Nebraska Infrastructure Hub

Jamie Bright Author

10/09/2024 Added

4 Plays

Description

The Nebraska Department of Transportation shared information on the Nebraska Infrastructure Hub website and their technical assistance services for communities interested in applying for federal infrastructure grants. Recorded 10/9/2024.

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[00:00:00.000]Thank you.
[00:00:08.720]Thank you.
[00:00:38.700]Good morning, everyone.
[00:00:41.400]I just got out of another meeting, so I'm trying to let everyone in here.
[00:00:45.580]Jodi.
[00:01:00.540]Hello.
[00:01:01.960]Are you going to be the one speaking today, or is someone else from your team?
[00:01:07.960]Nope, I'm going to have Jenna Habegger.
[00:01:10.820]She has a presentation, and then if there's questions, the three of us will jump on and talk about the infrastructure hub.
[00:01:19.060]Jenna, do you want to try sharing your presentation just to make sure that you have sharing capabilities?
[00:01:29.100]It looks like maybe they're still trying to connect, maybe.
[00:01:41.140]Oh, there.
[00:01:42.140]Jenna, can you hear us?
[00:01:43.880]Jenna, can you hear us?
[00:01:58.280]I will tell her we can.
[00:02:03.220]Yes, can you hear me?
[00:02:04.940]Now we can, yes.
[00:02:06.220]Okay, sorry.
[00:02:07.760]Trying to get my phone to connect.
[00:02:10.240]I think it works now.
[00:02:12.340]Can you check to see if you can share your presentation and it works?
[00:02:16.280]Yep, perfect.
[00:02:24.800]Thank you.
[00:02:28.200]Okay.
[00:02:28.280]We will give it a couple more minutes.
[00:02:34.560]You can still see my presentation now?
[00:02:45.020]Yeah.
[00:02:46.860]In the full screen or is it in the PowerPoint mode?
[00:02:51.700]It's in the full screen.
[00:02:53.020]Okay.
[00:02:55.020]It's not in full screen yet, Jenna, if that's what you're.
[00:03:15.960]Okay.
[00:03:19.420]I mean, it doesn't look bad.
[00:03:21.500]So, I mean, you can see it pretty well.
[00:03:23.000]If there's a problem.
[00:03:24.860]Oh, there you go.
[00:03:28.860]Now you have it full screen.
[00:03:29.900]Okay.
[00:03:31.420]Is it the full screen presentation?
[00:03:40.240]Yes.
[00:03:41.800]Thanks.
[00:03:43.980]I think sometimes we do.
[00:03:52.980]We do have introductions of everyone.
[00:03:54.440]But it looks like we're going to have a fairly large group today.
[00:03:57.740]So I'll just ask everyone to introduce themselves in the chat.
[00:04:00.580]Keep letting people in.
[00:04:07.080]But good morning, everyone.
[00:04:09.860]I'm Jamie Bright with Nebraska Extension.
[00:04:12.060]I am the Rural Prosperity Nebraska Educator for the Southern Panhandle.
[00:04:16.740]And today the Nebraska Department of Transportation is joining us to talk about the Nebraska Infrastructure Health.
[00:04:22.960]And I will let you all introduce yourselves and then start your presentation when you're ready.
[00:04:30.380]Thank you.
[00:04:31.180]I'm sure I'll start.
[00:04:34.000]I am Jody Gibson with the Nebraska Department of Transportation and one of the offices underneath our division is the newly created Nebraska Infrastructure Hub.
[00:04:44.880]So with me today, I have Jenna Habegger, who is the Highway Planning Manager, and then Dina Harris, who is...
[00:04:52.880]She is the Highway Special Programs.
[00:04:56.660]I always mess that up, so I apologize.
[00:04:59.480]But these are the two staff that we have under the Infrastructure Hub.
[00:05:05.680]We are pretty new to this.
[00:05:08.660]We've had staff for maybe six weeks now, but we're busy, and we hope that this will be some assistance that we can provide to all of the states.
[00:05:22.000]So I will turn it over to Jenna, and she can go through the presentation that we have and what we have to offer.
[00:05:28.840]And then if we have questions after that, we can open it up to that, if that works.
[00:05:32.840]Thank you.
[00:05:35.300]Awesome. Thank you, Jodi. Good morning.
[00:05:39.540]My name is Jenna Habegger.
[00:05:40.720]Like Jodi mentioned, I'm the Highway Planning Manager for our Nebraska Infrastructure Hub.
[00:05:44.840]We've been in office for probably two months now, so still learning.
[00:05:49.940]But I'll give you our presentation.
[00:05:51.980]Kind of what we're about here.
[00:05:53.200]So first off, just to start, what is the Infrastructure Hub?
[00:05:57.900]So we've heard from locals since the bill was announced that it's a struggle putting together the grant application.
[00:06:03.720]And so our NDOT Director, Kramer, has been very supportive of trying to help our local agencies find funding to write grant applications and help manage those grants once the projects have been funded or have been awarded.
[00:06:19.920]And so that's kind of what brought on the infrastructure.
[00:06:21.960]We do have two full-time staff here at NDOT dedicated to the infrastructure hub, so myself, Jenna Habegger, and then like Jodi mentioned, and we have Highway Program Specialist, Dena Harris, as well.
[00:06:34.120]We've kind of split up the state by NACO districts, and so we'll be like the main contacts for certain districts that we've reached out to.
[00:06:47.820]So the key components of the infrastructure hub here.
[00:06:51.940]First of all, grant research and database.
[00:06:54.740]So the DOT.gov website is not super user-friendly, so NDOT developed the grant pairing portal that we'll go over in a little bit.
[00:07:05.860]And then the next item is technical assistance.
[00:07:09.220]So we do have two on-call consultants that are in place to help write a grant application.
[00:07:15.220]So that can be pieces of a grant or the entire grant.
[00:07:18.420]And so we've got two.
[00:07:21.920]We have $2 million available to write grant applications.
