Tools

Federal Funding Opportunities

The Federal Funding Opportunities database contains a curated summary of existing federal programs supporting broadband and smart city projects. Community leaders familiar with federal funding programs should explore the database below and follow the links provided to the relevant agency site for further details. Sectors covered in the database include: Transportation, Big Data, Infrastructure, Energy, Healthcare, Broadband, Economic Development, Education, Public Safety and Information Technologies.

For users who are less familiar with federal funding programs the Opportunity Wizard to the right offers a quick way to identify the best funding for your projects.

Find your perfect funding opportunity

Answer 5 easy questions and find federal funding for your project.

funding

Connected Communities

Agency
Department of Energy (DOE)
Sector
Energy, Information Technologies, Infrastructure, Innovation
Deadline
Closed
The Connected Communities funding program will select projects that will demonstrate how groups of buildings combined with other types of distributed energy resources (DERs), such as electric vehicle (EV) charging and photovoltaic (PV) generation, can reliably and cost‐effectively serve as grid assets by strategically deploying efficiency and demand flexibility. It is a collaborative effort across three Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) offices—the Solar Energy Technologies Office, Vehicle Technologies Office, and Building Technologies Office—and the Office of Electricity.
Go visit Connected Communities

funding

INFRA Grants

Agency
Department of Transportation (DOT)
Sector
Economic Development, Infrastructure, Transportation
Deadline
Closed
The FY 2021 INFRA competition continues to focus on themes of supporting economic vitality, leveraging federal funding, innovation, and performance and accountability, in addition to the two new criteria. The eligible costs, project types, minimum statutory cost share, project sizes and other requirements defined by the statute have not changed. The program still focuses on projects that generate national or regional economic, mobility, and safety benefits.
Go visit INFRA Grants

funding

OSERS-OSEP: Educational Technology and Materials for Individuals with Disabilities

Agency
Department of Education (ED)
Sector
Education & Workforce
Deadline
Closed
The Educational Technology, Media, and Materials program is the primary source of support for accessible technology and media-related activities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The program supports two broad categories of activities—accessible technology and educational media and materials.
Go visit OSERS-OSEP: Educational Technology and Materials for Individuals with Disabilities

funding

Leading Edge Acceleration Projects (LEAP) in Health Information Technology

Agency
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)
Sector
Big Data, Healthcare
Deadline
Closed
The goal of the LEAP in Health IT funding opportunity is to address well-documented and fast emerging challenges inhibiting the development, use, and/or advancement of well-designed, interoperable health IT, which is scalable across the health care industry. Solutions are expected to further a new generation of health IT research and inform the development, implementation, and refinement of standards, methods, and techniques for overcoming major barriers and challenges in an innovative fashion as they are identified.
Go visit Leading Edge Acceleration Projects (LEAP) in Health Information Technology

funding

Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grants

Agency
US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Sector
Broadband, COVID-19, Economic Development, Education & Workforce, Healthcare, Information Technologies, Other, Public Safety
Deadline
Closed
The Distance Learning & Telemedicine (DLT) Program provides financial assistance to enable and improve distance learning and telemedicine services in rural areas. DLT grant funds support the use of telecommunications-enabled information, audio and video equipment, and related advanced technologies by students, teachers, medical professionals, and rural residents.
Go visit Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grants

funding

Community Navigator Pilot Program

Agency
Small Business Administration (SBA)
Sector
Community Development, COVID-19, Economic Development, Entrepreneurship
Deadline
Closed
The focus of this program is to reach, and support underserved small businesses, including micro and rural businesses, with emphasis and those owned by women, veterans and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. The Community Navigator Pilot Program is designed to provide high quality technical assistance with pandemic relief programs and recovery services to small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Go visit Community Navigator Pilot Program

funding

Optimizing Virtual Care (OVC)

Agency
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)
Sector
Healthcare, Information Technologies
Deadline
Closed
The purpose of this one-time funding is to support health centers to develop, implement, and evaluate innovative, evidence-based strategies that: • Optimize the use of virtual care to increase access and improve clinical quality for underserved communities and vulnerable populations; and • Can be adapted and scaled across the Health Center Program
Go visit Optimizing Virtual Care (OVC)

funding

Rural Placemaking Innovation Challenge (RPIC)

