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Capital Grants Information
In FY 20, Governor Pritzker passed a historic, bipartisan $45 Billion ReBuild Illinois capital funding initiative to address critical infrastructure needs in Illinois. Under this plan, the General Assembly appropriated $3 Billion to DCEO for capital grants. These funds will be invested in communities across the state over the next six years.
To provide transparency to the people of Illinois regarding the Department’s investments in our state via distribution of capital grants, the Department is providing a list of the appropriations to DCEO for capital grants. This list is updated quarterly to include new or revised appropriations.
The General Assembly enacts appropriations for DCEO’s capital grants in two forms:
- a lump sum appropriation authorizing capital grants for purposes specified in the appropriation; or
- a line item appropriation authorizing a capital grant to a named recipient for a specific project.
A capital grant funded by either a line item or lump sum appropriation is awarded utilizing the state’s uniform grant process governed by the Illinois Grant Accountability and Transparency Act (30 ILCS 708/1 et seq) (“GATA”).
A capital grant to be funded from a lump sum appropriation is announced using a Notice of Funding Opportunity (“NOFO”), the formal announcement pursuant to GATA of an opportunity to apply for State funding from a state agency. The NOFO invites applications and provides grant information such as details regarding the proposed program/project, eligibility and evaluation criteria, funding preferences/priorities, and the submission deadlines. At the close of the NOFO posting period, DCEO reviews each submitted grant application, verifies the applicant’s eligibility, conducts a merit-based review of the application, budget and other required documents, and offers the grant award to the successful applicant.
In some cases, legislative initiatives for specific projects are identified after enactment of a lump sum appropriation, and a portion of the lump sum is allotted to a capital grant for the specific project. Legislators provide the agency with the necessary information to develop a grant funding opportunity, including a description and location of the proposed project, funding information and limitations, and specific eligibility criteria. Like any other capital grants, these are awarded utilizing the GATA grant process.
Interested persons and organizations can also view active grant programs, currently funded grant programs, and the list of available funding opportunities for all state agencies on the GATA website under the Illinois Catalog of State Financial Assistance (“CSFA”).