Update: FTA will host a webinar to provide information about the HOPE Program on Wednesday, April 8, 2020, at 2 p.m. ET, to learn more about applicant and project eligibility. Visit the FTA website for more information. The FTA has extended the application deadline for applying to June 3, 2020.
The FTA announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to apply for $8.5 million in Fiscal Year 2020 competitive grant funding for projects that help lift communities out of poverty and support recovery from substance abuse. The new Helping Obtain Prosperity for Everyone (HOPE) program supports planning, engineering, and technical studies or financial planning to improve transit services in areas experiencing long-term economic distress.
“This new $8.5 million grant program will improve mobility in underserved communities, including rural areas,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao.
The HOPE program will provide funding for planning, engineering, and technical studies and financial plans that will result in improved public transportation, new transit routes and facilities, and innovative technologies in communities experiencing persistent poverty. It will also support coordinated human service transportation planning to improve transit service or provide new services such as rides to opioid abuse recovery and treatment.
“The HOPE Program is designed to help communities succeed,” said FTA Acting Administrator K. Jane Williams. “We want to ensure that transportation connects people to jobs, school, and healthcare and is not a barrier for people seeking substance abuse treatment and recovery services.”
Eligible applicants must come from counties with more than 20 percent of the population living in poverty for 30 years or more, as measured by the U.S. Census, or the 2013-2017 American Community Survey. Many of the communities are in rural areas, which experience unique challenges in providing public transportation, ensuring safety and keeping transit assets in a state of good repair. Applicants are encouraged to partner with nonprofit organizations engaged in public transportation and anti-poverty issues.
The NOFO encourages applicants to demonstrate how their proposed projects are consistent with the Department’s Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (R.O.U.T.E.S.) initiative, which seeks to address disparities in rural transportation infrastructure, and FTA’s Accelerating Innovative Mobility (AIM) program, which promotes innovative approaches to improve financing, system design, and service.
Projects will be evaluated by the criteria outlined in the NOFO. Applications will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on May 4, 2020.