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RCI: How We Can Help (Webinar 1)

September 26, 2024 
1:00 pm-2:00 pm EDT 

RCI is now accepting expressions of interest from organizations seeking technical support for their community reconnection projects! In this webinar, the RCI Team discussed the types of technical support available to your organization and how to participate. Topics included: 

  • RCI technical assistance levels and the types of assistance offered.
  • How to request RCI support and what to expect after submitting and expression of interest. 
  • Q&A with the RCI Team.  

View the webinar recording or read the full transcript below:


Full Transcript:

Kevin Bush, RCI: Good afternoon or morning everybody. Just gonna give it a minute for folks to trickle through the door.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Excellent! Well, welcome everybody. Thank you for joining us. This is a webinar on Reconnecting Communities Institute: How We Can Help, and we’re excited to have you join today to introduce you to the Reconnecting Communities Institute, help you understand what we do, and the process of requesting our support.

Kevin Bush, RCI: My name is Kevin Bush. I’m the Principal in Charge of the Reconnecting Communities Institute team that’s supporting the Department of Transportation, and I will be kicking off today’s webinar and guiding you through the next hour together.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Next slide, please.

Kevin Bush, RCI: So, first off before we get started, a few housekeeping notes. Today’s meeting is being recorded. Closed captioning is provided by a human captioner, and if you experience any captioning delays, please open that stream text links in a separate browser window. The stream text link is, if you don’t see it there, at www.streamtext.net/player?event=RCIconnect.

Kevin Bush, RCI: We will share the recording in a follow-up email to all registrants, and on the news and events page of our website, which is rciconnect.org.

Kevin Bush, RCI: So, let’s jump in over the next hour. We’re going to introduce you to the Reconnecting Communities Institute and a few members of our team.

Kevin Bush, RCI: We’ll dive into how RCI can support your community, and we’ll explain who is eligible and how to request support.

Kevin Bush, RCI: We’ve also reserved a significant portion of the agenda to address your questions, and we ask that everyone use the Q&A function in Zoom to submit questions as they arise. We’ll address those questions at the end of the presentation, and welcome additional questions at that time before we get any further, though I want to kick off today’s webinar with opening remarks from our leader, Kelley Britt, Community Planner at the Build America Bureau and Program Manager for the Reconnecting Communities Institute, Kelley over to you.

Kelley Britt, RCI: Thanks, Kevin. Hi, everyone! Good afternoon. As he said, my name is Kelley Britt. I’m the Reconnecting Communities Institute Program Manager.

Kelley Britt, RCI: We are really excited to have you here today on the How We Can Help webinar and talk to you more about Reconnecting Communities Institute authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The RCI was created to supplement the Reconnecting Communities Pilot program, the RCP.

Kelley Britt, RCI: It was established to reconnect communities previously cut off from economic opportunities by transportation infrastructure.

Kelley Britt, RCI: The goal is to advance community center transportation reconnection projects with a priority for projects that benefit disadvantaged communities.

Kelley Britt, RCI: Just a quick side note. No phone is open right now for that until Monday, the 30th. So, if you haven’t gotten your application in, you still have a couple of days left.

Kelley Britt, RCI: So, let me get into the RCI. It was funded to provide direct technical assistance to those communities with RCP. Grants and those with reconnecting type projects.

Kelley Britt, RCI: The mission of the RCI is to provide is to serve as a center and a clearinghouse for learning to help restore and reconnect communities through technical assistance.

Kelley Britt, RCI: We have varying levels of TA available for pre-entry, which provide a TA to those looking for an opportunity and to apply for the NOFO.

Kelley Britt, RCI: And we’re opening up now to those needing TA for planning and capital projects.

Kelley Britt, RCI: The types of TA we will provide will be in group sessions, one on one as well as a Community of Practice that will enable grantees to communicate with each other about best practices and other various topics.

