Philip A. Palmesano headshot

Assemblymember

Philip A. Palmesano

Assembly District 132

Palmesano February ‘Grant Action News’ Update

February 7, 2025

Assemblyman Phil Palmesano (R,C-Corning) is sending his “February Grant Action News Update” to residents, organizations and local governments regarding a series of grants available from the state, federal government and private entities. Each month, the Assembly provides an updated list of grants for a variety of categories.

“During a time of economic recovery, grants can play an integral part in helping our local communities complete needed infrastructure repairs or support underfunded projects,” said Palmesano. “Many people don’t realize the scope of available opportunities because they aren’t sure where to look. The ‘Grants Action News’ bulletin makes finding these grants much easier by consolidating the information and making it available to everyone. I hope residents, organizations and local governments throughout the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions will be able to use this resource to find much-needed support to strengthen communities in our rural area.”

All not-for-profit applicants must now prequalify on the NYS Grants Reform website at grantsreform.ny.gov/grantees in order to apply for certain New York state grant solicitations. Potential not-for-profit applicants are strongly encouraged to begin the process of registering and prequalifying immediately as this is a lengthy process.

The Grant Action News bulletin is updated at the beginning of each month with newly available grants and information on how to apply.

The update can be accessed here: https://nyassembly.gov/gan/?sec=story&story=112878

State Grants:

NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH), Youth Assertive Community Treatment (ACT)

This funding is available for the expansion of Youth Assertive Community Treatment teams (ACT) in the Central, Hudson River, Long Island and New York OMH regions. Youth ACT teams serve children/youth with serious emotional disturbance (SED), who are returning home from inpatient settings or residential services, at risk of entering such settings, or have not adequately engaged or responded to treatment in more traditional community-based services.

  • Eligible Applicants: Not-for-profit entities
  • Deadline: February 19, 2025, 2 p.m.
  • Total Funding Available: Approximately $40 million
  • Contact: Jeremy Rossello
  • Contact Email: OMHLocalProcurement@omh.ny.gov
  • Links to Additional Information:
    • https://omh.ny.gov/omhweb/rfp/
    • https://omh.ny.gov/omhweb/rfp/2024/youth-act/index.html
    • https://omh.ny.gov/omhweb/rfp/2024/youth-act/youth_act_11_teams.pdf

NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) State Assistance Program

These grants are for HHW collection programs in order to provide a safe alternative for recycling or disposal of household hazardous materials.

  • Eligible Applicants: Governmental entities
  • Deadline: February 28, 2025, 3 p.m.
  • Total Funding Available: $200,000
  • Contact: Emily Van Deusen
  • Contact Email: RecyclingGrants@dec.ny.gov
  • Link to Additional Information: https://dec.ny.gov/environmental-protection/wastemanagement/
  • grants/household-hazardous-waste-programs-grants

NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Community Reforestation (CoRe) Grants

This funding will help to expand, restore and create urban forested natural areas.

NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH), Youth and Teen Mental Health First Aid Training

These funds are for the creation and/or expansion of Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) and Teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) statewide training to be offered free of charge. The YMHFA and tMHFA curricula were created by and are delivered utilizing certifications from the National Council of Mental Wellbeing, to prepare participants to provide support for those around them

who may be experiencing a mental health or substance use challenge. These evidence-based, early intervention courses are available both virtually and in-person and use community-specific scenarios, activities and videos to teach the skills needed to recognize and respond to signs and symptoms of mental health and substance use challenges as well as how to provide initial support until they are connected with appropriate professional help.

Federal Grants:

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Landmarks of American History and Culture Program

This funding supports a series of one-week residential, virtual and combined format workshops across the nation to enhance how K-12 educators, higher education faculty and humanities professionals incorporate place-based approaches to humanities teaching and scholarship.

  • Eligible Applicants: Native American tribal governments (federally recognized); state governments; city or township governments; private institutions of higher education; special district governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education; county governments
  • Deadline: February 12, 2025
  • Estimated Total Program Funding: $2.5 million
  • Expected Number of Awards: 15
  • Award Ceiling: $190,000
  • Contact Email: landmarks@neh.gov
  • Links to Additional Information:

US Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS), Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students

These scholarships will help increase diversity in the health professions and nursing workforce by providing awards to eligible health professions schools for use in awarding scholarships to students from disadvantaged backgrounds who have financial need.