[00:07:24.240]There's no local match to that.
[00:07:26.680]It's fully funded by state cash.
[00:07:28.960]And so we've been reaching out to counties and cities to see if they have projects
[00:07:35.000]that we can help them get grant applications written for.
[00:07:38.300]Next key component is going to be project development support.
[00:07:43.640]So like I mentioned, we do have two full-time NDOT staff dedicated to the hub.
[00:07:49.080]Partnering and networking.
[00:07:51.260]So just using our partnerships to strengthen grant applications,
[00:07:54.100]whether that's bundling bridges in the state that all need the same type of replacement
[00:07:58.960]or roadways that have similar work,
[00:08:02.160]just to kind of make a more attractive package for the NDOT for grant applications.
[00:08:08.720]Data analytics.
[00:08:11.420]So just to provide support to enhance grant proposals.
[00:08:15.440]And then monitoring and evaluation.
[00:08:17.380]So that's to ensure compliance things
[00:08:20.600]and success of NDOT can help you manage the grant once it's been awarded,
[00:08:27.280]because we know that's not necessarily an easy process to go through either,
[00:08:30.220]so that we can run that through our local project's office like a normal federal aid project.
[00:08:35.840]And then NDOT can also help with the financial piece.
[00:08:40.060]So the grant agreement is, or the money isn't available until the grant agreement is signed.
[00:08:46.240]And so NDOT can kind of be the cash flow until the grant money is,
[00:08:50.420]is,
[00:08:50.580]issued so that if counties or cities are worried about not having the money in their budget to fund a project until they get that money,
[00:09:01.040]we can help with that piece as well.
[00:09:02.580]So next is the Nebraska infrastructure website.
[00:09:07.300]There's three key components and I'll go to our website in just a second.
[00:09:11.880]So we've got the grants one-on-one page,
[00:09:13.720]the grant pairing portal,
[00:09:15.180]and then a letters of support.
[00:09:16.640]Just,
[00:09:19.780]form.
[00:09:21.160]Let me just a second.
[00:09:22.840]Pull this up.
[00:09:24.200]Can you guys see my website screen now?
[00:09:26.580]Yeah.
[00:09:27.340]Okay.
[00:09:27.920]Awesome.
[00:09:28.320]So this is the,
[00:09:30.720]just the homepage for the Nebraska infrastructure hub here.
[00:09:34.960]And the first thing we're going to go to is the,
[00:09:41.680]you can scroll down here.
[00:09:43.500]It's kind of a cool little map.
[00:09:44.700]It'll show you where our awarded discretionary funds are right now in the
[00:09:48.160]state.
[00:09:48.400]So,
[00:09:49.760]kind of where those funds are being used.
[00:09:51.980]So the,
[00:09:52.460]but the first item is going to be the grants one-on-one piece of our
[00:09:58.140]website.
[00:09:58.540]So it's pretty high level just helps you understand discretionary grants.
[00:10:03.260]So what MDOT's role is,
[00:10:04.880]what to consider types of projects,
[00:10:06.560]funding opportunities and key considerations.
[00:10:08.840]And then there's further down here,
[00:10:11.780]there's types of projects that maybe it wouldn't be suited for federal
[00:10:15.600]discretionary grants.
[00:10:16.580]And so you can kind of take a look at the,
[00:10:19.660]that list if your project isn't there or your type of project maybe falls
[00:10:24.840]into those things, then the grant route maybe isn't,
[00:10:28.120]isn't where we should go. But with them,
[00:10:30.140]we do have also a consideration for alternative funding,
[00:10:33.660]just programs you run here at the DOT that can help you maybe look into,
[00:10:37.680]to get funding for your project,
[00:10:39.380]if it wouldn't be suited for a discretionary grant.
[00:10:42.300]And then the next item is going to be the grant pairing portal,
[00:10:47.160]which is actually,
[00:10:49.560]probably the most helpful piece of our website.
[00:10:52.680]And so I'll kind of walk you through a project here.
[00:10:56.280]So once you hit the grant pairing portal,
[00:11:02.220]it'll pull up a map of the state of Nebraska.
[00:11:05.100]So go ahead,
[00:11:05.760]you can go ahead and zoom in kind of on your area,
[00:11:09.560]if it's a county, a city, whatever.
[00:11:11.620]So I'm just going to pick a project,
[00:11:13.220]a city that we've spoken to.
[00:11:16.480]So you can scroll in here.
[00:11:18.520]We're going to go to Pawnee,
[00:11:19.540]because that's my hometown.
[00:11:21.240]So I know where I'm going there.
[00:11:22.780]So selecting your organization,
[00:11:25.620]I'm just going to pick Pawnee City.
[00:11:27.740]But if you were in the county,
[00:11:28.880]you could choose that as well.
[00:11:30.060]You'll choose local government
[00:11:31.980]and then it'll let you draw your project.
[00:11:35.440]So zoom in a little more.
[00:11:37.840]Say we want to do a street resurfacing
[00:11:40.180]or a street project
[00:11:41.420]or bundling streets in Pawnee City.
[00:11:43.360]So I'm just going to click from here
[00:11:45.900]and then I'll go all the way to here
[00:11:47.860]and then you'll double click.
[00:11:49.520]Maybe you don't let me draw my project.
[00:11:51.520]So I'll go here
[00:11:53.920]and then you double click to end your project
[00:11:56.640]and then you go ahead and hit next.
[00:11:58.020]We've really been trying to promote
[00:12:02.400]the planning grants.
[00:12:03.920]I think those are really something
[00:12:06.580]that the state of Nebraska
[00:12:07.840]should take advantage of.
[00:12:08.860]So you can apply for a planning grant.
[00:12:13.320]I'll help you pay
[00:12:13.980]for the preliminary engineering,
[00:12:15.580]the environmental clearance
[00:12:16.960]and all of those things.