Kelley Britt, RCI: We have developed a core curriculum on various topical areas, and we hope that we’ll support you in your reconnection journey and look forward to serving you.

Kelley Britt, RCI: So, I’m going to start right there.

Kelley Britt, RCI: Turn it back to Kevin and the team, and they will go into more detail about TA and what we have available at RCI. So once again, thanks for being here. We’re excited to have you, Kevin. I’ll kick it back to you.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Thanks, Kelley, appreciate it.

Kevin Bush, RCI: So, I’m joined by a couple of other folks today. In addition to Kelley. I’ll be joined by speakers, Alyssa Hall, who’s the Reconnecting Communities Project Manager as well as Chris Forinash of Nelson Nygaard, our Planning Cohort Lead.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Next slide, please.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Our mission as Kelley mentioned is to serve as that center for learning to help reconnect communities that were harmed, isolated, and cut off from opportunity by transportation infrastructure.

Kevin Bush, RCI: We do this through expert guidance and technical assistance, supporting grantees and potential grantees of the Reconnecting Communities Pilot program in planning and implementing innovative community reconnection projects.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Our goal is to support you with the necessary skills and tools to successfully plan and implement projects. These efforts include group and peer-based learning opportunities, one on one technical assistance with subject matter, experts supporting the development of tools and resources that can guide you to project planning and implementation and other tailored support to meet your community’s unique needs.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Next slide.

Kevin Bush, RCI: A little bit about us. We’re powered by experts from 14 organizations with a diverse set of expertise. This includes Arup, BTG, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, CTL Engineering, Equitable Cities, Kauffman and Associates, Kittelson and Associates, Metro Analytics, Nelson Nygaard, Planning Communities, Smart Growth America, TYLin, and Vision Planning and Consulting. Together, we bring expertise in equitable transportation, planning, community engagement and tribal affairs, environmental review, engineering design, federal grant administration, and much, much more. But before we get any further. I want to invite my colleague, Chris Forinash, our Planning Cohort Lead, who’s going to give a little bit of an overview of exactly what it is, we mean when we say reconnection project, Chris, over to you.

Christopher Forinash, RCI: Thanks, Kevin. Again, I’m Chris Forinash with Nelson Nygaard transportation planning, and we’re a happy member of the Cadmus led RCI team.

Christopher Forinash, RCI: Now, one of the first questions when we talk to communities that are interested in either applying for federal dollars or in just furthering the benefits of transportation, planning, and investments in their communities is: what is a reconnection project like? Are there requirements? How should we be thinking about this? Especially if there’s an eye towards Federal funding.

Christopher Forinash, RCI: But a reconnection project in general can be anywhere from early phase planning to final design and construction of a project that addresses a barrier caused by transportation infrastructure.

Christopher Forinash, RCI: So, think of the canonical case of a highway that disrupted the urban fabric of a city when it was built, severed a neighborhood separated neighborhoods from educational and work opportunities or recreation facilities.

Christopher Forinash, RCI: So, reconnection projects are intended to re-look at that infrastructure and find ways to restore that connectivity, to help improve people’s lives. Now it – the barrier can be….

Christopher Forinash, RCI: And by the US DOT definition for the reconnecting communities grant program, the barrier has to be a man-made transportation, infrastructure, piece of transportation infrastructure. I’ve heard folks talk about it. Well, what about the river or waterway? That is a barrier within our community that is not the kind of project that US DOT is talking about using the Reconnecting Communities Pilot program to fund planning and design and construction for.

Christopher Forinash, RCI: What about a community that is separated from opportunity? Because there’s not good transit service between them. But there’s no barrier caused by transportation infrastructure. Again, probably a worthy project, probably not a good candidate to be called a reconnection project and certainly, to receive funding from the reconnecting communities program. So, think about the transportation infrastructure. Again, you can go beyond the again the sort of default idea that people think about the highway through the city. It could be a rail line. It could be another piece of transportation infrastructure that is a barrier to mobility, access, economic development, because of the design, the existence of that structure. And then a reconnection project is about, how do you mitigate those, it can range from, you know, building better multimodal access across an existing barrier to potentially removing that existing barrier and rebuilding the urban fabric where it that it might have disrupted in the first place.

