Thriving Communities Program Capacity Builders Cooperative Agreements

4 Capacity Builders were selected for FY22 and 9 Capacity Builders (6 Regional and 3 National) were selected for FY23 funding. Each are under a cooperative agreement and are currently providing technical assistance (TA), planning, and capacity buildi

Urban, rural, and Tribal communities that have suffered historic disinvestment often lack the resources and capacity to successfully engage, develop, design, and deliver infrastructure projects. The Biden administration is committed to closing access gaps by providing targeted support to navigate federal requirements, identify funding and financing opportunities, and grow long-term capacity to leverage transportation investments to achieve broader economic and community development goals. As a result of the Thriving Communities Program, a pipeline of diverse and transformative community-driven infrastructure projects will be advanced across the country to drive inclusive economic growth, build resiliency, and ensure that every place has a chance to thrive. This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) seeks to establish a national technical assistance program that will drive innovation, advance equity outcomes, and build a national pipeline of community-driven infrastructure projects. In its first year, TCP will provide deep-dive technical assistance to at least 30 communities. This will be done through cooperative agreements with eligible parties to help those communities with the highest degree of burden and capacity constraints prepare, develop, and deliver transformative infrastructure projects. Eligible TCP applicants should propose strategies to provide deep-dive technical assistance, planning and capacity building and build a robust Community of Practice across regions involving diverse transportation and community stakeholders. Specifically, this includes facilitating the scoping, planning, development and delivery of transportation and community revitalization activities supported by DOT that increase mobility, reduce pollution from transportation sources, expand affordable transportation options, facilitate efficient land use, preserve or expand jobs, improve housing conditions, enhance connections to health care, education, and food security, or improve health outcomes.

Eligible applicants are non-profit organizations, state or local governments and their agencies (such as transit agencies or metropolitan planning organizations), Tribes, philanthropic entities, and other technical assistance providers with a demonstrated capacity to develop and provide technical assistance, planning, and capacity building.

Recipients of the technical assistance provided through TCP are state, local, or Tribal governments, United States territories, metropolitan planning organizations, regional transportation planning organizations, transit agencies, or other political subdivisions of state or local governments. DOT is establishing as a prerequisite to eligibility, that these governmental entities form coalitions, referred to as Community Partnerships (as described in the LOI), with organizations from within and outside the government that may also serve as local capacity building and technical assistance implementation partners and generate deeper community engagement particularly from historically under-represented populations and environmental justice stakeholders. The composition of these Community Partnerships will be at the discretion of each technical assistance recipient, but could include other government entities, nonprofits, non-governmental and community-based organizations, labor unions, advocacy groups, chambers of commerce and major employers or anchor institutions, and philanthropic organizations.

1. Delivering individualized deep-dive technical assistance, planning, and capacity building to selected communities across pre-development and grant application activities through project development, project funding and financing, and project delivery. 2. Establishing and managing a national Community of Practice to advance policies, practices and projects informed by meaningful public involvement and partnership. 3. Providing targeted technical support as part of the national TCP capacity building network.

FY22 Awards must will conclude by September 30, 2025. FY23 Awards must conclude by September 30, 2026.

Proven Success · Extensive expertise in providing technical assistance, planning and capacity building to and/or with government organizations to support the needs of underserved populations and geographies. · Demonstrated ability to build and sustain a Community of Practice to generate shared learning and relationship building across diverse types of government and non-government partners, including equity partners, and a diversity of place types. · Ability to carry out the proposed scope of work based on staff experience and professional accomplishments. · Demonstrated ability to assist lead applicants in their efforts to successfully comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and other federal regulations. · Employment of qualified personnel that, as a group, demonstrate project management expertise, as well as demonstrated success in all aspects of the scope of work including commitments to equity, diversity, and inclusion. Quality Project Management · Feasible and reasonable budget that addresses all program and Federal accountability concerns and demonstration of a financial plan and necessary accounting systems in place to meet federal 2 CFR Part 200 requirements. · Clearly identified tasks and at least 60% of budget allocated to provide direct support to recipients and community partners to build and utilize local capacity. · Clearly defined timeline including targets, metrics, milestones, objectives, goals, and deliverables. · Clear involvement of disadvantaged business enterprises, small businesses or minority owned businesses, and/or community-based organizations in proposed deliverables. · Realistic performance targets and demonstrated method to measure progress. · Management plan describing methods for supporting the project goals and managing partner organizations and project staff, including plan to address challenges and risks and proposed mitigation strategies. Alignment with DOT Priorities · Demonstrates multiple areas of expertise including specifically working with and empowering disadvantaged communities and with transportation approaches that align with DOT strategic priorities and Equity Action Plan commitments. · Enable development of a national pipeline of transformative projects and comprehensive community development that deliver equity, environmental, safety, mobility, housing, and economic benefits. · Infuse an equity lens into the design and delivery of technical assistance, planning, and capacity building in a transportation context. · Improve basic infrastructure conditions and elevate the adoption of transportation decarbonization and climate resilience strategies to benefit disadvantaged communities. · Adopt equity screening and meaningful public involvement practices to advance transformative community- and data-driven projects through state and metropolitan Transportation Improvement Programs (STIPs and TIPs). · Support workforce development, hiring and labor practices benefitting local economically disadvantaged communities. Centering Community · Develop a realistic and community-driven assessment of need and corresponding scope of work for each assigned recipient. · Deploy equity practices to support community visioning and inclusive engagement strategies, including use of arts, culture, technology, and culturally competent practices. · Demonstrate success in building and sustaining partnership networks for local and regional transportation, economic and community development, housing, public health and/or environmental entities and stakeholders. · Demonstrate an approach to working with DOT and other relevant federal agencies, including identified regional staff, in providing support to communities and leveraging federal opportunities. Flexibility and Innovation · Increase the ability of communities to deploy innovative technologies and other strategies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve safety, equity, and resilience outcomes in disadvantaged communities. · Increase or supplement the ability of communities to deploy quantitative skills, analytics, and data visualization to support evidence-based planning and decision-making. · Include innovative practices to co-design evaluation and performance metrics to ensure program goals are advanced along with along Impact Size and Longevity · Maximize the scale of impact by providing comprehensive technical assistance to as many communities as reasonably possible. · Maximize impact by leveraging additional funding and other resources (whether public, philanthropic, or other private resources). · Demonstrate success in efficiently taking existing practices to scale; and in aggregating place-based work into key findings, noteworthy practices, and guidance to inform future DOT policy, technical assistance, planning and capacity building efforts. · Ensure longevity of technical assistance impact

For each application, DOT staff will assess whether the applicant is eligible and submitted all the information requested for a complete application. Applications that may not have all the necessary components will be referred to an Evaluation Management Oversight Team, which will contact the applicant if it is determined they are an eligible applicant and request the missing information with a response time of 5 business days. Applicants that do not supply required information in this timeframe will be disqualified. Applications received from ineligible entities will not be considered for funding. Applicants who are determined to be ineligible will be notified in writing, and all determinations will be documented.

Grants are not renewable. Recipients of awards under the FY22 program are eligible to apply for FY23 awards. Each fiscal year competition is considered separately.