[00:12:19.500]So if you have a project in mind,
[00:12:20.980]but you don't have
[00:12:21.940]the preliminary engineering done
[00:12:23.860]or anything like that,
[00:12:24.860]this can help you pay for that,
[00:12:26.100]get an accurate cost estimate
[00:12:29.700]so that you can later go out
[00:12:30.860]for some construction dollars.
[00:12:32.200]So I'm going to click
[00:12:33.560]planning grant for this one.
[00:12:34.940]And then it's going to be a roadway.
[00:12:37.940]You can choose more than
[00:12:40.340]one component of your project.
[00:12:41.680]If you've got bridges and roadway,
[00:12:43.180]you can select two.
[00:12:44.140]But just for this one,
[00:12:45.560]I'm going to go just roadway.
[00:12:47.040]So it is a public road.
[00:12:48.740]Yes, it's going to
[00:12:49.480]walk you through
[00:12:50.040]five or six questions.
[00:12:51.340]Just some pretty high,
[00:12:53.000]pretty high level.
[00:12:54.020]Yes or no.
[00:12:55.160]Is your roadway project
[00:12:58.220]on any of the following systems?
[00:12:59.780]I'm going to say no.
[00:13:00.840]It is not in a tribal facility.
[00:13:03.680]We are not trying to
[00:13:07.800]improve from a natural disaster.
[00:13:11.700]Not increasing connect,
[00:13:15.840]or we are increasing connectivity.
[00:13:17.560]Let's do yes for that one.
[00:13:18.760]And then
[00:13:19.460]it is not an evacuation route
[00:13:22.100]or a wildlife crossing.
[00:13:23.820]So after that, it will kind of give you a summary.
[00:13:26.400]You're going to hit next,
[00:13:28.080]and then I'm going to say it's going to cost me
[00:13:30.060]$3 million.
[00:13:31.420]It's just a ballpark cost estimate
[00:13:33.800]for what your project would cost.
[00:13:35.300]And it's going to pop up with these results
[00:13:38.100]for what grants
[00:13:40.540]might be eligible for your project.
[00:13:41.960]So for this project
[00:13:44.720]specifically, we've got
[00:13:46.380]about six of them here.
[00:13:50.040]And so you can click on this
[00:13:51.460]view grant details. It'll give you a little
[00:13:53.540]more information on kind of what
[00:13:55.400]the grant's all about.
[00:13:57.000]The minimum project size, the maximum
[00:13:59.720]award that you can get, if there's
[00:14:01.780]a cost share match on that
[00:14:03.380]and when the expected
[00:14:05.640]submission date is for the next round.
[00:14:07.680]And so
[00:14:08.960]our website, this
[00:14:11.580]grant pairing portal is super helpful.
[00:14:12.980]And if you kind of have a project in mind,
[00:14:15.320]it'll maybe give you a ballpark of what
[00:14:17.360]you could be eligible for and then you can come to
[00:14:19.420]us and we can
[00:14:21.480]set up a meeting to understand
[00:14:23.500]your project and then meet with our consultants
[00:14:25.400]to see what we can do
[00:14:27.420]to get a grant application
[00:14:29.300]submitted for your project.
[00:14:30.520]And then the final piece
[00:14:33.240]just of our website is the letters of
[00:14:35.460]support. So if
[00:14:37.140]the Infrastructure Hub, if we didn't
[00:14:39.400]help you write your grant application
[00:14:41.320]and you're asking us for a letter of support,
[00:14:43.220]we'd like you
[00:14:45.640]to fill out this form just to give us a little
[00:14:47.540]more information on your project so we know,
[00:14:49.400]we're issuing a letter of support for.
[00:14:50.840]And then we will
[00:14:53.160]issue that.
[00:14:55.300]So, back to
[00:14:59.560]my presentation here. That's kind of all I have
[00:15:01.620]for
[00:15:02.220]our website and walking
[00:15:04.860]you guys through what the Infrastructure Hub does.
[00:15:07.680]We're here
[00:15:09.520]to help in the grant process. There is
[00:15:11.380]money available
[00:15:12.180]federally. The state of Nebraska
[00:15:15.560]ranks 48th out of 50
[00:15:17.500]states in receiving grants.
[00:15:19.880]And so we're really trying to get
[00:15:21.500]that number up and get the state
[00:15:23.220]some more money so we can improve our
[00:15:25.040]transportation facility.
[00:15:26.140]Does anybody have
[00:15:29.400]any questions?
[00:15:29.980]Thank you, Jenna.
[00:15:33.400]What questions
[00:15:35.480]do we have from the group?
[00:15:36.360]I guess
[00:15:41.460]my overall question is
[00:15:43.380]would you say this
[00:15:45.500]is really targeted toward
[00:15:47.560]or designed for
[00:15:49.360]smaller, sort of
[00:15:51.200]internal things, not multi-
[00:15:53.440]community, connect community types
[00:15:55.320]of grants? So, for example,
[00:15:57.020]I work with the Heartland Expressway
[00:15:59.300]Association, and most of what we do
[00:16:01.500]is relative
[00:16:03.260]to a corridor development
[00:16:05.580]and management plan that's already been established,
[00:16:07.300]all of that. Does it
[00:16:09.400]make any sense for our
[00:16:11.080]organization to be looking at this, or is this
[00:16:13.360]really more about helping
[00:16:15.320]Pawnee City or Chadron
[00:16:17.240]or Whitney or some
[00:16:19.340]small town locate
[00:16:20.920]specific project funding?
[00:16:22.640]I can answer, yeah.
[00:16:28.900]So, we
[00:16:31.400]have encouraged cities and
[00:16:33.380]counties to kind of go together, partner
[00:16:35.460]with each other to come up
[00:16:37.440]with projects that are similar
[00:16:38.740]so we can make a
[00:16:40.980]more attractive package to the DOT
[00:16:42.960]for the grant process.