Christopher Forinash, RCI: And for more, you can look at a couple of resources on the US DOT’s website and those include both the NOFO, the Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Reconnecting Communities Program. A pilot program that Kelley mentioned. The applications for this round are due on Monday. So, if this is the first you’re hearing that you will not be applying on Monday is my guess. But there are some great examples of the kinds of reconnection projects that it can fund in there and then elsewhere on US DOT’s website via the link to their FAQs. And a beautiful story map that they did highlighting reconnection projects from earlier this year.

Christopher Forinash, RCI: Back to you, Kevin.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Thank you, Chris. So, a little bit of background on how the Reconnecting Communities Institute came to be, and in 2022, the Reconnecting Communities Pilot program launched with funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. And as many of you know, this is the program that was really a first of its kind, federal initiative to provide planning and construction grant funding for projects that remove, retrofit, or mitigate transportation barriers like those that Chris just described.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Alongside the Reconnecting Communities Pilot program, DOT established this Institute to provide technical assistance and capacity building. So not the grant dollars, but that actual in-kind technical assistance to help you develop and ultimately plan and hopefully fund your community reconnection projects.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Who do we support? Next slide, please.

Kevin Bush, RCI: First, we encourage all existing reconnecting communities, pilot grantees to join the reconnecting Communities Institute and take advantage of our free assistance, including those receiving planning grants or capital grants.

Kevin Bush, RCI: In addition, other state, local, tribal and territorial governments, metropolitan planning as organizations and nonprofits may also be a good fit if they have an existing or potential transportation reconnection project. So, if you know you have a problem, but you’re not sure where to start. We can still support you.

Kevin Bush, RCI: We also expect to support the Neighborhood Access and Equity grantees to be that will become eligible in just a couple short days.

Kevin Bush, RCI: If your organization doesn’t fit into one of these categories, you may still be able to get assistance with us by partnering with an eligible organization. Just be sure that they serve as the lead applicant to the Reconnecting Communities Institute.

Kevin Bush, RCI: The most important thing to remember is that your reconnection project needs to meet the criteria Chris described earlier. It must address transportation, infrastructure, barrier, or barriers, restore community connectivity and improve people’s lives.

Kevin Bush, RCI: At this point I’m going to pass it over to my colleague, Alyssa Hall, RCI’s Project Manager, who’s going to provide a little bit of an overview of the type of support that RCI can provide and explain RCI’s technical assistance offerings in more detail. Alyssa, over to you.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Thanks, Kevin. Good morning. Everyone from the West Coast good afternoon to those folks who are living not on the West Coast, but on the East coast.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: I am so excited to have everybody here today. We have such a good showing, and I’m really very privileged to be able to describe to you this type of support that we are able to provide communities through the Reconnecting Communities Institute. You can see on your slide here that we have 3 different levels of support. So, there’s the Envisioning Level Planning level and Implementing level, the latter 2 planning and implementing really align with the RCP and nae grant levels.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: So, the planning level is to is to help and support communities who are kind of in the planning phase of their transportation reconnection project. This might support folks who have been interested in environmental reviews or right of way navigation along those lines. The implementation level is those that are closer to the capital, or, you know, turning dirt phase of their transportation reconnection project.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: We can support folks with engineering design, equitable project engagement, and the list actually goes on. But I will talk a little bit more about that in a few slides. But the thing that I think is really interesting about the Reconnecting Communities Institute is that we have this other level, which is the envisioning phase. And this level is supposed to help communities that haven’t yet received a grant or any funding and help them understand how to turn their ideas for reconnection into an actual project. So that’s a very unique aspect of this institute and not the level of technical assistance that is very common amongst federal technical assistance programs. So, I’m very excited about that level.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Next slide.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: So, we’ve talked a lot about what the community is, but what is the type of support that’s available to communities?

