ASLA Debuts Resource Guide for Untapped Stimulus Funds
Online tool documents still-available opportunities for design professionals by project type.

ASLA has developed a resource guide, Economic Stimulus Opportunities for Landscape Architects, that outlines still-available federal stimulus opportunities that landscape architects and other design professions could find beneficial. These federal opportunities are organized into the following sections: transportation, water, sustainable design, climate change, small business, and government procurement. Projects include Smart Growth development, transit capital grants under the Surface Transportation Program, Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund grants, wildfire management, government procurement, and Small Business Administration loans for eligible businesses.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was enacted into law (P.L. 111-5) to jump-start the nation’s lagging economy through job creation and other economic development opportunities. The $789 billion package of tax breaks and incentives, grants, loans, and entitlement spending was estimated to create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two to three years and to produce long-term economic gains for the nation.

After passage of ARRA, the federal government began allocating funding to states and localities to begin economic stimulus projects in the areas of education, housing, health care, infrastructure, and the energy sector. State and local governments have received stimulus funding and currently are awarding contracts, grants, and loans to complete projects that will create employment opportunities and promote economic growth in their communities. Recently, the U.S. government reported that approximately 250,000 jobs have been saved as a result of stimulus funding moving through the nation’s economic system. Moreover, the government reports, 30,000 jobs have been created as a direct result of businesses receiving federal contracts associated with ARRA.

Currently, most states have already received billions of dollars in federal ARRA funding and have established websites to inform the public about plans to implement state and local stimulus projects. The guide also provides a list of state recovery sites where the public can find more information and details about local opportunities.

If you know of additional useful loan or grant programs, or you are a provider or government program and would like to be included, please e-mail info@asla.org.