[00:16:45.120]So, I think that
[00:16:46.840]not specific to Pawnee City or
[00:16:49.320]Shattern or anything like that, if you have
[00:16:51.260]a project community that could go
[00:16:53.280]together that have projects that we could
[00:16:54.960]bundle, that actually would make a more
[00:16:57.020]attractive grant
[00:16:59.120]application.
[00:16:59.660]From the planning standpoint?
[00:17:01.880]So, planning or
[00:17:05.400]construction,
[00:17:06.300]we're trying to
[00:17:09.340]promote the
[00:17:11.120]planning grant process, so I'm not sure
[00:17:13.120]that all communities are
[00:17:15.160]aware that that is an option, that we can
[00:17:17.280]apply for a grant that would help you pay for
[00:17:19.300]the preliminary engineering and kind of the
[00:17:21.180]getting the cost estimate for that.
[00:17:23.120]There are construction grants out there,
[00:17:25.100]obviously, as well, and
[00:17:27.240]so,
[00:17:27.660]yeah, we can help you apply for
[00:17:31.280]a construction grant as well.
[00:17:32.840]Yeah, and
[00:17:34.900]Deb, just to add to that, I mean, honestly,
[00:17:37.360]I think what you're talking about
[00:17:39.300]sometimes are
[00:17:40.960]the more
[00:17:43.000]favorable projects to
[00:17:45.120]the USDOT as far as
[00:17:47.120]funding them. You know, I
[00:17:49.280]think some of our
[00:17:51.080]smaller counties
[00:17:52.960]and villages have kind of
[00:17:55.160]been scared and
[00:17:57.000]haven't wanted to get into the
[00:17:59.160]discretionary grant world. So
[00:18:01.080]the situation where Jenna just
[00:18:03.020]gave, that was just a real-life example,
[00:18:05.340]right, that like Pawnee
[00:18:07.100]City hadn't had the opportunity to
[00:18:09.040]really understand a lot about what
[00:18:10.940]these grants are about.
[00:18:12.240]So it's
[00:18:14.160]I think the bigger grants are what
[00:18:17.060]is more appealing, but it's like we're trying to
[00:18:19.260]reach some of the smaller ones also
[00:18:21.260]just to make them aware of it.
[00:18:23.060]So
[00:18:23.500]absolutely, I think, you know,
[00:18:26.780]NDOT alone has partnered
[00:18:28.980]with
[00:18:30.620]some of like the city
[00:18:33.200]of Omaha and Douglas County on bigger
[00:18:35.020]scale projects
[00:18:36.180]to submit grants for. So I think that's
[00:18:39.240]always an opportunity to look
[00:18:40.900]into and probably is more favorable
[00:18:43.080]to the reviewers
[00:18:45.400]at the USDOT.
[00:18:49.240]Does anyone have
[00:18:53.340]a project idea they want to
[00:18:55.360]maybe walk through as an example?
[00:18:57.240]Actually, I was very excited to hear that
[00:19:01.380]from Deb's perspective and
[00:19:03.380]all the work they've been doing for such a long
[00:19:05.320]time. I guess my question
[00:19:07.300]Jodi and
[00:19:09.000]Jenna is the
[00:19:11.020]amount of funding that's available
[00:19:13.460]to Nebraska, is that a specific
[00:19:15.400]amount or
[00:19:16.540]is there more of that on the
[00:19:19.220]website?
[00:19:19.840]Yes, so we have
[00:19:25.040]$2 million in state cash available
[00:19:27.020]for our consultants to help write
[00:19:29.220]the grants.
[00:19:29.820]And then
[00:19:33.220]the amount of funding for Nebraska
[00:19:35.560]I don't think is limited. It's just
[00:19:37.280]based on if we would be awarded a grant
[00:19:39.200]once we
[00:19:41.280]apply for it.
[00:19:42.040]With the transportation bill, you've
[00:19:45.460]heard it across all
[00:19:47.000]not just roads and bridges
[00:19:49.200]there's a trillion dollars worth of
[00:19:51.240]federal money out there
[00:19:52.500]that's been made available through
[00:19:55.000]the last transportation
[00:19:56.360]or the last bill.
[00:19:58.020]It's not like they said
[00:20:01.280]here's this pot of money and
[00:20:03.120]Nebraska gets 10%
[00:20:05.460]of it.
[00:20:06.100]When they do a call for
[00:20:09.560]applications
[00:20:11.640]for funding
[00:20:12.860]you're competing against
[00:20:15.260]everybody in the United States
[00:20:16.880]and who submitted for those grants
[00:20:19.180]and is this the reason that
[00:20:23.240]Nebraska specifically has
[00:20:25.140]started this NDOT being the
[00:20:27.240]last at the bottom of the heap of getting
[00:20:29.040]funding? It really
[00:20:31.260]is. I think
[00:20:32.960]we're into going on
[00:20:35.220]our fourth year of the transportation bill
[00:20:37.260]and so
[00:20:38.700]we as a whole
[00:20:41.420]Nebraska just
[00:20:43.120]is not submitting applications
[00:20:45.380]for funding. It's not
[00:20:47.260]like we have submitted 200
[00:20:49.160]applications and grants and we
[00:20:51.160]haven't gotten anything. We aren't
[00:20:53.160]even taking advantage
[00:20:54.740]or buying that lottery
[00:20:57.460]ticket to try to
[00:20:59.220]even get funding.
[00:21:00.180]I think there's so many
[00:21:03.440]of
[00:21:05.320]our agencies that are a little
[00:21:07.340]scared of the process and what that
[00:21:09.340]means.
[00:21:09.860]That's why
[00:21:13.180]we work with local agencies
[00:21:15.400]all the time. These are the
[00:21:17.380]things that we hear.
[00:21:19.140]Our director had some
[00:21:21.940]conversations with the governor in trying to
[00:21:23.940]get more money here.
[00:21:25.420]We thought this would be an opportunity
[00:21:27.600]to help these agencies
[00:21:29.800]get their foot in the door
[00:21:31.840]and start getting some of this additional
[00:21:33.960]funding to come and even
[00:21:35.900]apply because that's not even
[00:21:37.880]happening right now.