  • Eligible Applicants: Others (see text field entitled “Additional Information on Eligibility” in the link below for clarification)
  • Deadline: February 19, 2025
  • Estimated Total Program Funding: $51.4 million
  • Expected Number of Awards: 85
  • Contact: Denise Sorrell
  • Contact Email: SDSProgram@hrsa.gov
  • Link to Additional Information: https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/355780

US Dept. of Transportation (DOT), Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT) Program

These grants are for projects that strengthen surface transportation to be more resilient to natural hazards, including climate change, sea level rise, heat waves, flooding, extreme weather events and other natural disasters through support of planning activities, resilience improvements, community resilience and evacuation routes and at-risk coastal infrastructure.

  • Eligible Applicants: Others (see text field entitled “Additional Information on Eligibility” in the link below for clarification)
  • Deadline: February 24, 2025, 11:59 p.m.
  • Estimated Total Program Funding: $876 million
  • Expected Number of Awards: 60
  • Award Floor: $100,000
  • Contact: Ryan J. Buck
  • Contact Email: PROTECTdiscretionary@dot.gov
  • Links to Additional Information:

US Dept. of Transportation (DOT), Commercial Driver’s License Program Implementation (CDLPI)

This funding provides financial assistance to states and other eligible entities to carry out and improve the national CDL program.

  • Eligible Applicants: public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; small businesses;
  • nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education; Native American tribal governments (federally recognized); private institutions of higher education; for-profit organizations other than small businesses; county governments; city or township governments; state governments
  • Deadline: February 24, 2025
  • Estimated Total Program Funding: $88.7 million
  • Expected Number of Awards: 55
  • Contact: Isabella Marra
  • Contact Email: CDLGrants@dot.gov
  • Links to Additional Information:

US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), Community Wildfire Defense Grants (CWDG), Northeast-Midwest

These grants will assist at-risk local communities and Native American tribes with planning and mitigating against the risk created by wildfire. The grants prioritize at-risk communities in an area identified as having high or very high wildfire hazard potential, are low-income and/or have been impacted by a severe disaster. The CWDG helps communities in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) implement the three goals of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (Cohesive Strategy):

♦ restore and maintain landscapes: landscapes, regardless of jurisdictional boundaries, are resilient to fire, insect, disease, invasive species and climate change disturbances, in accordance with management objectives

♦ create fire-adapted communities: human populations and infrastructure are as prepared as possible to receive, respond to and recover from wildland fire

♦ improve wildfire response: all jurisdictions participate in making and implementing safe, effective, efficient risk-based wildfire management decisions

  • Eligible Applicants: Native American tribal organizations (other than federally recognized tribal
  • governments); special district governments; county governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of
  • higher education; Native American tribal governments (federally recognized); state governments; nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education; city or township governments
  • Deadline: February 28, 2025, 11:59 p.m.
  • Estimated Total Program Funding: $200 million
  • Expected Number of Awards: 100
  • Award Ceiling: $10 million
  • Contact Email: SM.FS.usfs_cwdg@usda.gov
  • Links to Additional Information:

US Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS), Addiction Medicine Fellowships (AMF)

These grants will help expand the number of fellows at accredited addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry fellowship programs trained as addiction medicine specialists. Fellows will practice in medically underserved, community-based settings that integrate primary care with mental health disorder and substance use disorder (SUD) prevention and treatment services. The fellowship must include training in prevention and treatment services in medically underserved community-based settings, including in rural areas, that have limited or no access to SUD prevention or treatment. The AMF program trains both addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry fellows.

