"Infrastructure School" offers cities crash courses on accessing funds for critical projects
The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — ranks among the nation’s largest infrastructure investment packages ever to be signed into law. Passed by Congress last November, the package includes an estimated $45.5 billion in funding for the state of California. Unlike the American Rescue Plan Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes competitive and noncompetitive funding.
City leaders should begin preparing now to maximize the federal funding in their communities.
To help cities navigate these new funding opportunities, the White House has released several supplemental resources, including an upcoming “Infrastructure School” webinar series. The webinars build on the recently released Bipartisan Infrastructure Law guidebook, which contains a funding roadmap, individual program details, upcoming key dates and date ranges for key activities, partner information, and other explanatory documents for upcoming 2022 and 2023 programs.
Additionally, the guidebook groups funding programs by issue area. Each chapter contains a cover note explaining how to prepare to apply for and potentially receive each subset of funding. The memos also identify additional resources that cities can utilize as the federal government prepares to distribute this new funding.
The guidebook is the best available resource for cities and will be updated at Build.gov as more information becomes available.
Webinar schedule
The "Infrastructure School" series is divided into twelve unique sessions, each one corresponding to a different funding area. Registration links for the February sessions are below. Registration links for the March sessions are expected later this month.
- Ports and Waterways: Tuesday, Feb. 15 at 1:00 p.m.
- Airports: Thursday, Feb. 17 at 1:00 p.m.
- Electric Vehicles: Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 1:00 p.m.
- Public Transportation: Thursday, Feb. 24 at 1:00 p.m.
- Railroads: Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 1:00 p.m.
- Roads, Bridges, and Major Projects: Thursday, March 3 at 1:00 p.m.
- Safety: Tuesday, March 8 at 1:00 p.m.
- Clean Energy and Power: Thursday, March 10 at 1:00 p.m.
- Water: Tuesday, March 15 at 1:00 p.m.
- Resilience: Thursday, March 17 at 1:00 p.m.
- Environmental Remediation: Tuesday, March 22 at 1:00 p.m.
- Broadband: Thursday, March 24 at 1:00 p.m.
Other proactive steps
Cities can take several proactive steps to ensure maximum competitiveness, which the White House laid out on page six of a related fact sheet. In addition to those steps, cities should refresh their stories about the ways federal aid can support their needs, projects, and opportunities. When appropriate, city officials should identify potential project partners and any revenues available to match federal dollars.
It is critical that all cities, particularly, those with limited experience receiving federal funds, maintain proper records for federal audits and state oversight actions.
For more information about the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act or additional tools for recovery, visit the Cal Cities Guide to Local Recovery portal.