On March 11, 2021, President Joseph R. Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law. This historic legislation was designed to enable all Americans to respond to and recover from the impacts of COVID-19.
Under the American Rescue Plan, EDA was allocated $3 billion in supplemental funding to assist communities nationwide in their efforts to build back better by accelerating the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and building local economies that will be resilient to future economic shocks.
EDA developed six grant programs, collectively called Investing in America’s Communities, to equitably invest the supplemental funding it received through the American Rescue Plan. These programs include:
Additionally, through its Coal Communities Commitment, EDA committed to a minimum of $300 million to support American coal communities as they recover from the pandemic across the Economic Adjustment Assistance (EAA) program ($200 million) and the Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC) ($100 million). As a result of robust demand, EDA has significantly exceeded this commitment, allocating $551.8 million of funding to coal communities across its six American Rescue Plan programs. This funding includes $208.3 million and 89 projects from EAA and $242.9 million across nine BBBRC phase 1 awards and five BBBRC winners in Alaska, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Another $100.6 million from EDA’s other American Rescue Plan programs is invested in or benefits coal communities.
Eligible applicants for EDA’s programs include a(n):
No. The $3 billion provided to EDA under the American Rescue Plan was a one-time supplemental funding source. EDA’s regular programming funding levels are appropriated each year by Congress and include programs such as Build to Scale, Public Works, Economic Adjustment Assistance, Partnership Planning, Research and National Technical Assistance, and University Centers.
Coal communities are communities and regions that can reasonably demonstrate how changes in the coal economy have resulted or are anticipated to result in job losses and layoffs in any coal-reliant commercial sector. This includes, but is not limited to:
In general, EDA considered applications for projects in communities and regions where the primary coal economy contraction “event” (e.g., closure of a coal mine or a coal-fired power plant, closure of various coal economy supply chain businesses, etc.) took place within 15 years of the application submission date.
There was no pre-defined list of impacted coal communities. To demonstrate eligibility, complete applications provided appropriate third party economic and demographic statistics that document the extent to which contractions in the coal economy negatively impacted the community or region.
Equity is defined in EDA’s Investment Priorities as projects or programs that directly benefit:
All states and territories received funding from EDA through the American Rescue Plan. To learn more, explore our impact map.
Through its American Rescue Plan programs, EDA provided a variety of grants. The Build Back Better Regional Challenge and the Good Jobs Challenge were designed to provide larger grants and awards from these two programs range from $1.8 million to $65.1 million. EDA’s other four American Rescue Plan programs offered a range of awards including small planning grants and multi-million-dollar construction grants. Across 780 awards, EDA’s awards reflect the following:
Through its competitive grant process, EDA evaluates all project applications to determine the extent to which they:
Most of EDA’s programs through the American Rescue Plan were evaluated using merit and selection review criteria relevant to the objectives for each program. The selection process for each program was outlined in each of the six competitive Notice of Funding Opportunities published in July 2021 when these programs were announced. In the Travel, Tourism, and Outdoor Recreation and Statewide Planning, Research and Networks programs, some grants were allocated by formula directly to each state and territory.
EDA’s investment priorities provide an overarching framework to ensure its grant investment portfolio – ranging from planning to infrastructure construction – contributes to local efforts to build, improve, or better leverage economic assets that allow businesses to succeed and regional economies to prosper and become more resilient. Competitive grant applications were responsive to the merit criteria listed under each individual funding announcement, including at least one of the below investment priorities. For more information on the investment priorities, please read the Investment Priorities Definitions (PDF).
Private sector entities are ineligible for EDA funding but were critical to the success of many of EDA’s American Rescue Plan competitions, especially the Good Jobs Challenge and the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, through their letters of support and overall partnership with coalitions and workforce development systems. Private sector entities pledged a range of support to EDA grantees, including hiring commitments, match funding, advisory expertise, in-kind contributions (e.g., equipment use), networks and introductions, and pilot programs.
EDA will provide technical assistance to many of its awardees to ensure they successfully contribute to the economic future of their local economies. Through a combination of a new EDA Community of Practice (CoP) program and additional experts within EDA and across government, the economic development field, and other sectors, EDA is committed to ensuring its American Rescue Plan awardees are set up for success.