Alyssa Hall, RCI: You know, we have 3 general levels of support, and I will go into more detail on these in a few slides. But the first is individual. TA, and this is where we get one on one assistance from a community from subject matter, experts that help meet their community, your community’s unique needs. The second level is Group TA, and the second type of support is Group TA.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: So, this is more traditional style, education, expert-led instruction with your peers from your same level of support. So, if you’re in the planning level, other folks who are in the planning level would receive instruction from experts.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: And those topics would really be based on community need and what we’re hearing from communities as they enter into the Institute.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: And then, finally, there’s this Community of Practice aspect of the technical assistance available through RCI, and this is a forum to learn from your peers. You know we have subject matter experts and folks on our team like Chris Forinash, who have decades of experience in transportation planning, and are very well equipped to help you. But we also understand that there’s a unique aspect of being on the ground in communities. And so, this community practice is really meant to help you learn from each other about how to get over some of these barriers or move your project towards implementation.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Next slide.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: So, what’s the process for participating here? So, the first is our applying on our website, RCIconnect.org

Alyssa Hall, RCI: And hopefully, someone can put that link in the chat. As I am, or I’m actually not sure if we will have a chat. So RCIconnect.org, and then, once you apply, the application process should take you no longer than 10 minutes.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: And that will result in a one-on-one phone call or a virtual meeting with a member of our group, the Cadmus Group.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Then, once you’re approved by DOT, you’ll go through a group onboarding workshop well, where we’ll learn more about you and your community’s needs and then start to think about what exactly we can provide through RCI to meet your community’s needs. And we’ll do that through this needs assessment process. And from all of that we will develop an Individualized TA plan which will include both Individual TA, Group, TA and Community Practice events.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Next slide, please.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: And then. So, I mentioned the Individualized Technical Assistance Plan. What that really means is that each community and participant that comes through RCI will receive. A detailed plan, that kind of outlines what their goals are in in receiving technical assistance, and how RCI’s TA opportunities can meet those needs. So, each community that comes through the RCI will be assigned something that we call a community liaison.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: And that person will really be responsible for providing you those resources and making you aware of you know what opportunities there are for TA, what events are going on and keeping you in the loop and making sure that you’re following your TA plan and meeting your needs and goals.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Next slide.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: So, as I mentioned, there are 3 different types of technical assistance that we will be providing through the Institute.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: The first is Individual TA, and this is pretty straightforward. But the thing you know that I always think about when envisioning TA is that each community, when you’ve worked with one community, you’ve really worked with one community and no more than that. Each community has their own, you know, unique fingerprint and your own challenges that you’re facing. And so Individual TA is really meant to help you work toward… Sorry, work toward getting over some of the hurdles that you’re seeing and reaching your goals. And so, we’ll provide Individual TA at the envision plan and implement level. And the topics can be very broad. We have a few topics on the slide here, but it’s really going to be more reflective of your needs. So, these are just examples here.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Next slide.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: The second one that I mentioned was Group TA, and this is going to be again kind of more learning in group settings. So, this could be… This could be things like workshops or training, webinars in person or virtual site visits, guidebooks, checklists, self-evaluation, tools, things along those lines.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: And these topics will be decided upon as folks are coming in the Institute, so that we know that there are multiple communities facing similar challenges so that we can make sure the folks who attend that the topic is relevant to them.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Next slide.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: And then finally, we have the community practice. And again, I mentioned this before. But I’m actually very excited about this community practice. So, this is meant to be a forum for peer learning. And through this we’re hoping that you all can act as resources to the other folks that are going through this transportation reconnection process. So, we’re hoping we’re going to support things like crowdsourcing insights. Or, you know, sharing challenges through webinars, peer exchanges, virtual or in person summits things along those lines. So, it’s really meant to have you all work together to try to learn how to share lessons learned from folks who have already gone through this process.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Next slide.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Alright. So, now that we have kind of talked about what RCI can provide. I hope that you’re interested. And actually, I should have turned off my email notifications. But I have seen several folks already submitting their Expression of Interest form just during the last 20 minutes. So, it’s very exciting. But it’s a very simple, you know, process for getting started with RCI support so essentially you need to have both of the following statements be true and describe your community or organization.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: So you need to represent a state, local, tribal, or territorial government, metropolitan planning organization or nonprofit, and have either received an RCP Program grant, or if you have not received an RCP Program grant have identified a need in your community to address the negative impacts of transportation infrastructure and specifically a barrier between a transportation barrier within your community.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Next slide.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: And how to request support. So, if you go to, and I see that Sadie put in our chat, which I see now that we have… If you go to our website, RCIconnect.org you will find the “Request Support” button. It is very… It’s everywhere on our website.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: So, the Expression of Interest form like I mentioned is about 10 minutes long. If you are a grantee, we ask that you attach your application so that our team can better come to the table prepared to ask you questions. But it’s very simple. So, you’ll submit that Expression of Interest form. And then, after submitting the form, the RCI team will contact you to host to hold a quick phone call or virtual meeting. To make sure we understand all of the answers to your Expression of Interest, form, and ask any questions that we have.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: And then, after that, once you’re approved by DOT, the RCI team will contact you with instructions to complete your enrollment and begin onboarding once you’re in that process. You are you know you, you will have access to the component of our website, that is, for participants only.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: And you will have access to our events and resources that we are planning for October, November, December of this year and moving onwards. So, that is, generally, how to request support, and now I will hand it back to Kevin to lead the Q&A portion of today’s session.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Thanks, Alyssa. So, hi again, Kevin, I’m sure many of you have questions. I know we’ve gotten a few already, and we’re able to answer them. If you do just a reminder, please submit them through the Q&A window. There’s a lot of folks on the phone, and this is just the easiest way for us to do that.

