11 May 2021

American Rescue Plan Act – Section 603

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The American Rescue Plan Act § 602 provides a total of $350 billion to eligible states, territories, and tribal governments. Funds are available until 2024 and are to be used for “necessary investments” in “water, sewer, broadband infrastructure.”

Of that $350 billion, the total allocated to Missouri is $5.475 billion (combining the allocations at the state level and allocations to cities, counties, and non-county jurisdictions). For guidance, refer to the issue-specific toolkits developed by Missouri state agencies for local governments to use in considering investments for their communities with American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”) local fiscal recovery funding.

See the most recent FAQs provided by U.S. Treasury for more information.

The American Rescue Plan Act § 603 provides a total of $130.2 billion directly for broadband infrastructure for eligible municipalities and counties. Funds are available until December 2024. Funds must be used to make “necessary investments” in “water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure.”

11 May 2021

Community Connect Grants

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Community Connect Grants offers funding to eligible applicants that will construct broadband networks that provide service on a community-oriented connectivity basis in rural areas. Specifically, funds will be used for the construction, acquisition, or leasing of facilities, spectrum, land or buildings used to deploy broadband service for residential and business, and essential community facilities (such as public schools, fire stations, public libraries, and public safety stations). Up to 10 percent of the grant may be used for the improvement, expansion, construction, or acquisition of a community center that provides online access to the public.

More information is available here. Applications closed December 23, 2020.

11 May 2021

The Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program

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NTIA’s Broadband Infrastructure Program was established by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. In the priority order defined by the Act, NTIA will accept applications for projects that are designed to:

  1. Provide broadband service to the greatest number of households in an eligible service area;
  2. Provide broadband service in an eligible service area that is wholly within any area other than a county, city, or town with more than 50,000 inhabitants and the urbanized area contiguous and adjacent to a city or town of more than 50,000 inhabitants;
  3. Be the most cost-effective, prioritizing such projects in areas that are the most rural;
  4. Provide broadband service with a download speed of at least 100 Mbps and an upload speed of at least 20 Mbps;
  5. Meet the requirements of this NOFO.

More information about the program, including requirements for grant applications, can be found in the Notice of Funding Opportunity. Applications closed on August 17, 2021. Due to the high number of applications, NTIA established these guidelines for review.

4 May 2021

Tax Credit for Contribution Program

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The Missouri Development Finance Board is authorized by Section 100.286.6 of the Missouri Statutes (the “Tax Credit Statute”) to grant a tax credit equal to 50% on the value of any eligible contribution to the Board by any taxpayer through the Tax Credit for Contribution Program. To be eligible for the credit, the contribution must be made to one of three funds established by the Board’s statutes: the Industrial Development and Reserve Fund, the Infrastructure Development Fund, or the Export Finance Fund.

4 May 2021

Public Entity Loan Program

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The Missouri Development Finance Board Public Entity Loan Program provides loans to local governments to finance general public infrastructure improvements and economic development projects. Loans are individually structured tax-exempt revenue bonds tailored to meet the needs of each public entity. The loans may be secured (sale/leaseback) or unsecured depending upon the credit strength of the public entity and the nature of the public improvements and are subject to annual appropriation.

4 May 2021

Missouri Infrastructure Development Opportunities Commission Program (MIDOC)

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The purpose of the Missouri Infrastructure Development Opportunities Commission Program is to help rural communities and rural districts that have a financial hardship with their infrastructure project and are unable to obtain financing elsewhere, with priority given to water and sewer projects addressing public health and safety issues. Projects must address reparation of public infrastructure to be eligible.  

Loan dollar amounts are between $25,000 and $150,000.

4 May 2021

Grants to States Program

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Using a population-based formula, more than $150 million is distributed among the State Library Administrative Agencies (SLAAs) every year by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. SLAAs are official agencies charged by law with the extension and development of library services, and they are located in:

  • Each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia;
  • The Territories (Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands); and
  • The Freely Associated States (Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands).

SLAAs may use the funds to support statewide initiatives and services, and they may also distribute the funds through competitive subawards to, or cooperative agreements with, public, academic, research, school, or special libraries or consortia (for-profit and federal libraries are not eligible).

The Grants to States program allocates a base amount to each of the SLAAs plus a supplemental amount based on population. You can see recent allotments for all the states here as well as allotment tables that include the total program budget, matching funds, and data references.

3 May 2021

Community Planning and Development – Community Development Block Grant

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HUD continues its efforts to narrow the digital divide in low-income communities served by HUD by providing, where feasible and with HUD funding, broadband infrastructure to communities in need of such infrastructure. Broadband is the common term used to refer to a very fast connection to the Internet. Such connections are also referred to as high-speed.

Although HUD plans to issue regulations that will formalize its steps for narrowing the digital divide, current CDBG funds can be used for broadband installation infrastructure and service delivery.

3 May 2021

ReConnect Program

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The ReConnect Program offers unique federal financing and funding options in the form of loans, grants, and loan/grant combinations to facilitate broadband deployment in areas of rural America that don’t currently have sufficient access to broadband, defined by the law as 10 Mbps (megabits per second) downstream and 1 Mbps upstream.

This program will generate private sector investment to deploy broadband infrastructure to provide high-speed internet e-Connectivity to as many rural premises as possible, including homes, community facilities for healthcare and public safety, schools, libraries, farms, ranches, factories, and other production sites. The ReConnect program offers three products: 100% Loans, 50% Loan-50% Grant combinations, and 100% Grants.

The application window closed February 22, 2022. For more information, see the funding opportunity announcement.

3 May 2021

Community Facilities Direct Loan & Grant Program

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This program provides affordable funding to develop essential community facilities in rural areas. An essential community facility is defined as a facility that provides an essential service to the local community for the orderly development of the community in a primarily rural area and does not include private, commercial, or business undertakings.

For more information, see the fact sheet. Applications are currently open.