Agency
US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Sector
Broadband, Community Development, Economic Development, Education & Workforce, Information Technologies
Deadline
Closed
This Program provides funding for eligible entities to help them provide planning support, technical assistance and training to foster placemaking activities in rural communities. Qualified entities can use the funds to help rural communities create plans to enhance capacity for broadband access; preserve cultural and historic structures; and support the development of transportation, housing, and recreational spaces.
Go visit Rural Placemaking Innovation Challenge (RPIC)

funding

Rural Placemaking Innovation Challenge Cooperative Agreement

Agency
US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Sector
Broadband, Economic Development, Environment, Information Technologies, Infrastructure, Innovation, Workforce Development
Deadline
Closed
The Rural Placemaking Innovation Challenge is a technical assistance and planning process for qualified entities to support rural community leaders to create places where people want to live, work, and play. This initiative is to provide planning support, technical assistance, and training to communities to foster placemaking activities in rural communities.
Go visit Rural Placemaking Innovation Challenge Cooperative Agreement

funding

Resilient & Intelligent NextG Systems (RINGS)

Agency
Department of Defense (DOD), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), National Science Foundation (NSF)
Sector
Broadband, Infrastructure, Innovation, Research
Deadline
Closed
The RINGS program seeks to accelerate research in areas that will potentially have significant impact on emerging Next Generation (NextG) wireless and mobile communication, networking, sensing, and computing systems, along with global-scale services, with a focus on improving the resiliency of such networked systems among other performance metrics.
Go visit Resilient & Intelligent NextG Systems (RINGS)

funding

Rural Cooperative Development Grant

Agency
US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Sector
Broadband, Community Development, Economic Development, Education & Workforce, Workforce Development
Deadline
Closed
The Rural Cooperative Development Grant program improves the economic condition of rural areas by helping individuals and businesses start, expand, or improve rural cooperatives and other mutually owned businesses through Cooperative Development Centers.
Go visit Rural Cooperative Development Grant

funding

Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST)

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Sector
Education & Workforce
Deadline
Closed
ITEST is an applied research and development (R&D) program providing direct student learning opportunities in pre-kindergarten through high school (PreK-12). The learning opportunities are based on innovative use of technology to strengthen knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.
Go visit Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST)

funding

Broadband Infrastructure Program

Agency
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
Sector
Broadband, Information Technologies, Infrastructure
Deadline
Open for at least 30 days
RFP Summary provided by the agency The Broadband Infrastructure Program makes grants on a competitive basis to covered partnerships  for covered broadband projects. Covered Partnership: a partnership between a State, or one or more political subdivisions of a State; and a provider of fixed broadband service Covered Broadband Project: a competitively and technologically neutral project for …
Go visit Broadband Infrastructure Program

funding

Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment (ATCMTD)Program

Agency
Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
Sector
Information Technologies, Infrastructure, Innovation, Transportation
Deadline
Closed
Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies deployment Program was designed to make competitive grants for the development of model deployment sites for large scale installation and operation of advanced transportation technologies to improve safety, efficiency, system performance, and infrastructure return on investment.
Go visit Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment (ATCMTD)Program

funding

Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program

Agency
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
Sector
Broadband, Digital Inclusion, Education, Healthcare, Information Technologies, Infrastructure
Deadline
Closed
The Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program makes grants available to eligible entities for the deployment and adoption of broadband service on Tribal Land and for programs that promote the use of broadband to access remote learning, telework, or telehealth resources during the COVID–19 pandemic.
Go visit Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program

funding

Solar Energy Innovation Network - Round 3 Solicitation - Topics: Equity in Residential Solar Deployment and Commercial-Scale Solar

Agency
Department of Energy (DOE)
Sector
Energy
Deadline
Closed
The Solar Energy Innovation Network (SEIN) seeks to overcome barriers to solar adoption by connecting teams of stakeholders that are pioneering new ideas with the resources they need to succeed. Teams that participate in SEIN receive direct funding and analytical support from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories and participate in peer-to-peer learning with other teams that are tackling similar challenges.
Go visit Solar Energy Innovation Network - Round 3 Solicitation - Topics: Equity in Residential Solar Deployment and Commercial-Scale Solar