ARRA coordinator works to bring stimulus funds to Hawaii
Nonprofits have been intrigued by reports of millions of dollars of “stimulus” money flooding into Hawaii from the American Relief and Recovery Act. Much of the money is aimed at replacing state funding shortfalls for programs such as Medicaid or to fund infrastructure and road paving. Local nonprofits, however, have been asking how to tap into the funding stream or to know if their programs qualify for new federal grants.
To help find answers to those questions, Mark Anderson was recently appointed as the State of Hawaii’s lead ARRA coordinator. HANO recently interviewed Anderson:
HANO: What is your new role as state ARRA coordinator? What are your goals?
ANDERSON: Over the past year, I have spent a lot of time learning how the stimulus works. My initial focus has been on making sure that we at state government can respond to the opportunities presented to us through the stimulus package. My focus now is to make sure that both the government and the nonprofit sector take advantage of the competitive opportunities in the stimulus package which will be coming out this year and next.
Each state agency receiving ARRA funds has an ARRA coordinator, a Recovery Team and a Recovery plan. You can find this information at the State ARRA website, www.hawaii.gov/recovery.
Q: How much stimulus money is available for Hawaii nonprofits to draw down?
A: There is not a separate, defined pool of funds just for nonprofits under ARRA. However, often nonprofits are the “eligible applicant” listed in the ARRA grant opportunity. My advice is to actively seek out opportunities for ARRA funds by going directly to grants.gov and registering to receive automatic email notifications when ARRA opportunities become available. So far, state agencies have been awarded a little over $1 billion in ARRA funds.
Q: What is the best way that nonprofit organizations can know how to identify and apply for stimulus funds?
A: Grants.gov is the best site to use. At grants.gov you will even find a webinar for nonprofit organizations entitled “An Introduction to the Recovery Act and Grants.Gov: A webinar orientation for nonprofits.” In addition to grants.gov, I know some nonprofit organizations register at specific federal agency sites as well. By doing this you can sometimes get information before a grant becomes available on grants.gov. But my understanding is that all ARRA grants are announced through grants.gov.
Q: What kinds of stimulus funds are available for nonprofits at the moment?
A: If you go to grants.gov and click on advanced search, you can search all open ARRA opportunities by eligibility type. One of the eligible types of entities is a nonprofit organization. Interestingly nonprofits can participate in a majority of the open opportunities right now. It looks like a lot of the open opportunities are in the health care sector.
Q: When does the availability of stimulus funds end?
A: All ARRA funds must be obligated by September 30, 2011.
Q: Are there other opportunities?
A: Yes, you can become a vendor to a state or federal entity that has received ARRA funds. To register to become a vendor to the federal government go to FedBizOpps (https://www.fbo.gov/). To become a vendor to state and county government, register at the state procurement office website (http://www.spo.hawaii.gov/). Both sites will allow you to receive electronic notification of procurement opportunities. All ARRA funds are procured through normal channels.
Q: How can we know which Hawaii nonprofits have already received stimulus funds?
A: Go to recovery.gov. It has more information then you probably ever cared to know about the stimulus package, who has received ARRA awards and specifically about how stimulus funds are being used in Hawaii. At this site, you can find out which Hawaii nonprofits have received ARRA award directly.
Q: What is your contact information?
A: I can be reached at (808) 586-3035. My email is manderson@dbedt.hawaii.gov.
