By: Chase Barnes, Assistant Policy Scientist, University of Delaware Institute for Public Administration
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Delaware’s Institute for Public Administration (IPA), a research and public service center in the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration, set out to help local governments respond to the shocks and economic uncertainty of the global health crisis through a program known as Recover Delaware. Through discussions during Recover Delaware focus groups, local governments conveyed their limited capacity to research, apply for, and manage grants.
Local capacity challenges make it difficult for Delaware communities, and communities across the watershed, to compete for funds authorized in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), two landmark pieces of legislation that fund infrastructure and climate resilience projects. To provide local governments in Delaware with the resources and technical expertise necessary to apply for competitive funding opportunities, the IPA Grant Assistance Program (GAP) was born.
IPA’s GAP is a state-funded initiative that provides free technical grant assistance to local governments for infrastructure initiatives and other competitive and formula grant opportunities. While GAP will work with all municipalities in Delaware, it is primarily focused on smaller, less resourced governments. The program began supporting cities and towns in July 2022.
GAP online funding portal
The GAP provides local governments with a wide array of services to address capacity challenges, such as, an online funding opportunities portal, a curated list of grant-related resources, training sessions, and workshops. The program also supports local governments through virtual open-office hours and direct appointments. As IPA staff members work with towns to develop projects, apply for grants, and implement projects, they will record best practices that can be replicated elsewhere, measure project impacts, and conduct case studies that can be broadly shared.
Direct technical support may vary based on the needs of respective local governments. Pre-application assistance includes project identification, prioritization, and development. Application-based assistance ranges from grant research and writing to cost-benefit analysis and proofreading. Finally, GAP provides post-award assistance, such as project implementation support, grant management, and reporting. The level of the GAP’s involvement will vary based on the specific needs of the local government partner.
The GAP operates in Delaware yet is uniquely situated to partner with and support the downstream efforts of the Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed. While the GAP works with Delaware’s local governments on projects that may improve water quality, reduce contaminants and runoff, and restore habitats, many of these projects will have watershed-wide benefits that extend beyond Delaware. The GAP efforts in Delaware will be beneficial to the broader watershed and natural resource efforts in the region.
White Clay Creek Footbridge Rendering
With recent investments from the IIJA and IRA, more funding is available over the next five years than ever before for a variety of coastal resilience and watershed related projects. Examples include Delaware’s Clean Water Revolving Fund, NOAA’s Climate Ready Coasts programs, US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Fish Passage grant, EPA’s Pollution Prevention programs, FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grants, and USDA’s various watershed and flood prevention programs. IPA is already working hard to gather resources and identify best practices to help Delaware’s local governments obtain funding for once in a generation, transformational projects.
To learn more about the GAP, visit IPA’s website at https://www.bidenschool.udel.edu/ipa/serving-delaware/grant-assistance.
To learn more about IPA’s Water Resources Center, visit IPA’s website at https://www.wrc.udel.edu/.