All funding opportunities in this newsletter are federal grants. Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments is committed to vetting funding for member governments throughout the region. If you have a project that does align with the opportunities listed here, please reach out to our office so that we may provide technical assistance in supporting project development.

Thank you for all you do for the Kerr-Tar region,

Amanda Lewis

This NOFO is modified. Changes are made to these sections: funding details, key dates, program description, merit review (criteria), deadlines, and post-award requirements.

The National Human Trafficking Hotline (NHTH) is a national toll-free hotline that operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year via telephone, text, and chat, to assist adults and minors who have experienced a severe form of human trafficking as defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. The objectives of the NHTH include:

• Operate the NHTH’s telephone, text, chat, and website via a coordinated national communications system available 24 hours a day.
• Provide timely information and service referrals to victims of human trafficking using a trauma-informed, person-centered, culturally responsive, and linguistically appropriate approach. Notify law enforcement agencies of potential cases of human trafficking, where appropriate; and Establish and maintain a comprehensive online directory of community-based service providers in communities across the United States.
• Develop trusted relationships to identify, update, and maintain comprehensive internal and online referral directories.
• Directories must include vetted organizations equipped to meet the service needs of survivors and/or respond to tips of potential human trafficking in accordance with relevant referral protocols.

Award: $5,000,000 - $9,000,000

Match: None

The IRS initiative known as the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) grant supports IRS VITA partner organizations operating a VITA program offering free tax preparation service for the underserved taxpayer. Partner organizations, operating a VITA program, help low- to moderate-income individuals, persons with disabilities, the elderly, limited English speakers, Native Americans and miliary file their taxes each year. The IRS awards a matching funds grant to support these partner organizations that offer free tax preparation services during the tax filing season at locations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia through their VITA program. NOFO

Award: $5,000 - $2,000,000

Match: 1:1

The OVW Transitional Housing Assistance Grants for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Program (OVW Transitional Housing Assistance Grant Program) funds transitional housing and support services for victims who are homeless or in need of transitional housing or other housing assistance as a result of a situation of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Eligible applicants are Tribal, state, and local governments and organizations with a documented history of effective work concerning domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. NOFO

Award: $400,000 - $500,000

Match: None

The Grants to Improve the Criminal Justice Response Program (ICJR Program) assists state, local, and Tribal governments, and courts to improve the criminal justice response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking as serious violations of criminal law, and to seek safety and autonomy for victims. NOFO

Award: $500,000 - $1,000,000

Match: None

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Preservation and Access is accepting applications for the Preservation and Access Education and Training program. This program supports training that develops knowledge and skills among professionals responsible for preserving and establishing access to humanities collections. NEH will issue awards to organizations that offer national, regional, or statewide education and training programs that provide staff of cultural institutions with the knowledge and skills they need to serve as effective stewards of humanities collections.

Award: $1 - $350,000

Match: 1:1

The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) is the component of the U.S. Department of Justice responsible for advancing the practice of community policing by the nation’s state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies through information and grant resources. NOFO To date, the COPS Office has been appropriated more than $21 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of nearly 140,000 officers. COPS Office information resources, covering a wide range of community policing topics such as school and campus safety, violent crime, and officer safety and wellness, can be downloaded via the COPS Office’s home page, https://cops.usdoj.gov. The FY25 COPS Hiring Program (CHP) provides funding to law enforcement agencies to hire and/or rehire additional career law enforcement officers in an effort to increase their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts. As community policing is common sense policing, throughout the CHP Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) materials, the terms ‘community policing’ and ‘common sense policing’ are used interchangeably, unless otherwise specified. Anticipated outcomes of CHP awards include engagement in planned community partnerships, implementation of projects to analyze and assess problems, implementation of changes to personnel and agency management in support of community policing, and increased capacity of agency to engage in community policing activities. Community policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies that support the systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as violent crime, nonviolent crime, and fear of crime.

Award: $0 - $6,250,000

Match: 25%

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) established the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) competitive grant program with $5 billion in appropriated funds over 5 years, 2022-2026. The SS4A program funds regional, local, and Tribal initiatives through grants to prevent roadway fatalities and serious injuries. Almost $2 billion is still available for future funding rounds. The SS4A program supports the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Roadway Safety Strategy and our goal of zero roadway deaths using a Safe System Approach. Combining the FY22, FY23, and FY24 awards to date, SS4A has provided $2.9 billion in Federal funding to over 1,600 communities in all 50 States and Puerto Rico. Through this important funding source, USDOT is empowering Tribal, local, and regional efforts to save lives and reduce serious injuries on our roadways. NOFO

Award: $100,000 - $25,000,000

Match: 20%

The Grants to Prevent and Respond to Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, Stalking, and Sex Trafficking Against Children and Youth Program (Children and Youth Program) supports comprehensive, community-based efforts to develop or expand prevention, intervention, treatment, and response strategies to address the needs of children and youth (ages 0-24) impacted by domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, and sex trafficking. NOFO

Award: $500,000

Match: None

The Rural Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Program (Rural Program) enhances the safety of rural victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking by supporting projects uniquely designed to address and prevent these crimes in rural areas. NOFO This program supports cooperative efforts among law enforcement officers, prosecutors, victim service providers, and other related parties to investigate and prosecute sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking; treatment, advocacy, counseling, legal assistance, or other victim services for victims in rural communities; or programs addressing sexual assault. Eligible entities applicants are states and territories, Indian Tribes, local governments, and nonprofit (public or private) entities, including Tribal nonprofit organizations.