[00:21:38.940]Jenna, when you were
[00:21:43.760]talking about your community,
[00:21:45.400]was that just an example or
[00:21:47.860]have you actually
[00:21:49.120]went into planning
[00:21:51.120]and process for a grant?
[00:21:53.700]Yeah, just an
[00:21:55.780]example. We have had
[00:21:57.600]just a kickoff meeting with Pawnee City.
[00:21:59.600]They are interested in pursuing
[00:22:01.620]a grant and so that was just one that
[00:22:03.620]is easy to show you guys because
[00:22:05.520]we just talked about it last week.
[00:22:07.380]This is Shauna
[00:22:11.440]and I'm with Chapel
[00:22:13.280]Nebraska and
[00:22:15.640]we just
[00:22:17.480]did like a one point
[00:22:19.100]five million street project.
[00:22:20.880]However, we probably need
[00:22:23.100]like a 20 million street project.
[00:22:25.140]I mean that was like two streets
[00:22:27.140]here and then also
[00:22:29.180]part of some of our
[00:22:31.120]just dual county
[00:22:32.840]roads
[00:22:35.180]need redone.
[00:22:36.020]Would that be something that I could contact
[00:22:39.180]you guys about to help with
[00:22:41.060]that grant process?
[00:22:42.100]Yeah, of course.
[00:22:45.220]If you want to just send me
[00:22:47.180]an email, we can get a meeting set up to just
[00:22:49.080]discuss your project. Okay, perfect.
[00:22:51.140]And just the other thing that we want
[00:22:55.160]to do is there are funding
[00:22:57.100]opportunities outside of these
[00:22:59.020]discretionary grants, right?
[00:23:00.700]But that maybe not everybody
[00:23:02.680]is necessarily unfamiliar
[00:23:04.920]with. One of the
[00:23:07.160]big ones is the Congressional
[00:23:09.080]Spending Grants that
[00:23:10.580]a call for projects has come out a
[00:23:13.040]couple times from
[00:23:14.460]when they did an announcement for
[00:23:19.060]from the Congressional
[00:23:21.100]Districts. And so that's
[00:23:23.240]an opportunity for funding too,
[00:23:25.020]right? So it's trying
[00:23:27.000]to help you guys
[00:23:28.740]get an idea of what a
[00:23:30.920]project may look like
[00:23:32.820]and a dollar
[00:23:35.220]amount so that whatever
[00:23:37.340]avenue comes available for
[00:23:39.160]funding, that we can
[00:23:41.180]start submitting them
[00:23:42.620]going down certain lanes, right?
[00:23:47.020]And so a lot of people just haven't
[00:23:49.040]taken that step in
[00:23:51.180]kind of putting a cost estimate
[00:23:53.020]and looking at a specific project
[00:23:55.420]because there is funding out
[00:23:57.160]there. It may be a lot to go through
[00:23:59.120]some of the processes, but
[00:24:01.200]just being aware of those opportunities
[00:24:03.340]and our goal is then
[00:24:05.000]we're keeping a list of
[00:24:07.120]these projects that
[00:24:08.120]we've heard from that
[00:24:11.200]have needs.
[00:24:12.760]as these announcements come out and we're made aware of them, we will contact you too, right?
[00:24:17.740]So you guys go, hey, here's an opportunity. Unless you're sitting in front of your computer all day,
[00:24:24.520]like just, you know, looking for this stuff, sometimes you miss the opportunity and it's
[00:24:30.180]already gone by the time you hear about it. So those are other things that we're hoping to
[00:24:35.120]provide to Nebraska, you know, that is an opportunity you guys can jump on.
[00:24:43.020]You know, I think there are opportunities that, as you say, folks aren't, you don't know what you
[00:24:56.280]don't know. And just the awareness of it is critically important because, you know, the
[00:25:04.260]world's run by the people. And I think that's one of the things that I think is really important.
[00:25:05.100]those who raise their hand and show up and say, I want to give this a try. And quite frankly,
[00:25:10.500]municipality constantly in a, in a, how do we pay for this sort of mode? And so I, I applaud
[00:25:20.440]you guys for being the ones who are going to answer those kinds of questions that, you know,
[00:25:25.160]nine times out of 10, it's not going to be a perfect fit, but that 10th time, if you don't
[00:25:35.080]that from that standpoint. And the idea that you as an organization, as state agency could perhaps
[00:25:45.040]help bundle something with another county or a city next door, that's trying to do the same thing
[00:25:50.900]that could raise the, the potential for everybody to be successful makes all kinds of sense. Because
[00:25:57.980]when, when chapel says we need to fix the potholes in XYZ street, they're probably not thinking a
[00:26:05.060]lot about what the other town down the road is doing. So this is really kind of a nice way to
[00:26:10.300]bridge that and force that, particularly from a planning standpoint. And the final comment I'll
[00:26:15.300]make is everything that we do in the world of transportation, as it relates to the Heartland
[00:26:19.640]Expressway, begins with planning. And you see it from Texas to Canada. It's the opportunity, and
[00:26:29.380]we're at a level now where we're trying to talk states into do that joint planning kind of thing.
