White House Releases New Technical Assistance Resources to Help Communities Unlock Opportunities from President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda
President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda unlocks billions of dollars in opportunity for states, territories, Tribes, and local governments to make a once-in-a-generation investment in infrastructure.
According to the White House, from creating state infrastructure coordinators in partnership with governors to releasing guidebooks and toolkits to better navigate the infrastructure and clean energy laws; to setting up new programs to provide or fund technical advisors for lower-capacity communities, the Administration is ensuring all communities can access Federal funding.
Today, the White House released an updated technical assistance guide that focuses on federal and state technical assistance programs aimed at accessing and deploying Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding. The updated technical assistance guide builds on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Guidebook, Rural Playbook, and Tribal Playbook, and the Inflation Reduction Act’s Guidebook and Tribal Playbook. This new guide highlights programs that help communities navigate programs and resources that can help them deliver infrastructure, clean energy and climate resilience projects. The White House also maintains a webpage with resources on the Inflation Reduction Act’s “elective pay” (often called “direct pay”) provisions, through which tax-exempt and governmental entities can, for the first time, take advantage of tax credits for building clean energy projects.
While some of these programs offer hands-on and intensive planning and delivery support for communities, others are more self-directed resources and tools such as webinars and websites, or funding that can support project planning. The guide covers more than 150 technical assistance and capacity building programs encompassing well over $1 billion in Federal support. In addition to federal programs, the guide is also highlighting over a dozen new commitments from states to support local government applicants.
“The President’s commitment is to leave no community behind as we invest in America,” said Mitch Landrieu, Senior Advisor to the President and White House Infrastructure Coordinator. “That’s why we have put unprecedented focus on providing technical assistance to local communities. This guide is just one more way we’re working to ensure state, local, Tribal and territorial governments have the tools and resources they need to unlock the historic investments in President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.”