Great Lakes Federal Grant Navigation Program

Great Lakes Federal Grant Navigation Program

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES
Last Updated: November 25, 2025

Summary

The Great Lakes Federal Grant Navigation Program offers free assistance to local governments in accessing critical federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This program aims to simplify the grant application process, especially for smaller municipalities, by providing one-on-one support and facilitating collaboration among cohort members. By participating, cities can maximize the impact of federal dollars and strengthen their communities in the wake of economic challenges.

Overview

Note: NLC’s Federal Grant Navigation program is free of charge, and your city will incur no costs for participating. Great Lakes Federal Grant Navigation Program Critical federal funds are coming to local communities through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). ARPA allocated $65 billion in direct relief allocated to all 19,000 cities, towns and villages. This comes in addition to offering cities billions of dollars in federal grants for local housing, health care, technology modernization, education, workforce, transportation and economic development needs. Even more funding is coming to communities through IIJA to support decades-long delayed infrastructure needs. These funds will be essential to help strengthen communities that faced heavy economic losses during the pandemic. Applying for these competitive grants can be complex and challenging, particularly for small and medium-sized municipalities. To address these challenges, NLC launched a free grant navigation program to assist local government staff with collecting the necessary data and applying for federal grants. By participating in the program, your city will receive specialized, one-on-one assistance, in addition to contributing to a robust nationwide collection of data that will help inform policymakers on how to maximize the impact of federal dollars. In the long term, the data you help us collect will help us ensure that federal grant dollars for local governments are used in a fiscally responsible manner and provide the greatest value for residents going forward. Additionally, your city will be organized into a cohort with other municipalities based on size, needs, and funding streams. The program will facilitate meetings with members of your cohort to share resources, strategies, and tactics for successfully securing federal grant awards. Cohort members also have access to a private communications platform to share additional information and resources.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Currently, the NLC Federal Grant Navigation Program is conducting a pilot with cities that meet the following criteria:Cities that are in: AlabamaArkansasLouisianaIllinoisIndianaMichiganMississippiMinnesotaMissouriWisconsinMunicipalities with populations near and above 6,000 residentsThe program is open to both NLC members and non-members.