[00:26:35.040]And I saw this come out initially after Director Kramer and the governor had been here to talk a
[00:26:40.860]little bit about transportation. It is such a daunting thing that I appreciate you for taking,
[00:26:46.980]you know, bite-sized pieces of it and trying to feed it to us, because it's a hard thing to grasp
[00:26:52.940]and a hard thing to understand. So, yeah. Yeah. And, you know, it's the things that we take for
[00:26:59.720]granted sometimes, like even the amount of acronyms that are in the transportation
[00:27:05.020]world that, like, people just see it and they're like, they don't, they want to run, right? Because
[00:27:11.720]they just don't understand it. And just, like, having that opportunity to sit down and have
[00:27:17.360]someone explain it to them, because they don't know who to reach out to. They don't know who
[00:27:22.360]to ask those questions for. And if we can at least help, like, bridge that gap, you know,
[00:27:29.220]that, that's huge. You know, we've, in the last two weeks, we have reached out to, had
[00:27:35.000]the opportunity to meet with a lot of smaller communities that just, like, didn't even understand
[00:27:40.240]what discretionary grant, that word meant, right? And being able to understand, like, oh, I can at
[00:27:47.360]least somewhat talk to my village board or someone to make sense that I understand that conversation
[00:27:55.000]that's happening. And again, the biggest part of this that I think will be very beneficial
[00:28:00.740]that we've heard for is, you know, a lot of smaller communities, like,
[00:28:04.980]I don't have $5,000, $10,000, even $15,000, up to maybe $50,000 to write a grant.
[00:28:11.680]And some of these grants require that, like, you know, if you're going to go after them.
[00:28:16.140]And so they weren't wanting to move off the idea of trying to move forward with it,
[00:28:23.320]because that is a lot of money for a smaller community to put together for a consultant
[00:28:30.940]to put a grant together, and they may not get anything, right?
[00:28:34.960]And so it's our hope with that $2 million, and then hopefully additional funding that
[00:28:39.020]we can continue to get, at least we're getting stuff out there and getting proposals put
[00:28:47.920]together for projects.
[00:28:49.380]And I'm sorry to keep asking questions, but I may have got on just a pinch, like, did
[00:28:57.900]you explain, because I don't know the discretionary piece, can you explain that or have you, and
[00:29:03.660]it's on the recording?
[00:29:04.940]I don't think we really did.
[00:29:08.300]Jenna, do you want to jump on that, or do you want me to go ahead?
[00:29:12.980]You can go.
[00:29:14.900]Okay.
[00:29:15.360]So, underneath the last transportation bill that was signed, goodness, three years ago,
[00:29:20.780]there were all of these, what they're calling discretionary grants, that were pots, were
[00:29:30.400]programs that were tailored to special projects.
[00:29:33.840]So, I'll just.
[00:29:34.920]I'll just give you some examples.
[00:29:35.840]The BIT program, which is a bridge investment program, they have a number of dollars that
[00:29:41.480]were allocated to this program.
[00:29:43.120]So, once or twice a year, they do a call for projects, right?
[00:29:47.300]So, you as an entity submit a grant application to the USDOT for funding, right?
[00:29:53.940]And they have requirements and merit criteria that are announced in their funding notice
[00:30:00.200]that you have to meet.
[00:30:04.900]And requirements for your application that you need to put into it, right?
[00:30:08.700]And so, then you submit it and it goes to this group that really is ranking and judging
[00:30:17.940]what you put in the notice of funding, right?
[00:30:24.180]And so, there is, goodness, there is probably 50 different grants, probably more than that,
[00:30:33.140]that came out of...
[00:30:34.880]Of the bill that are not just...
[00:30:38.000]That are beyond roads and bridges, right?
[00:30:39.920]There's water, there's numerous housing, all those kind of things.
[00:30:45.340]Well, we're specifically focusing on roads and bridges in that.
[00:30:50.600]So, I would tell you there's probably 15 to 20 grants available that are tailored to roads
[00:30:57.940]and bridges that they do a call for projects once or twice a year that they're saying,
[00:31:04.000]okay, this round.
[00:31:04.860]We're going to allocate $100 million to award projects to this round.
[00:31:10.720]So, everybody submits their application and grant, and then they're picking those that
[00:31:16.240]they fill or, you know, meet the criteria and rank high.
[00:31:20.260]So, those are what really the discretionary grants.
[00:31:23.400]They came out of the last transportation bill.
[00:31:25.620]With that being said, I think that's the way of the future.
[00:31:28.900]I think we'll continue to see discretionary grants.
[00:31:34.840]Even beyond the next election, another transportation bill, it's kind of just the way of the future.
[00:31:41.240]You know, Nebraska NDOT does get a small amount of federal funds that comes directly to Nebraska
[00:31:49.280]that we can distribute to, you know, both for NDOT projects, but our local agencies.
[00:31:55.160]But even that is very small.
[00:31:57.120]And, you know, these discretionary grants are large, large pots of money that are funding projects.
[00:32:04.820]So, like, for example, I'm just giving some recent under the RAISE grant.
[00:32:12.040]Lincoln County received a planning grant that was pretty significant to look at four segments in their county.
[00:32:20.720]The city of Beatrice just received a $21 million grant to relocate a highway
[00:32:29.100]and then do some improvements on Court Street in downtown Beatrice.
[00:32:34.800]Those were all 100% funding, right?
[00:32:37.820]So there are a lot of opportunities out there that we need to try to take advantage of.
[00:32:46.280]Sorry, that was a lot.
[00:32:48.680]Donna, did you have another question?
[00:32:56.580]I'm just with Deb, and I really appreciate you guys.
[00:33:04.780]Coming on here, and Jamie for hosting this on Rural Rendezvous, because otherwise I honestly
[00:33:12.340]don't know if I would have known about it.
[00:33:13.860]Perfect, yep.
[00:33:17.860]And like Jenna said, if you're talking, and I'm sorry, I don't know everybody who's on
[00:33:24.800]the call here today and what their roles are.
[00:33:27.460]But if you're talking to communities within Nebraska or have that conversation with them
[00:33:34.760]about transportation related projects, like please send them our way, right?
[00:33:39.460]I mean, we may not be able to do something for everybody, but at least let us have a
[00:33:44.820]conversation and talk so we can at least look and see what's out there so that we can help
[00:33:52.780]if we can.
[00:33:53.480]One other thing I want to mention, especially because I see that Rachel with the Arts Council
[00:34:01.000]is on, I know we've looked at the Facebook.
[00:34:04.740]Streets grants for some of the creative districts, but it looks like there are some other
[00:34:08.400]opportunities that I can think of, at least with the creative districts I'm aware of.