  • Eligible Applicants: Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education; nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education; others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" in the link below for
  • clarification); public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; Native American tribal governments (federally recognized); for-profit organizations, other than small businesses; Native American tribal organizations (other than federally recognized tribal governments)
  • Deadline: February 28, 2025
  • Estimated Total Program Funding: $23.1 million
  • Expected Number of Awards: 28
  • Award Ceiling: $10 million
  • Contact: Anthony L. (Tony) Schlaff, MD
  • Contact Email: aschlaff@hrsa.gov
  • Link to Additional Information: https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/355773

Services for Veteran Families (SSVF)

SSVF provides supportive services grants to private nonprofit organizations and consumer cooperatives who will coordinate or provide supportive services to very low-income veteran families who are: residing in permanent housing and at risk of becoming homeless, homeless and scheduled to become residents of permanent housing within a specified time period, or after exiting permanent housing within a specified time period, are seeking other housing that is responsive to such low-income veteran family’s needs and preferences. SSVF delivers services using a housing-first approach that emphasizes permanent housing placement and supportive services as the primary objectives.

  • Eligible Applicants: Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education; Native American tribal organizations (other than federally recognized tribal governments)
  • Deadline: March 3, 2025
  • Expected Number of Awards: 250
  • Award Ceiling: $22.9 million
  • Award Floor: $118,000
  • Contact Email: ssvf@va.gov
  • Links to Additional Information:

US Dept. of Education, Training and Information for Parents of Children with Disabilities: Parent Training and Information Centers

This funding ensures that parents of children with disabilities receive high-quality, relevant and useful training and information to help improve outcomes for their children.

  • Eligible Applicants: Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" in the link below for clarification)
  • Deadline: March 3, 2025
  • Estimated Total Program Funding: $25.8 million
  • Award Ceiling: $798,000
  • Contact: Carmen Sanchez
  • Contact Email: Carmen.Sanchez@ed.gov
  • Links to Additional Information:

US Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS), Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP)

This funding supports improving health care in rural areas by addressing their immediate and short-term needs related to the provision of substance use disorder services. RCORP – Overdose Response aims to reduce and prevent the risk of overdoses in rural areas.

  • Eligible Applicants: Public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; Native American tribal organizations (other than federally recognized tribal governments); independent school districts; nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education; special district governments; state governments; Native American tribal governments (federally recognized); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" in the link below for clarification); city or township governments; nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education; county governments
  • Deadline: March 10, 2025
  • Estimated Total Program Funding: $6 million
  • Expected Number of Awards: 20
  • Award Ceiling: $300,000
  • Contact: Diana Wang
  • Contact Email: ruralopioidresponse@hrsa.gov
  • Link to Additional Information: https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/355360

Private Grants:

Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR), Sustainable Packaging & Packaging Alternative Grants

FFAR seeks novel sustainable packaging or packaging alternatives that can replace single-use packaging and single-use plastic packaging but can offer at least some of the same functions in an economical manner. The lab consists of three distinct tracks:

♦ Track 1 (Applied R&D): seeks proposals for solutions for specialty crop exports that are still at the laboratory stage but show high promise to be implemented in pilot-scale manufacturing with minimal further effort

♦ Track 2 (Technology Accelerator): seeks proposals for scaling innovations in sustainable packaging for the fresh produce industry

♦ Track 3 (Scale-up and pilot): seeks proposals to run pilot-scale manufacturing projects aimed at commercializing a packaging solution for specialty crop exports

  • Eligible Applicants: Institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations, government-affiliated researchers, domestic organizations and international organizations.
  • Deadline: February 12, 2025, 5 p.m.
  • Expected Number of Awards: Up to 20
  • Award Amounts: Range from $50,000-$250,000
  • Contacts/Emails:
    • Tracks 1 and 3, Dr. James Sternberg at sternbe@g.clemson.edu
    • Track 2, Vonnie Estes at vestes@freshproduce.com
  • Link to Additional Information: https://foundationfar.org/grants-funding/opportunities/sustainable-packaging-innovation-lab/

Human Animal Research Institute Research Institute (HABRI), Investigating Health Outcomes of Pet Ownership Grants

HABRI aims to advance, through science, education and advocacy, the vital role of the human-animal bond in the health and well-being of people, pets, cultures and communities. The organization has issued a call for research proposals from institutions and organizations across the globe to investigate the health outcomes of pet ownership and/or animal-assisted interventions (AAI), both for the people and the animals involved. Proposals should have a strong theoretical framework and focus on innovative approaches to studying the positive effects of companion animals on human health. HABRI encourages

studies that focus on interactions with a variety of pet species, which may include (but are not limited to) dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, small mammals, horses and fish.