Award: $500,000 - $950,000

Match: None

The U.S. Standard Grants Program is a competitive, matching grant program that supports public-private partnerships carrying out projects in the United States that further the goals of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act. NOFO The program promotes partnerships projects that must involve a) only long-term protection, restoration, enhancement and/or establishment of wetland and associated upland habitats to benefit diversity of wetland ecosystems and b) maintaining an abundance of waterfowl (ducks, geese, and swans) and other populations of wetlands-associated migratory birds consistent with the objectives of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan, Waterbird Conservation Plan for the Americas, and Partners in Flight Bird Conservation Plan. The program requires a 1:1 non-federal match and research funding is ineligible. This program supports the Department of Interior and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service mission of protecting and managing the nation's natural resources by collaborating with partners and stakeholders to conserve land and water and to expand outdoor recreation and access.

Award: $250,001 - $3,000,000

Match: 1:1

The Emergency Supplemental Historic Preservation Fund (ESHPF) program supports recovery, and related expenses, for historic and cultural resources in areas impacted by natural disasters that have received a major disaster declaration pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act). Pursuant to FY2025 Public Law 118-158, $48,000,000 will be awarded under the ESHPF grant program for necessary expenses related to the consequences of natural disasters occurring in calendar years 2023 and/or 2024. NOFO Grants are awarded through a competitive process and do not require non-Federal match. There are separate funding announcements for capacity and survey grants to State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices and physical preservation projects. Funding announcement P25AS00257 is for capacity needed by State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices to complete compliance activities and for in-house, non-construction projects (i.e. survey, planning) in areas with major disaster declarations within their jurisdictions only; P25AS00489 is for States, Tribes, local governments, and nonprofits for defined projects (including reconstruction) with documented damage from major disaster declarations within their jurisdictions. Please ensure you apply under the correct opportunity number for your project.

Award: $75,000 - $15,000,000

Match: None

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Research Programs is accepting applications for the Scholarly Editions and Translations program. This program supports collaborative teams who are editing, annotating, and translating foundational humanities texts that are vital to generating new scholarship but are inaccessible or only available in inadequate editions or translations. NOFO

Award: $1 - $450,000

• Planning: Up to $65,000 
• Implementation: Up to $100,000 per year in outright funds, plus an additional $50,000 in matching funds, for a maximum of $150,000 per year and a maximum of $450,000 per award. 

Match: None

The Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant programs provide funding for rural projects through local utility organizations. USDA provides zero-interest loans to local utilities which they, in turn, pass through to local businesses (ultimate recipients) for projects that will create and retain employment in rural areas. USDA provides grants to local utility organizations which use the funding to establish Revolving Loan Funds (RLF). Loans are made from the revolving loan fund to projects that will create or retain rural jobs. When the revolving loan fund is terminated, the grant is repaid to USDA.

Who may apply?

To receive funding for a grant and/or loan an entity must be:

• Current Rural Utilities Service (RUS), electric or telecommunication borrower,
• Any former RUS borrower that has repaid or prepaid an insured, direct or guaranteed loan under the Rural Electrification Act,
• Or any not-for-profit utility that is eligible to receive an insured or direct loan under such Act.

How much funding is available to local utilities?

• Maximum Grant Amount: $300,000 to establish the Revolving Loan Fund.
• Up to 10 percent of grant funds may be applied toward operating expenses over the life of the Revolving Loan Fund.
• Maximum Loan Amount: $1 million.

How may funds be used?

The local utility passes the funding to ultimate recipients for such eligible projects as:

• Business incubators.
• Community development assistance to nonprofits and public bodies (particularly for job creation or enhancement).
• Facilities and equipment to educate and train rural residents to help economic development.
• Facilities and equipment for medical care for rural residents.
• Start-up venture costs, including, but not limited to, financing fixed assets such as real estate, buildings, equipment, or working capital.
• Business expansion.
• Technical assistance.

The NEA is committed to supporting arts projects for the benefit of all Americans. Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) provides funding for public engagement with the arts and arts education, for the integration of the arts with strategies promoting the health and well-being of people and communities, and for the improvement of overall capacity and capabilities within the arts sector. We welcome applications from first-time and returning applicants; from organizations serving rural, urban, suburban, and tribal communities of all sizes; and from organizations with small, medium, or large operating budgets. We fund arts projects in the following disciplines: Artist Communities, Arts Education, Dance, Design, Folk & Traditional Arts, Literary Arts, Local Arts Agencies, Media Arts, Museums, Music, Musical Theater, Opera, Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works, Theater, and Visual Arts.

Award Range: Applicants may request an amount between $10,000-$100,000.

Local Arts Agencies only: Designated local arts agencies that are eligible to subgrant may request $30,000 to $150,000 for subgranting programs. See the Local Arts Agencies Application Instructions below for more information on subgranting eligibility.

1:1 Cost-share/match required. Sources may include both cash and in-kind.

The EPA has selected Research Triangle Institute to serve as a pass-through entity for the Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program (EJ TCGM) to address environmental justice and public health issues in underserved communities. They will provide subgrants to community-based nonprofits and other eligible subrecipients for assessment, planning, and project development activities. They will alleviate much of the burden that the federal grants process places on small, resource-constrained community-based organizations supporting underserved communities and marginalized populations.

Frequently Asked Questions: FAQ

Dates to Submit for Funding:

• April 30, 2025
• July 31, 2025
• October 31, 2025 (Last date for 2-year projects)
• January 31, 2026
• April 30, 2026
• July 31, 2026
• October 31, 2026 (Last date for 1-year projects)
• January 31, 2027
• April 30, 2027 (Last date for 6-month projects)

Match: No

Program Fact Sheet: One-pager