Kevin Bush, RCI: And we’ll address the questions that we can either live or through there before we get started. Just a reminder, although you’ve heard this a bunch, please do submit an Expression of Interest form at the website that’s in the chat that’s RCIconnect.org/Request-Support.

Kevin Bush, RCI: This is free help. I’ve been a Federal Grant Manager myself. I have also worked for a state and local government and applied for federal grants. This is not a Grant application. This is just a short set of questions that you can fill out, and we’ll follow up with you directly to learn a little bit more about your community.

Kevin Bush, RCI: So, while I wait for some questions to roll in, I will highlight some of the ones that were already answered.

Kevin Bush, RCI: So, someone, you know, asked a question around, you know, we’re in kind of a challenging climate. You know, we’re a nonprofit community-based nonprofit. Is it still worth it for us to go through this process? Absolutely. If you have a transportation reconnection problem, then we can and would love to support you both with envisioning, planning, and eventually hopefully helping you find some funding. And as I mentioned at the beginning, it’s not a long grant application, just a handful of questions, and then we’ll find time to talk to you and learn a little bit more about your community.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Another question that was asked, how do we join? How do we join the Institute and get support again? Just fill out that quick form. It’s at that link right there. RCIconnect.org/Request-Support.
Kevin Bush, RCI: We had another question about Reconnecting Communities Pilot. That’s that grant program whose applications are due really soon. Just a reminder that this is for the capacity building support we can. We’re not directly tied to the grant program so we can continue to help you throughout your journey.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Someone’s asking the question on the entry form. It says 200 words or less, but the box allows 2,000 words or less Melissa’s taken and answered that very technical question hopefully, we’ll get back to you soon.