[00:34:13.600]So I will make sure that they all know about other resources.
[00:34:18.300]You know, this sort of assumes that economic developers or people who run creative districts
[00:34:32.380]or chamber people.
[00:34:34.720]Have that sort of working relationship with their municipality or their county board.
[00:34:41.480]Because so much of the infrastructure we're talking about here is owned by government.
[00:34:47.920]And so that's always an additional step.
[00:34:51.520]And I think perhaps a little bit of a roadblock, no pun intended, between those people who
[00:34:57.740]want to see something fixed and the people who have to pay to have those things fixed.
[00:35:03.080]So for us.
[00:35:04.700]To be able to go to the city manager, for example, and say, you know, that project we've
[00:35:08.180]been talking about fixing the north end of Main Street past the fairgrounds for for a
[00:35:14.440]lot of reasons, economic development as well as other things.
[00:35:18.700]This this is encouraging that they would at least have somebody to bounce that idea off
[00:35:24.820]of.
[00:35:25.100]Yeah.
[00:35:25.480]Yes.
[00:35:26.060]And so to be.
[00:35:27.640]And, you know, and so do you have a map that tells who the who the contact person
[00:35:34.680]should be, for example, the panhandle or do you do it a different way?
[00:35:39.240]Yeah, we can send that to you guys.
[00:35:41.380]We'll send it to Jamie.
[00:35:42.300]And if you want to send it to the group, like I said, Jenna and Dina have broken
[00:35:47.240]the the state up kind of by districts.
[00:35:51.180]So, you know, absolutely.
[00:35:54.200]You can reach out.
[00:35:56.320]There's a Western NACO.
[00:35:57.500]I mean, we we work with them.
[00:36:00.060]Yeah.
[00:36:00.680]Yeah.
[00:36:02.100]And that's what we broke it up by.
[00:36:04.660]Just for ease right now.
[00:36:06.360]You know, it's very it's much simpler for us to sometimes get with the counties because
[00:36:14.180]we have county board contact names and usually highway superintendents.
[00:36:18.300]Right.
[00:36:18.580]It's much harder when we get into some of the smaller villages, you know, and those
[00:36:24.920]kind of things, because we just don't have all that contact information.
[00:36:29.580]But we do have an opportunity that we do.
[00:36:34.640]We do have contact information for all of the village clerks or city clerks and those
[00:36:40.800]kind of things.
[00:36:41.380]So I just got a hold of that email list the other day, and I'm going to have Jenna and
[00:36:47.340]Dina send that out, right, so that hopefully we're catching people that we haven't caught
[00:36:53.480]before.
[00:36:53.980]And then, again, you made the best comment.
[00:36:57.040]You know, I've been involved with working with local governments for a long time, and
[00:37:01.260]there is sometimes this big disconnect between a board and a city.
[00:37:04.620]And an engineer or a highway superintendent or any of those, right?
[00:37:11.040]And they're thinking about, well, you have one that's looking at the asset, and this
[00:37:15.920]is a problem, right?
[00:37:16.960]It's falling apart.
[00:37:17.940]But then we have the board who's concentrating on the money piece, and they're worried about
[00:37:23.160]those things.
[00:37:23.900]And we need to make sure that if there's opportunities to talk to boards and help them
[00:37:29.940]understand what that means.
[00:37:31.800]And, you know, if NDOT can help.
[00:37:34.600]Manage those projects for them and having them understand what that means, because it
[00:37:40.020]takes the fear away a little bit when they realize what we can do for them and they're
[00:37:44.780]not going through it alone.
[00:37:47.260]You say the word federal funding to a lot of agencies and they want to run.
[00:37:52.160]They want nothing to do with anything federal funding.
[00:37:55.060]But, you know, we are here and we can help.
[00:37:57.460]Right.
[00:37:57.800]And that's what our role is.
[00:37:59.580]You know, in my division, we have our local project section that that's all they do is
[00:38:04.580]is construction projects with federal funds.
[00:38:06.760]So, you know, it's just taking that fear out of it, too.
[00:38:10.740]So, again, I can't stress enough if there's an opportunity that you guys can think of
[00:38:16.360]where we can get in front of a room of people to maybe help clear some things up, let us
[00:38:22.700]know, because we'll be there to do that.
[00:38:24.280]I will talk to the rest of the Rural Prosperity Nebraska team.
[00:38:30.960]We have a conference coming up.
[00:38:32.520]I think it's in May.
[00:38:34.060]I don't know.
[00:38:34.560]I don't have the dates off the top of my head, but our
[00:38:36.700]Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities Conference is mostly
[00:38:40.500]for economic development folks and other city leaders.
[00:38:44.360]Yes.
[00:38:44.880]It will be a good opportunity for you guys.
[00:38:47.460]It will be in New York flat next year.
[00:38:49.800]Perfect.
[00:38:51.040]Yeah.
[00:38:51.500]Please let us know.
[00:38:52.740]Any other questions?
[00:39:04.540]Does anyone have an example they want to try to walk through?
[00:39:09.820]I'll give an example.
[00:39:21.440]Oh, go ahead, Jodi.
[00:39:22.600]Oh, no.
[00:39:23.180]I was just going to say, like, it is pretty easy to do.
[00:39:25.960]So, like, I was just going to say, if you don't feel comfortable doing it here, like,
[00:39:29.920]jump on it after the fact and walk through it.
[00:39:32.820]So, sorry.
[00:39:33.500]Go ahead.
[00:39:34.040]I didn't mean to interrupt.
[00:39:34.520]I didn't mean to interrupt you.
[00:39:35.140]Thinking about the creative district, we talked about a street project in
[00:39:43.520]Beth's Bluff with that creative district.
[00:39:46.680]Let me see if I can share my screen and then you guys can help me here.
[00:40:04.500]We go to grant pairing, right?
[00:40:22.240]Yep.
[00:40:25.920]There you go.
[00:40:27.660]Then zoom into the location.
