Illinois Grant News | October 2023

Notices of Funding Opportunities and Awards

| Featured Funding Opportunity |

Washington, D.C. | October 12, 2023 | Head Start/Early Head Start Recipient — Communities in the State of Illinois (HHS-2024-ACF-OHS-CH-R5-0116) | The Head Start program is administered by ACF, an operating division (OPDIV) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ACF intends to fund applications that demonstrate an organization’s commitment and capacity to operate a Head Start and/or EHS program that raises the quality of early care and education in the community and helps children
start school ready to succeed. School readiness requires that children are cognitively, physically, socially, and emotionally prepared to continue to make progress as they enter kindergarten. ACF is seeking applicants that are able to use the best evidence-based early education practices in their programs to support high-caliber classroom instruction, home visiting services, and effective family engagement and health promotion.

The Head Start and EHS programs provide grants to public and private non-profit and for-profit agencies to provide comprehensive child development services to predominately economically disadvantaged children and families. Head Start’s primary purpose is to prepare children to be ready for school…Head Start and EHS programs must provide, directly or through referral, early, continuous, intensive, and comprehensive child development and family support services that will enhance the physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development of participating children in the key domains of physical development and health; social and emotional development; approaches to learning, language, and literacy; cognition; and general knowledge. 

Estimated awards: 7. Total Funding: $14,664,315. Award Ceiling: $14,664,315. Closing Date: December 14, 2023.

Funding Opportunities

Washington, D.C. | October 31 2023 | Psychedelics Treatment Research in Substance Use Disorder (UG3/UH3 Clinical Trials Optional) (RFA-DA-25-058) | Psychedelic treatments are currently in clinical development for a range of mental disorders. Therapeutic areas undergoing active clinical research include alcohol and substance use disorders (ASUD). The exploration of the beneficial clinical and functional outcomes require our urgent attention to the refinement and optimization of the psychedelic treatment administration paradigms, and an exploration of novel clinical trial designs, which are of high nascent interest for the ASUD field in general. This Concept supports clinical studies applications to study psychedelic treatment administration paradigms, assess the role of psychotherapy in its administration, and describe and assess the range of clinical outcomes, including downstream functional effects, that are evidenced as the result of this treatment. Estimated awards: 3 to 5. Total Funding: $2,000,000. Award Ceiling: Unspecified. Closing Date: February 27, 2024.

Washington, D.C. | October 30 2023 | Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science (24-503) | The Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science program supports authentic summer research experiences for K-14 educators to foster long-term collaborations between universities, community colleges, school districts, and industry partners. With this solicitation, the Directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) focus on a reciprocal exchange of expertise between K-14 educators and research faculty and (when applicable) industry mentors. K-14 educators will enhance their scientific disciplinary knowledge in engineering or computer science and translate their research experiences into classroom activities and curricula to broaden their students’ awareness of and participation in computing and engineering pathways. At the same time, the hosting research faculty will deepen their understanding of classroom practices, current curricula, pedagogy, and K-14 educational environments. Estimated awards: 9. Total Funding: $5,800,000. Award Ceiling: $600,000. Closing Date: January 28, 2024. 

Washington, D.C. | October 23 2023 | Humanities Research Centers on Artificial Intelligence (20240214-RAI) | The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Research Programs is accepting applications for the Humanities Research Centers on Artificial Intelligence (AI) program. Launched through NEH’s new Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence initiative, the purpose of the program is to create new humanities research centers on AI at eligible institutions. Centers must focus their scholarly activities on exploring the ethical, legal, or societal implications of AI, as outlined by the 2023 National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan. Centers should include scholars from multiple disciplines, but they must be led by scholars in the humanities or humanistic social sciences. NEH is particularly interested in Centers that explore the impacts of AI-related technologies in the areas of equity, privacy, or civil rights. Estimated awards: 2. Total Funding: $1,000,000. Award Ceiling: $500,000. Closing Date: February 13, 2024. 

Washington, D.C. | October 23 2023 | Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program Phase I (2024-NIST-SBIR-01) | The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program Phase I is seeking applications from eligible applicants to explore the technical merit or feasibility of an innovative idea or technology with the aim of developing a viable product or service that will be introduced to the commercial marketplace. Estimated awards: 10. Total Funding: Unspecified. Award Ceiling: $100,000. Closing Date: December 21, 2023.

