FY 2023 Competitive Funding Opportunity: Areas of Persistent Poverty Program | FTA 2023 006 TPE

Opportunity Information: Apply for FTA 2023 006 TPE

The FY 2023 Competitive Funding Opportunity: Areas of Persistent Poverty Program is a discretionary grant competition run by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration (FTA). It is designed to help communities facing long-term, entrenched economic hardship improve public transportation options. The central idea is that better transit can widen access to jobs, education, health care, and other everyday necessities, which in turn can support economic mobility and community development in places where poverty has been persistent over time. In practical terms, the program is aimed at helping underserved and disadvantaged communities expand transit service or make meaningful improvements to existing service so residents have more reliable, usable ways to get where they need to go.

For FY 2023, the program makes available a total of $20 million in competitive funding. Awards are grants, and the maximum award amount listed for a single project is $850,000. The opportunity anticipates making about 45 awards, which suggests the program is structured to spread funding across a relatively broad set of communities and projects rather than concentrating it in a small number of large awards. Because it is a competitive Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), applicants are expected to submit proposals that clearly explain the local need, the project approach, and the benefits for people living in areas experiencing persistent poverty, along with a plan for implementation and the ability to manage federal grant funds.

The official opportunity number is FTA 2023 006 TPE, and it falls under the Transportation funding activity category with CFDA number 20.505. The application window opened with a creation date of January 9, 2023, and the original closing date for submissions was March 10, 2023. As with most federal discretionary transit grants, timing matters, since late applications typically are not considered, and applicants generally need to align their project planning, partnerships, and supporting documentation well before the deadline.

Eligibility is intentionally broad to reach many types of communities and transit-serving entities. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments, as well as special district governments. Federally recognized Native American tribal governments are eligible, and public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities are also included, reflecting the program's focus on communities where transportation barriers can directly limit access to opportunity. The eligibility list also includes for-profit organizations other than small businesses and an "others" category that points to additional eligibility details in the full NOFO text, indicating that certain additional entity types may qualify depending on the program's specific rules and clarifications.

Overall, this funding opportunity is best understood as a targeted transit investment tool: relatively modest, project-sized grants intended to help applicants in persistently poor areas plan, expand, or improve transit in ways that directly benefit residents who are often left out of traditional transportation funding pathways. The program emphasizes reaching communities with longstanding economic distress and giving them resources to strengthen transit access, which can have downstream impacts on employment access, household costs, and community connectivity.

• The Department of Transportation, DOT/Federal Transit Administration in the transportation sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY 2023 Competitive Funding Opportunity: Areas of Persistent Poverty Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 20.505.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jan 09, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 10, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $850,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 45 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for FTA 2023 006 TPE

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: