Planning Grants

Planning Grants

Planning Grants is funded by Federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) dollars from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The program encourages communities to plan for long-term development. Community leaders are able to apply for projects including infrastructure, broadband, downtown revitalization, and community facilities.

Planning Grants allow a community to identify what the most prevalent issues are or the things they want to address and how to address them. Communities can do a comprehensive plan with a broad scope project identifying utility projects, road projects and/or land use. Alternatively, projects can be as specific as a utility study.

The planning process is a collaborative effort that brings the community together to come to a consensus on priorities. Depending on the type of project, there's up to $50,000 in funding available. Region 3A helps procure professional services to develop plans, and submits the application to OCRA. If projects are funded, they handle the administrative side.