Springfield, Ill. | October 23  2023 | Healing Illinois Request for Proposals (RFP) | Healing Illinois is a racial healing initiative of the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), in partnership with the Field Foundation, designed to support organizations across the state to begin, or continue, the work of racial healing. Healing Illinois strives to: Build Knowledge and understanding of racial healing and racial equity in communities across the state; Strengthen trust and relationship building among the residents of Illinois; Expand opportunities for communities and individuals to begin to heal from the harms caused by racism; [and] Increase awareness and media engagement focused on racial healing and equity. Estimated awards: Unspecified. Total Funding: $4,500,000. Award Ceiling: Unspecified. Closing Date: December 1, 2023.

Springfield, Ill. | October 20 23 | Governor Pritzker Launches $15.4 Million Tourism Grant Programs | Today, Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) launched $15.4 million in tourism funding through two grant programs, the Tourism Attractions Grant Program ($10.8 million) and the Tourism Private Sector Grant Program ($4.6 million). Eligible entities can apply for grants to attract, develop, and improve new and existing tourism-related projects, events and festivals in an effort to boost tourism across the state and welcome more visitors. Grantees will be selected through a competitive Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) process. Estimated awards: Unspecified. Total Funding: $15,400,000. Award Ceiling: $500,000 (1:1 match). Closing Date: December 4, 2023.

Washington, D.C. | October 20 2023 | FY2024 Development Innovation Ventures_APS (7200AA24APS00001) | Through a year-round grant competition, Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) sources proposals for innovations that address international development challenges and improve the lives of people living in poverty in developing countries around the world. DIV provides tiered funding to pilot, test, and transition to scale (i.e., grow to reach the highest number of beneficiaries possible) those innovations that demonstrate evidence of impact, cost-effectiveness, and the potential to scale. DIV funds four types of grants. Stage 1, Stage 2, and Stage 3 grants follow a tiered approach that aligns the funding amount to the strength of the evidence of impact, cost-effectiveness, and scalability of the proposed innovation. Evidence Generation grants are reserved for rigorous evaluations of already scaled or scaling development solutions that lack sufficient rigorous evidence of impact and cost-effectiveness. Estimated awards: Unspecified. Total Funding: $15,000,000. Award Ceiling: Unspecified. Closing Date: November 1, 2024.

Washington, D.C. | October 18 2023 | Climate Resilience Centers (DE-FOA-0003181) | Understanding fine-scale, local and community impacts of climate change across this nation is a critical gap in climate research and analysis today. Further, climate change is known to disproportionately impact people in disadvantaged communities due to increased exposure and vulnerability. BER seeks to establish CRCs at HBCUs, non-R1 MSIs, and emerging research institutions to address critical research questions in support of the needs of stakeholders and communities in the pursuit of equitable climate solutions. The CRCs will facilitate two-way engagement between BER sponsored research and regional communities, enhancing accessibility and translation of DOE research to inform and build climate resilience. Efforts focused at local levels are expected to identify data sets, technical and process information, tailored models, and community contexts that will aid in the new investigations as well as bring critically needed community and local perspectives more centrally within DOE’s climate research planning. CRCs will build upon and enhance the talent and capabilities at local institutions, providing a valuable resource to advance climate research, identify local resilience challenges, and develop equitable solutions. These centers have the potential to catalyze additional research activities in climate and energy, the development of future technology innovations, and new jobs in communities across the country. Estimated awards: 5 to 7. Total Funding: $5,000,000. Award Ceiling: $1,000,000. Closing Date: March 7, 2024.

Washington, D.C. | October 12 2023 | Fiscal Year 2023 Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) (DHS-23-MT-047-00-98) | The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program makes federal funds available to states, U.S. territories, federally recognized Tribal governments , and local governments for hazard mitigation activities. It does so with a recognition of the growing hazards associated with climate change , and of the need for natural hazard risk mitigation activities that promote climate adaptation and resilience with respect to those hazards. These include both acute extreme weather events and chronic stressors which have been observed and are expected to increase in intensity and frequency in the future. The BRIC program’s guiding principles include supporting communities through capability and capacity-building; encouraging and enabling innovation, including multi-hazard resilience or nature-based solutions; promoting partnerships; enabling large, systems-based projects; maintaining flexibility; and providing consistency. Through these efforts communities are able to better understand disaster risk and vulnerabilities, conduct community-driven resilience, hazard mitigation planning, and design transformational projects and programs. Estimated awards: Unspecified. Total Funding: $1,000,000,000. Award Ceiling: $2,000,000 (state allocation). Closing Date: February 29, 2024.

