The Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) provides funding to assist a wide range of eligible activities, including housing improvement projects, public facilities such as water and sewer lines, buildings such as local health centers or head start centers, and economic development projects. All projects must substantially benefit low and moderate income persons.

The maximum amount available per applicant is $750,000 for Single-Activity during regular competition and $1,000,000 for Multi-Activity during regular competition.

Local Match Requirements - Annual Competition:

Grants up to $300,000, or grants for single activity housing projects - no matching funds required.

Grants of $300,001 to $750,000 - 5% local matching funds required.

Grants of more than $750,001 - 10% local matching funds required.

Eligibility
Eligible applicants are units of general local government, excluding metropolitan cities, urban counties, and units of government eligible to participate in the urban counties or metropolitan cities programs of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Eligible applicants selected for funding will be those having the greatest need as evidenced by poverty and per capita income and whose applications most adequately address the needs of low and moderate income persons and have the greatest impact.

Threshold Requirements
For the FY2020 Annual Competition, threshold requirements include the following standards:

Submission of a complete application

Compliance with all deadline requirements as noted in the Applicants’ manual

Meeting all requirements as specified by DCA for curing any application deficiencies

Completion of all professional procurement requirements, and

Completion of the Tribal Consultation portion of the Environmental Review not later than May 1, 2020.

In an effort to further encourage social distancing, DCA has modified the requirements for original signatures and in-person public hearings for the FY20 CDBG Annual Competition.  

Documents previously requiring original signatures may be signed and scanned with the resulting copy placed in the application. Alternatively, a third-party electronic signature vendor may also be used, such as Adobe Sign or DocuSign, which allow for a signature audit report. Applicants must include the resulting audit report for all documents electronically signed using a third-party vendor in the application. This measure should assist with maintaining social distancing protocols as documents can be mailed or emailed, signed and returned for placement in the application.  

Additionally, as it relates to social distancing, communities have the option of conducting a virtual public hearing if any public hearing has been cancelled or postponed due to the public health crisis. The virtual hearing must allow for questions in real time, with answers coming directly from the elected representatives to all attendees.  As with an in-person hearing, the local government must select a virtual hearing method or platform that provides for accessibility for persons with disabilities and LEP to participate. All notice requirements as outlined in the FY20 CDBG Applicant’s Manual remain in effect and must be documented.

Service Delivery Strategy (O.C.G.A. §36-70-20)
State law requires that all projects funded be consistent with the community’s adopted Service Delivery Strategy (O.C.G.A. §36-70-20). The appropriate citation of the Strategy along with attachments and service area maps should be included in the application, along with a signed certification that the project is consistent with the Strategy. Maps should include the project area, or facility, in relation to the approved service area for that activity. If the project is not covered by the adopted Strategy by May 1, 2020, it will not be eligible for funding unless any deficiencies are cured within 60 days after notification by DCA. 
 
Projects included in all housing and Multi-Activity applications must be included in the applicants’ Service Delivery Strategy by the applicable deadline, May 1, 2020.
 
It will not be necessary for an SDS to specifically identify that grant funds are a funding mechanism if other legal and appropriate funding sources are cited within the SDS document. Although it is prudent for a community’s SDS to contemplate the use of grant funds to support service provision, that language will not be included in the evaluation for the 2020 CDBG competition.  

Forms
In addition to DCA 1- 13, four additional forms (available online) are required:

Civil Rights Certification

Evidence of Compliance with SAM (through October 31, 2020)

Acknowledgment of LAP Requirement, and

LAP Threshold Certification.