The Office of Community Services (OCS) will award approximately $18.57 million in Community Economic Development (CED) discretionary funds to Community Development Corporations (CDC) to enhance job creation and business development for individuals with low income. Projects should be well-planned, financially viable, and innovative. CED awards will be made as part of a broader strategy to address objectives such as decreasing dependency on federal programs, chronic unemployment, and community deterioration in urban and rural areas. CED projects are expected to actively recruit individuals with low incomes to fill the positions created by CED-funded development activities, to assist those individuals in successfully maintaining employment, and to ensure that the businesses and jobs created remain viable for at least one year after the project period. CED projects can be non-construction or construction projects. In states with current projects, OCS encourages applicants to target rural and underserved areas.Furthermore, OCS encourages potential applicants to explore how proposed projects can be aligned and/or integrated with other OCS-funded programs and priorities to more comprehensively address the needs of rural and urban communities with high rates of poverty, unemployment, and substance-use disorder, as well as communities experiencing persistent poverty, as identified by US Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service.