Washington, D.C. | October 5 2023 | Research Infrastructure in the Social and Behavioral Sciences (PD-23-277Y) | The Research Infrastructure in the Social and Behavioral Sciences Program (RISBS) supports projects that create computational tools and data to facilitate basic research in the social and behavioral sciences that can lead to improved health, prosperity and security. Projects should be aimed at creating computational tools and data to enable research by social scientists. Examples include, but are not limited to, data collection or assembly efforts that result in new resources for a community of researchers or software platforms that facilitate data collection efforts by others. RISBS does not support research by PIs except in service of creation of the infrastructure. Innovation is especially encouraged. Prospective PIs may also be interested in the Human Networks and Data Science Program — Infrastructure(HNDS-I), which supports proposals addressing the development of data resources and relevant analytic techniques that support research in the social, behavioral and economic sciences. Estimated awards: 5. Total Funding: $16,000,000. Award Ceiling: $2,000,000. Closing Date: Proposals accepted anytime.

Washington, D.C. | October 3 2023 | FY2023 Historic Preservation Fund- Save America’s Treasures Collection Grants (P23AS00500) | Save America’s Treasures grants from the Historic Preservation  Fund provide preservation and/or conservation assistance to nationally significant historic properties and collections. Grants are awarded through a competitive process and require a dollar-for-dollar, non-Federal match, which can be cash or documented in-kind. The grant program is administered by the National Park Service (NPS) in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Estimated awards: 50. Total Funding: $26,500,000. Award Ceiling: $750,000. Closing Date: December 19, 2023.

Grant Awards

Springfield, Ill. | October 30 2023 | Twelve DuPage School Districts Awarded $2.9M for Mental Health Care | The DuPage Regional Office of Education announced that the Illinois Department of Public Health awarded $2,946,210 in grants to 12 DuPage County school districts. These grants will expand mental health services for students and families.

Washington, D.C. | October 25 2023 | Biden-Harris Admin Allocates $1.7 Million for Illinois Environmental Justice Projects | On Tuesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $1,749,705 to fund three projects in Illinois that advance environmental justice as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, the United Congregations of Metro East and the Ecology Action Center, which EPA has selected through its Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem Solving Cooperative Agreement and Environmental Justice Government-to-Government programs, will use the funds to ensure disadvantaged communities that have historically suffered from underinvestment have access to clean air and water and climate resilience solutions in alignment with the Biden-Harris administration’s Justice40 Initiative.

Washington, D.C. | October 25 2023 | Illinois awarded $11.25 million grant from U.S. Department of Labor | The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) has been awarded an $11.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to support continued modernization, fraud defense, and equitable access to unemployment insurance (UI) systems nationwide. Illinois was one of 19 states and territories selected to receive more than $204 million in federal funds to help make UI systems more reliable and accessible to users.

Springfield, Ill. | October 24 2023 | Gov. Pritzker, IDPH Announce $9.5M to Strengthen Mental Health Services for Youth Across Illinois | Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced today that the State of Illinois has awarded $9.5 million in funding to 40 different applicants across the state to support post-pandemic child and adolescent health. The size of the grants ranges from $83,000 to just over $400,000. Sixty percent of the grants are going to schools, 20% to hospital or clinic-based programs, 17.5% to local health departments and 2.5% to colleges.

Springfield, Ill. | October 23 2023 | Gov. Pritzker, Sen. Duckworth, and Sen. Durbin Announce Two Illinois Programs Selected as U.S. EDA Tech Hubs | Today, the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced that two Illinois programs have been designated as part of 31 Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs (Tech Hubs). The Central Illinois Fermentation and Agriculture Biomanufacturing (iFAB) Hub and the Chicago Area Quantum Tech Hub: The Bloch were selected based on their innovation and economic growth potential—they will now be eligible to apply for the second phase of the Tech Hubs Program to receive between $50 and $75 million in federal funding. [Phase 2 NOFO.]

Naperville, Ill. | October 20 23 | Foster Announces Over $1 Million to Boost Naperville’s Energy Grid Capacity | Today, Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL) announced that the City of Naperville will receive a funding award through the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program totaling $1,116,174. This funding, made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will allow the City of Naperville and Naperville Electric Utility (NEU) to develop a system that supports the integration of renewable energy sources and their availability on the grid.

