Launching the Funding Pathfinder with the Local Infrastructure Hub

This week, Accelerator for America and our partners at the Drexel University Nowak Metro Finance Lab are proud to launch the Funding Pathfinder through the Local Infrastructure Hub. 

 
 

As we enter 2025, the availability of funding from a number of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) programs will dwindle or even be completely exhausted. For example, 2024 saw popular discretionary programs like Reconnecting Communities and SMART Stage 1 grant programs issue their final Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs). As more grant programs wind down or exhaust their existing BIL funding allocations, cities and localities will be competing for smaller pools of funds, across a narrower number of discretionary programs, with a potentially deeper field of applicants. It is essential that local government staff take even greater care to think strategically about which discretionary grant opportunities they pursue for their local projects. That is why we created the Funding Pathfinder. 

The Funding Pathfinder is a brief, interactive survey that uses local infrastructure project data to curate a bespoke collection of eligible federal funding programs for pursuit, as well as a wide array of published resources to aid grant preparation and research. 

The resources include:

  • Links to each program’s federal webpage; 

  • Guidances that breakdown those various BIL and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) programs; 

  • Collections of ‘Winning Strategies’ research that compile trends across successful discretionary program applications; 

  • ‘Transformative Projects’ case stories that highlight local governments having secured federal grant funding, and how they have approached project development in their communities, and much more.

The tool will be regularly updated with the latest data on included federal programs, and additional resources and programmatic information as they are developed. The tool also allows users to send their Pathfinder results directly to their inbox, as well as connect with the Local Infrastructure Hub to provide feedback or request further assistance. 

You can check out the Funding Pathfinder now by visiting the Local Infrastructure Hub here. 

To learn more about the Funding Pathfinder or Accelerator for America’s work with the Local Infrastructure Hub, reach out to our Director of Infrastructure and Intergovernmental Affairs, Ross van Dongen at ross@acceleratorforamerica.org. 

Accelerator for America