Kevin Bush, RCI: In addition, you know… One thing I know that that often comes up is, if the Reconnecting Communities Pilot grants and the Neighborhood Access and Equity grants are going to be done in a couple days, you know why I would want to come and get help? Well, transportation reconnection is really a principle and not just a project. And there are a variety of other programs available through the federal DOT or state DOT and others to help do these types of projects. In fact, I know of one that somebody applied for help from us the other day associated with the Mega Grant, which is a different dot program. So don’t be too worried about the fact that the grant applications are all off and running. We want to help you regardless. Even if you don’t have funding in hand.

Kevin Bush, RCI: We have another open question. Why are other types of entities eligible for the RCP? Capital construction grant, transit agencies and authorities control much of the actual facilities and infrastructure that will be impacted by these plans.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Transit agencies and authorities? 100% would be eligible for assistance from us through the Reconnecting Communities Institute. So, I apologize. If we left you with the wrong impression, you absolutely could get help from us, and we’d love to work with you.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Alright! We got another question here, just reading through it.

Kevin Bush, RCI: It does look like you have a…

Kevin Bush, RCI: So, there’s another individual just asking if it’s basically worth it to get help from us. The answer is, yes, it sounds like you have a transportation reconnection problem, and we’d love to help you figure out how to address that.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Another question here about we have a planning grant, and we need to know at what stage we can apply for a design, construction grant.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Great question, and we would love to unpack that with you. Please fill out that short Expression of Interest form, and we cannot just help you answer that question, you know, and I, Alyssa, mentioned this before. But part of the Reconnecting Communities Institute is, you know, group learning things like webinars, maybe even in person convenings. We also have a Community of Practice where we’ll create opportunities, both virtual and in person, for you to learn from each other.

Kevin Bush, RCI: But I think one of the things I’m most excited about is that one-on-one assistance. And this is where we really want to dig into specific problems that you’re having like, when would be the right time to apply for a capital construction grant? And what would you need to do to do that? And we can absolutely unpack that with you. And again, we’ve got a bunch of really great organizations on our team that are ready to work really closely with you, but all you gotta do first is fill out a short form, and we’ll be reaching out to you.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Don’t see any other questions coming in but Alyssa, Kelley, Chris, you’re all on. Is there anything we missed that you…

Melissa Deas, RCI: That we have a hand raised.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Yeah, Andrew, do you want to? I’m going to click the allow to talk button so that you can ask your question. Live.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: So, you should be able to unmute yourself now, Andrew.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Oh, hand is down now. Okay, maybe that wasn’t. I do that all the time. So, no problem.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Maybe it was a high-five.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Maybe it was a high-five.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Anything we missed that the team wants to highlight while folks are thinking other questions?

Melissa Deas, RCI: One thing I will highlight while we love to talk about what we can do for you. It is sometimes useful to know what we can’t do for you.

Melissa Deas, RCI: So just a quick highlight that we can provide a lot of technical assistance, help you strategize. Help you think through some of the grant administration some of those questions that have come up. But we will not do your project for you, so we probably will not do your NAEP analysis. We will not do your budget cost analysis for you. So, we will help along the process and give you the skills and connect you and think about how you can go about doing those things. But given that there are a lot of people in this Institute, there is a limitation that we might run into.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Thanks, Melissa, and we do have a question here about the pending, Reconnecting Communities Pilot grants. We only have a few days left to apply. Will you guys be able to help and provide TA in the next couple of days? So, a couple answers on that. The first one is we’ve been aware of this. The you know, the Institute’s just now live. But the grant programs have been running. And so, we were able to pull forward some early assistance aligned with FY 24 Reconnecting Communities Pilot grant. Most of those activities, if not all, I think, are already completed, considering that the grants are due on Monday. But I believe you can find recordings of those Grant Writing Clinics that we held online on our website. You might be able to glean something from there because we were asked an awful lot of questions from hopeful grantees, and we’re able to pull in some expertise to help address them.