Cook County, Ill. | October 18 2023 | President Preckwinkle Announces $5 Million in Grants Awarded Under the Cook County Domestic Violence Intervention and Support Services Initiative | Today, President Preckwinkle joined Cook County Commissioner Alma Anaya, the Cook County Justice Advisory Council and non-profit leaders to mark Domestic Violence Awareness Month and announce nearly $5 million in grants awarded under the Cook County Domestic Violence Intervention and Support Services Initiative. Grant awards range from $132,000 to $1.5 million and are supporting provision of services through September 2025. 

Washington, D.C. | October 17 2023 | $1 billion federal funding announced for Midwest Hydrogen Hub | Illinois has joined Indiana and Michigan to announce a $1 billion federal funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the Midwest Hydrogen Hub to decarbonize through strategic hydrogen use and reduce carbon emission by about 3.9 million metric tons per year. The Midwest Hydrogen Hub is a multi-state, multi-sector network including Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan, a key U.S. industrial and transportation corridor will promote decarbonization efforts through hydrogen use in steel and glass production, power generation, refining, heavy-duty transportation, and sustainable aviation fuel. Also, the Midwest Hydrogen Hub will create about 13,600 jobs and invest $15 million in training and employment services for the clean energy workforce. It will also promote equitable hiring and contracting practices, with specific targets…

Joliet, Ill. | October 17 2023 | Joliet Township pulls out of grant for asylum-seekers | Joliet Township on Friday announced that it no longer will pursue an $8.6 million grant to provide services for asylum-seekers. The announcement comes two weeks after the grant was announced, stirring a controversy that may have peaked at a raucous township board meeting this week…[T]he size of the grant raised concerns that it could be used to make Joliet a destination point for asylum-seekers. D’Arcy objected to representations in the grant application that he and the Joliet Fire Department supported the grant plan submitted by the township. D’Arcy said he first heard about it when it was announced publicly Sept. 29.

Chicago, Ill. | October 14 2023 | Urban Growers Collective awarded $1M federal grant | A $1 million federal grant was recently awarded to the Urban Growers Collective, a Black and woman-led nonprofit that was started in Chicago in 2017. The nonprofit, which operates eight farms over 11 acres of land on the South and West sides of Chicago, uses urban agriculture as a method to address inequities and structural racism in communities around the city. In 2022, the Urban Growers Collective produced 15,000 pounds of food at its farms, which was then distributed through various food access pathways and market pathways.

Springfield, Ill. | October 12 2023 | Gov. Pritzker Announces $21 Million for CEJA Contractor Incubator Hubs | Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) launched $21 million in funding for the Clean Energy Contractor Incubator Program or “CEJA Contractor Incubator Hubs.” The program establishes a network of 13 community-based hubs across the state offering incubator services designed to assist clean energy contractors – especially those from underserved areas – grow their businesses. The organizations that will run CEJA Contractor Incubator Hubs will be selected through a competitive Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) process.

Springfield, Ill. | October 3 2023 | Illinois awarded $2.5 million grant to improve adult treatment courts | The Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts is getting $2.5 million in federal money to improve adult treatment court services across the state. The grant comes from the Bureau of Justice Assistance as part of the Adult Treatment Court Statewide Discretionary Grant Program. The AOIC will put the awarded money towards several improvements: working with the National Center for State Courts on data evaluation, increasing court capacity for five Drug Courts throughout the state, improving graduation outcomes, and expanding access to recovery support services.

Washington, D.C. | October 2 2023 | FRA announces University of Illinois to receive $5 million to establish the National University Rail Center of Excellence | The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) today announced the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) as the selected institution for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-2023 Rail Research and Development Center of Excellence (CoE) program. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has been awarded up to $5,000,000 to establish the National University Rail Center of Excellence (NURail CoE), a pioneering initiative dedicated to developing the future workforce while advancing research and expansion that enhances the safety, efficiency, and reliability of both passenger and freight rail transportation.

Springfield, Ill. | October 1 2023 | Gov. Pritzker Announces $41.5 Million in Grant Awards for Municipalities Serving Asylum Seekers | Gov. Pritzker Announces $41.5 Million in Grant Awards for Municipalities Serving Asylum Seekers (Springfield, IL) — Governor JB Pritzker announced $41.5 million in awards to local governments in the Chicago region that are welcoming asylum seekers. The funds will make it possible for municipalities to provide direct services to migrants who have fled their homes to escape violence and other threats. The funds will be used for shelter and housing support, food, wraparound services, legal support, and health care.

Post will be updated until the end of the month | Final update: November 2, 2023.