  • Eligible Applicants: Undergo Institutional Review Board (IRB) and/or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) review and approval, and all animals participating in funded studies must be under the care of a veterinarian. No invasive procedures will be funded.
  • Deadline: February 13, 2025, 11:59 p.m.
  • Expected Number of Grants: 5-6
  • Award Amounts: Up to $49,000
  • Contact: Matt Cryer
  • Contact Email: mcryer@habri.org
  • Links to Additional Information:

Scholar Awards:

Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) Scholars

These grants are available to 10,000 outstanding students as HSF Scholars from a broad and talented pool of applicants. HSF Scholars have access to a full range of invaluable scholar support services, including career services, mentorship, leadership development, knowledge building and wellness training.

  • Eligible Applicants Must:
    • be of Hispanic heritage
    • be a U.S. citizen, permanent legal resident, or DACA
    • have a minimum of 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale (or equivalent) for high school students; a minimum of 2.5 GPA on a 4.0 scale (or equivalent) for college and graduate students
    • plan to enroll full-time in an accredited, public or not-for-profit, four-year university, or graduate school, in the US, for the 2025-2026 academic year
    • submit the FAFSA or state-based financial aid forms (if applicable)
  • Deadline: February 15, 2025
  • Number of Awards: 10,000
  • Award Amounts: $500-$5,000
  • Contact Link: https://www.hsf.net/contact-us/
  • Link to Additional Information: https://www.hsf.net/scholarship

Tailhook Education Foundation Scholarships

These scholarships are open to college-bound high school graduates who are the children or grandchildren of a current or former naval aviator, naval flight officer, or air-crewman, or the children/grandchildren of individuals who served onboard a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier.

  • Eligible Applicants Must:
    • be a high school graduate and child or grandchild of a current or former naval aviator, naval flight officer, or air-crewman
    • or must be children/grandchildren of individuals who served onboard a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier
    • be accepted for undergraduate enrollment at an accredited college
  • Deadline: February 17, 2025, 3 p.m.
  • Number of Awards: 100
  • Award Amounts: Range from $4,000-$20,000
  • Link to Additional Information: https://www.tailhook.net/scholarship-application

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF), Pediatric Oncology Student Training (POST) Program

Applications are open for the POST Program, a summer research internship designed for undergraduate, graduate and medical students interested in pursuing a career in pediatric oncology research.

  • Mentor/Student Eligibility:
    • mentors must be ALSF grantees (past or present, including those who have previously mentored POST students), advisory board, or review board members
    • mentors must be active in the field of pediatric oncology research
    • the mentor’s institution must be in the U.S. or Canada. The mentor/mentee does not need to be a U.S. citizen
    • mentors must have all final years’ POST requirements submitted (including final reports, budget sheets and mentor surveys)
    • mentor/student pairs must be identified prior to submitting an application
    • mentors must commit to training the student by submitting a commitment letter with the application, and, during the program period, they must plan training activities and provide guidance
    • students must currently be enrolled in an undergraduate, graduate (only students pursuing a master’s degree are eligible, PhD students are not eligible), or medical degree-granting program. Students who graduate from undergraduate studies in the spring and are accepted into an eligible program starting in the fall may apply
    • students must be able to dedicate at least eight full consecutive weeks to the program, typically between May 1 and August 31. The dates may vary depending on the student’s scheduled break
  • Deadline: February 25, 2025, 8 p.m.
  • Award Amounts: $5,000 ($4,000 for student stipend, $1,000 for designated supplies associated with student work)
  • Contact: Conner Holm
  • Contact Email: C.Holm@AlexsLemonade.org

Link to Additional Information: https://www.alexslemonade.org/sites/default/files/images/alsf1/downloads/2025_post_program_guidelines_for_applications.pdf