Kevin Bush, RCI: The other thing, I’ll add, is just as a reminder. We’re not just about the Reconnecting Communities Pilot grant, right? Like we really want to help you envision plan, and ultimately fund transportation reconnection projects.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Regardless of whether or not that’s from a Reconnecting Communities Pilot grant, there are other programs out there like RAISE, Mega, etc… Regular old state DOT funds that you can use to design and construct transportation, reconnection projects, and that can be part of the support that we offer you is figuring out. You know what those additional funding sources are.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Kevin, I would. I’d like to just kind of build on that as well. You know what we’re hearing from the DOT, and I will, I will answer this question. The most recent question that came in as I answer this, but what we’re hearing from, is that likely? All of the Reconnecting Communities Pilot program funds will be expended in this NOFO round. So, is it certain? There is no certainty that we will have future grant rounds for RCP. And I would love Kelley for you to make sure to fact-check me so that I’m saying the right things, but one of.

Kelley Britt, RCI: I just fact-checked on what you just said.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Perfect. Thank you, Kelley.

Kelley Britt, RCI: Yeah, the FY 24 to 26 years, or in this one NOFO, that the deadline is Monday. So, you’re correct.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: It looks like I’m having some video malfunction. So sorry about that. But I will… Oh, no!

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Oh.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: But what I will just say is that as part of our team, as Kevin mentioned, the goal is to help. You understand what additional opportunities there are for receiving funding to get these reconnection projects working toward implementation. So, I just wanted to reemphasize that and make sure that that everyone hears that. That’s definitely something that we can help support as part of the team.

Kevin Bush, RCI: First off, I just want to highlight and give a shout out to all the Florida love that’s happening in the questions. There are quite a few folks from Florida on here, and God bless you!

Kevin Bush, RCI: Let’s see, there’s another question that looks to be specific about the RCP grant application. So just a reminder, this is not for the RCP grants that are due on Monday, although we did provide some assistance earlier in the summer for that. This is about that in kind support to you, both general and specific, where we’re working one on one with you to plan design and eventually fund and construct transportation reconnection projects regardless of a funding source.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Oh, did we? Did we break the website?

Kevin Bush, RCI: That would be kind of amazing. So, Matt, maybe we will follow up with you offline to figure out how we can get that working for you, and someone from my team can check to make sure the EOI form is still working.

Kevin Bush, RCI: That would be an embarrassing but kind of good news thing if you all decided to apply at the same time. So, we’ll take a look at that map.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Still see the EOI form online. Try using it in a different browser.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: But we will double check to make sure that all of the buttons are working, but the button from the very top request support is still working.

Kevin Bush, RCI: And, Matt, we’ll have someone follow up with you directly, too.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Okay. Please share the slides. They will be up on our website. The whole presentation will be recorded on our website.

Kevin Bush, RCI: There’s another question about grant funding. This is more of a DOT question, but I think pretty much everybody would love to see more rounds of RCP funding. But again, there are other sources of funding we will need.

Kevin Bush, RCI: There is no cost. I don’t know if that’s Wayne County, Michigan, but if it is, shout out to my home state! There is no cost associated with getting assistance from us. It’s all totally free. DOT foots the bill, and we’d love to support you. There’s no match. There’s nothing like that. No grant application, just a short form and a phone call and we would love to work with you.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Great.

Mia Stephens, RCI: Can I answer the question from Alan regarding the environmental document approval?

Kevin Bush, RCI: Please!

Mia Stephens, RCI: Yes, Alan, similar to what Melissa had said earlier. As you submit your application, you get approved to come into the Institute, we’ll be able to connect you with one of our subject matter experts who has decades of experience in the NEPA Process and Review, where you are in the process. What type of document is that you are utilizing and help you identify that you’ve met all the requirements in terms of coordination and assessments and help guide you through the process so that you can get to the approval stage of that.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Thanks, Mia.

Kevin Bush, RCI: I see a question here. It looks like it is from an RCP grantee.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Can you… wait… Where did it just go? Our project intends to bring consultants on board as part of the planning grant. Would consultants have access to RCI?

