COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (CED)

Purpose:
To improve the economic self-sufficiency of individuals with low-incomes in communities with high unemployment and poverty rates thorough sustainable business development and new employment opportunities that create resilient communities that address the needs of individuals, families, and children.

Legislative Authority:
Section 680 of the Community Services Block Grant Act (P.L. 105-285), as amended.

Appropriations:

In FY 2024, $22 million
In FY 2023, $22 million
In FY 2022, $21.38 million.

Eligible Applicants:
Private, non-profit organizations that are community development corporations (CDCs), including faith-based organizations, and tribal and Alaskan native organizations that are a private, non-profit CDC, experienced in developing and managing economic development projects. CDCs must be governed by a tripartite board of directors that consists of residents of the community served, and local business and civic leaders. CDCs must have as their principle purpose planning, developing, or managing low-income housing or community development projects.

Target Population:
Individuals with low incomes residing in or near the project service area with high unemployment and poverty rates, particularly recipients of assistance under the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF).

Uses:
CED projects utilize multiple strategies such as providing start-up capital, loans, investments as well as construction. Projects create and expand businesses that include, but are not limited to:

Type of Grant: Competitive Discretionary Grant

Program Requirements:
CED funds may be used for a wide variety of business start-up or business expansion activities, as long as the expenditures result in 75% of the full-time positions created being filled by individuals with low-income that live in communities of high unemployment and poverty rates. Jobs created through the CED program are intended to be high quality positions that provide living wages, paid leave, fringe benefits, opportunities for career growth, and/or predictable and flexible scheduling practices to allow individuals to achieve economic self-sufficiency. In addition to creating these new positions, all funded grant recipients are required to provide critical wraparound support services, such as financial literacy assistance, childcare services, transportation, substance use disorder treatment, and English language education, to remove barriers to employment and allow individuals to maintain long-term employment. Projects should ensure that the businesses and positions created remain viable for at least one year after the end of the grant period, thereby contributing long-term to the reinvestment in the underserved community.

FY23 Program Highlights

• $22.4M Appropriated by Congress
• $18M Total awarded to 45 new grant recipients 
  • $13.5M to 18 traditional CED grant recipients
  • $3.1M to 21 CED planning grant recipients 
  • $1.5M in supplemental funding to six existing CED social enterprise grant recipients 
• 13 CED grants completed
• $159.1M Leveraged by the 13 grants that ended in FY23 
• $18.15 Leveraged per CED award dollar by the 13 grants that ended in FY23 
• 737 Total full-time jobs created by completed grants
• 107 Businesses expanded or created by completed projects in FY23
• 482 Jobs created for those with low incomes

Grant recipients are required to provide critical wraparound support services to employees, such as financial literacy assistance, child-care services, transportation, substance use disorder treatment, and English language education to remove barriers to maintaining long-term employment.

FY23 Focus on Access 

In FY23, CED launched a new grant type focused on expanding access for communities that have struggled to write a winning proposal for a traditional CED grant. CED launched a new planning grant aimed at bolstering capacity in order to plan and apply for a full CED grant. Twenty-one of these planning grants were awarded in FY23, 12 of which went to states that do not have a current CED grant or have never had a CED grant.

Program Contact:
Thom Campbell, Acting Program Manager
Community Economic Development Program
Office of Community Services
Phone: (202) 401-5455
thom.campbell@acf.hhs.gov
www.acf.hhs.gov/ocs/programs/ced