors and developers, and city subsidizing of housing construction are all essential components of ensuring that all Ohioans will be able to find and afford safe housing now and in the future. These programs comprise additional examples of the many ways ARP funding is helping Ohio cities remain strong anchors for statewide growth and economic development.

Mayors Are Using Federal Funds to Transform Ohio Cities

The challenges in Lima are different than in Youngstown, in Athens, and in Columbus, and because this money is coming directly to mayors, to cities, and to counties, we’re able to invest in the needs of our people on the ground to help them stay in their homes, help to protect and provide for their children and build a stronger economy as we come out of this pandemic.

– Columbus Mayor Andy Ginther, Ohio mayors visit White House to deliver stories of ‘opportunity’ with federal relief funds

Mayor Ginther was one of 13 Ohio mayors who traveled to the White House on September 7, 2022 to talk with Cabinet officials and other local leaders for Communities in Action: Building a Better Ohio. Mayors talked about the impacts of federal funds like the American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in their communities. One takeaway from the coverage of the mayors’ conversations and statements is, as Mayor Ginther describes, the different ways that communities have allocated funds for different local needs.

In many ways, the mayors made it clear that, with resources, cities can do innovative and amazing things that directly impact Ohioans’ lives in ways state and federal leaders cannot. As we detailed in our recent American Rescue Plan report, some Ohio cities are just getting started, while others have allocated most or all of their ARP funds. There are many common themes, but the impacts of ARP funds in cities and regions across the state vary widely. For some examples of issues mayors and other leaders discussed at the White House, check out these news reports:

As for Mayor Ginther, Brookings Metro recently highlighted Columbus as one of five large cities nationally that has invested more than 80% of its ARP money in programs that address economic disadvantage. Columbus has invested significant ARP funds to address homelessness, the child care crisis, and community nonprofits that serve low income families, immigrant populations, and at risk youth, for example.

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