Kevin Bush, RCI: This is a great question. Kelley, fact-check me. I know this is very common, particularly for some of our smaller jurisdictions that may not have a giant transportation planning team sitting on reserve waiting for a grant program to come in.

Kevin Bush, RCI: We can support teams. The application would just need to come from the city. So, if it’s from a private corporation that would make it ineligible. But if they’re working on your behalf just fill out the short form, and we’ll follow up with you, and then then you connect them. Kelley, does that sound about right?

Kelley Britt, RCI: That is correct, Kevin. Yes, as long as the city that the consultant is working for submits the form, you’ll be good.

Kelley Britt, RCI: Great.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Oh, there’s a great question about power shifting, so I’ll read this one directly and answer it. Sorry, circling back on whether the TA you all offering will help us to shift power, or if you have someone on the team that could understand the nuances of trying to organize in a hostile state.

Kevin Bush, RCI: So, we do have quite a bit of expertise on our team around equitable engagement, power, analysis, stakeholder analysis, those sorts of things.

Kevin Bush, RCI: And we’re working on some resources around working with state DOTs and others. So, one of the unique aspects of these types of programs is that you can have a nonprofit community-based organization that is a direct grantee. Ultimately, the nonprofit likely doesn’t own the transportation facility that you’re going to be working with, whether it’s a road, a bridge, railway, etc. We do have a set of resources and expertise that is focused on that group. And so, we’d be happy to work with you as well.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Fiscal impact analysis. Yes, we do have experts in public finance on the team as well, so that is within the scope of what we can support.

Melissa Deas, RCI: And I’ll also answer this question on do you have examples of performance metrics you want to see? So, we know that if you are a grantee, there are performance metrics that you have as part of your grant agreements, and what RCI can do is help figure out how to actually put those into practice. And so, we’ll offer some technical assistance around performance metrics. It is not a requirement of RCI that you come in with specific performance metrics that you’re seeking to answer. But it is something that we are interested in helping communities work through, because we know you all need to be able to talk about your work from a database. So, we have resources specifically for that.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Thank you, Melissa. Great question from Daniel, is there a time limit on this assistance? Pointing out that their grant period is through 2028

Kevin Bush, RCI: We are here to deliver support through July 2028.

Kevin Bush, RCI: 2028. So, there you go.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Think I did the math there correctly.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Yeah, that’s correct.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Yes, we can support tribal nations, and we already have, I believe, a few tribal nations that have filled out our Expression of Interest for form, and we’re excited to work with them.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Oh, great Matt! Glad it worked! We look forward to reading your Expression of Interest and following up with you.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Okay, great.

Kevin Bush, RCI: Well, I want to thank everybody for joining us. It looks like we got some good Q&A, and if you didn’t get yours typed quickly enough, our email address is there at the bottom, and we’d be happy to follow up with you.

Kevin Bush, RCI: And as we wrap up. I would love to take a moment for you all to reply to a question that’s about to pop up on screen and let us know if you plan to request RCI support again, you know, we really, we really hope that you do. It’s free. No strings attached. You don’t even have to fill out a long grant application.

Kevin Bush, RCI: And we’re here to support. So please take a moment to fill that form out, and if you have any additional questions that we didn’t get to today, you can reach out to us at RCI@cadmusgroup.com and we’ll also fill it out. Hope you’ll fill out a short feedback survey for today’s session which should appear on screen once the meeting ends. Once you click out, it’s just one question, and your feedback will really help us ensure that our events are as useful as possible. So, if you get an email with the link to the survey question along with the link to the slide deck from today.

Kevin Bush, RCI: And again, we’ll have the whole recording posted online. Thank you so much. And we really do hope to work with you. It’s free assistance. Come, knock on our door. We’re hoping for you, so have a great rest of your day, and look forward to talking to many of you soon. Thank you.

Alyssa Hall, RCI: Thank you so much. Have a great day.

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