White House Releases Technical Assistance Guide to Help Communities Unlock Resources From Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

 

Administration Highlights New Capacity from Philanthropic, Nonprofit & Labor Organizations to Help States and Cities Respond to Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity

 

Today, the White House released a Bipartisan Infrastructure Law technical assistance guide to help state, local, Tribal and territorial governments navigate, access, and deploy infrastructure resources that will build a better America. The Biden Administration has identified over $700 million in dedicated funding across more than 65 technical assistance programs. In addition to highlighting federal government technical assistance, the White House Infrastructure Implementation Team has engaged with a range of external stakeholders including, philanthropic, labor and nonprofit organizations, to highlight available nongovernmental resources and create a pipeline to assist communities in quickly and equitably accessing and deploying federal infrastructure funding.

Over 90% of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s historic funding will be deployed by non-federal partners. In the past, too many communities have lacked the resources to apply for and deploy transformative infrastructure opportunities. This guide, building on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Guidebook and Rural Playbook, highlights programs that help communities navigate programs and resources that can help them deliver infrastructure projects.  While some of these programs offer hands-on and intensive planning and delivery support for communities, others are more self-directed resources and tools such as webinars and websites, or funding that can support project planning.

“This technical assistance guide is just one more way we’re working to ensure state, local, Tribal and territorial governments have the tools and resources they need to take advantage of investments in President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” said Mitch Landrieu, Senior Advisor & Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator. “Building a better America requires that we leave no community behind. This guide aims to pull together the many different technical assistance resources available across the federal government that can help communities deliver transformative infrastructure projects. We are also grateful to the many philanthropic organizations who have stepped up to support states and local communities in ensuring we do not leave any community behind in this once-in-a-generation investment.”

In response to the Administration’s external engagement efforts, philanthropic, labor and nonprofit organizations have also committed new resources to assist communities accessing and deploying federal infrastructure funding, including:

• Bloomberg Philanthropies, Emerson Collective, Ford Foundation, and the Kresge Foundation, are launching the Local Infrastructure Hub, a national program to ensure that all U.S. cities and towns can access federal infrastructure funding to drive local recovery, improve communities, and deliver results for residents. The $50 million commitment of support for local communities in collaboration with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, National League of Cities, and Results for America, will bring together leading experts and resources to help city leaders access and ambitiously leverage funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to advance groundbreaking solutions to major challenges, especially narrowing racial wealth disparities and cutting the emissions that cause climate change.
• Accelerator for America is providing technical assistance, in-kind support for strategic planning and grant writing, communications strategy, policy research, and guides to help local government and development leaders navigate the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and complementary funding opportunities.  Accelerator for America is working directly with 20 cities on infrastructure projects and expanding scope and reach regularly as cities prioritize local infrastructure projects, including workforce development initiatives and project delivery support.
• The Communities First Infrastructure Alliance is working with technical assistance providers, frontline communities and government leaders to build just, equitable, and more resilient communities. The Alliance is led by national equity-centered leadership groups and includes a national ecosystem of valued aligned partners committed to communities first. The Infrastructure Alliance members will work collectively to support communities with the resources, capacity and technical assistance required to actualize community-centered plans, projects, and visions to meet this moment for the movement.
• The recently launched What Works Plus (WW+) funding collaborative coordinates efforts across philanthropy, government, and nonprofit organizations to advance racial and economic equity through more just and climate resilient infrastructure investments. The collaborative is focused on partnerships that result in better outcomes for communities, workers, and entrepreneurs.
• The Climate Jobs National Resource Center is assisting communities and states with workforce training, including building an equitable, inclusive renewable energy economy by investing in union apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs. CJNRC will be working with labor-led climate jobs coalitions and unions in states to support a successful implementation effort by expanding and strengthening initiatives to increase access to union climate jobs for infrastructure workers in under-resourced communities on the frontlines of climate change.

The Administration welcomes additional commitments from nongovernmental stakeholders to support states and local communities access this once-in-a-generation investment.

Since President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law six months ago, the Biden-Harris Administration has hit the ground running to deliver results. More than $110 billion has been announced and allocated to states and communities from formula and competitive programs for roads and highways, bridges, ports, airports, and water systems, with another nearly $100 billion in notices of funding availability for competitive programs now underway. The historic $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is rebuilding crumbling roads and bridges, replacing lead pipes to provide clean water, delivering cleaner energy, helping provide affordable, high-speed internet to every family in America, and producing concrete results that change people’s lives for the better.  As the Administration implements the law, it is following through on President Biden’s commitment to ensure investments advance equity and reach communities all across the country – including rural communities, communities of color, and disability communities – and strengthen the nation’s resilience to climate change