Deadline: 15-Feb-22
Applications are now open for the Service Provider Grants Program to support regional service providers who recruit groups of two to five communities to join the Partnership, conduct robust community engagement that sets priorities for implementing actions on the List of Community Actions, and apply for Community Action Grants and other funding opportunities to implement community energy and climate priorities.
This program learns from and builds upon GOPIF’s Community Resilience Pilot Project, which leveraged regional service providers and implementation funding to support municipal and regional climate adaptation planning and action. The Partnership extends the pilot’s focus on regional capacity building and community engagement that are critical for supporting municipal climate action.
Eligibility Criteria
- Entities eligible to be regional service providers include regional planning organizations, councils of governments, regional economic development organizations, non-profits, county governments, academic institutions and cooperative extension programs, and for-profit enterprises.
- Municipalities are generally not eligible for Service Provider Grants. However, in special cases, a community that can demonstrate robust in-house capacity may apply for a Service Provider Grant to provide relevant services to smaller communities in the same region.
- As part of the application to the program, prospective service providers will recruit a group of two to five communities. Prospective service providers may request up to $10,000 per community. Up to an additional $2,500 may be requested for communities in the group that are either in the highest social vulnerability category or have a population fewer than 4,000.
- The grant period is 12 months, however service providers are encouraged to prepare communities for the earliest possible Partnership enrollment.
- To achieve an equitable geographic distribution of capacity building investments, the Partnership intends to select proposals from each of five regions within the state during each grant cycle:
- Region 1: York, Cumberland, Sagadahoc, Lincoln, and Knox Counties.
- Region 2: Waldo, Hancock, and Washington Counties.
- Region 3: Androscoggin, Oxford, Kennebec, Franklin, and Somerset Counties.
- Region 4: Piscataquis, Aroostook, and Penobscot Counties.
- Region 5: Federally recognized Tribes in Maine.
For more information, visit https://www.maine.gov/future/climate/community-resilience-partnership/grants