[00:40:34.480]Now, let's see if I can find it on the map.
[00:40:39.540]That's going to be the trick here.
[00:40:41.060]Anthony, I think you're on.
[00:40:44.700]You can probably help me more.
[00:40:46.260]Is this that corner?
[00:40:51.700]Let's see.
[00:40:53.780]What corner are you looking for, Jamie?
[00:40:58.340]For the creative district where it connects to East Overland.
[00:41:02.940]Oh, there it is.
[00:41:04.380]There you go, right there.
[00:41:06.460]Right here.
[00:41:07.860]Trying to figure out a better way,
[00:41:10.540]because there's a railroad crossing here.
[00:41:13.700]This turn onto Railway Street and then connecting
[00:41:17.020]to East Overland has been difficult for people
[00:41:20.900]to navigate.
[00:41:22.180]So trying to rethink how this flows.
[00:41:27.360]OK, then.
[00:41:31.060]If you just click it, we'll probably let you.
[00:41:34.300]There you go.
[00:41:35.780]And then we draw it.
[00:41:45.420]Yeah, if you click--
[00:41:49.900]did you click draw your project?
[00:41:52.020]Yes.
[00:41:54.180]Now I lost it again.
[00:41:55.400]OK.
[00:41:55.900]OK.
[00:42:09.780]Mm-hm.
[00:42:11.280]Mm-hm.
[00:42:11.780]Yeah, probably.
[00:42:23.780]Yeah.
[00:42:25.280]And then, yeah, double-click to end it.
[00:42:29.460]There you go.
[00:42:29.960]Yeah.
[00:42:30.460]And we're going to use Planning.
[00:42:34.720]And would these include, like, if we think a pedestrian bridge
[00:42:54.960]is a good idea for that, would that
[00:42:58.660]be figured into the planning?
[00:43:01.260]OK.
[00:43:01.760]You can choose multiple.
[00:43:22.160]OK.
[00:43:22.780]There's probably some--
[00:43:23.900]Yeah.
[00:43:24.400]Yeah.
[00:43:24.900]Yeah.
[00:43:25.400]Yeah.
[00:43:25.900]Yeah.
[00:43:26.400]Yeah.
[00:43:26.900]Yeah.
[00:43:27.400]Yeah.
[00:43:27.900]Active transportation, it does involve the rail line.
[00:43:36.400]I don't know if it's eligible under Title 49.
[00:43:39.420]I don't know if it's eligible under Title 49.
[00:43:41.920]I don't know if it's eligible under Title 49.
[00:44:09.920]Okay.
[00:44:10.920]Okay.
[00:44:11.920]Okay.
[00:44:12.920]And as everyone can see, that pulled out seven different grants, which that might be all
[00:44:16.820]of them.
[00:44:21.360]And then you can view the grant details to get more information.
[00:44:32.920]Any other questions?
[00:44:40.920]Okay.
[00:44:41.920]Okay.
[00:44:42.920]If not, does anyone have announcements from the group, the things going on in their communities?
[00:45:02.520]I'd like to do a follow-up to the Heartland business with Ruelyn Taylor that we had.
[00:45:11.480]It was an amazing opportunity, and since then, I have been plugging and plugging and plugging
[00:45:17.060]people into that information and visiting with Ruelyn and connecting, and I'm very excited,
[00:45:24.340]and I think hopefully, much like they were talking about these grants, you know, we're
[00:45:29.800]in a multi-state area, so I know they're going to be a little more difficult, but if you
[00:45:34.000]don't try, you're not going to get them.
[00:45:35.920]So another plug-in for the Heartland business grants with the University of Nebraska-U of
[00:45:40.480]the University of Nebraska-USDA.
[00:45:43.280]And thank you guys for explaining the information here, I appreciate it.
[00:45:47.940]Absolutely, thank you for having us.
[00:45:52.100]We really appreciate your time, thank you Jody and Dina and Jenna.
[00:45:56.360]Yep, and please, if you have anything, even the littlest of questions, let us know, we're
[00:46:01.920]here to help.
[00:46:02.920]And again, we're learning as we go through all this too, of opportunities that are out
[00:46:07.980]there.
[00:46:08.980]So, thank you.
[00:46:09.980]Thank you.
[00:46:09.980]Thank you.
[00:46:10.980]Okay.
[00:46:11.980]Everyone have a good day.
[00:46:12.980]And I will send out the recording and their contact information.
[00:46:16.980]Also, is there a listserv that they, she had mentioned that earlier.
[00:46:22.980]Do you guys have a listserv for information on, are you sending out updates, you said,
[00:46:30.980]as you go?
[00:46:33.980]So, we'll send out the contact information of Dena and Dena.
[00:46:39.480]Dena and Jenna in their district, and where they're reporting to, did you, I'm sorry,
[00:46:44.480]is there something beyond that?
[00:46:46.480]No, I just had heard early on, you had mentioned that if you had information, it's nice to
[00:46:52.980]have some information to send out.
[00:46:55.980]So, I didn't know if there was like some kind of listserv you're doing that just sends it
[00:46:59.980]out, you know, twice a year, whatever.
[00:47:02.980]Yeah, so Jenna, go ahead, if you want, where you're going here.
[00:47:07.980]Oh, this is Jamie.
[00:47:08.980]Jamie actually sharing but oh, sorry.
[00:47:11.480]I've been your email address and subscribe for updates from our website.
[00:47:16.480]That's perfect.
[00:47:17.480]Thank you.
[00:47:18.480]And this is just on their main page journey.
[00:47:21.480]Thank you, Jamie.
[00:47:23.480]And I'll put in our contact information Jenna's mind and then we have a shared inbox.
[00:47:30.480]Another in the chat.
[00:47:38.480]Thank you, Lauren's comment she says this is much more transparent than national dot and she appreciates it.
[00:47:46.480]Yes.
[00:47:48.480]The going to the US dot sometimes makes your head spin and believe me I've done federally for 10 plus years and it makes me run to because sometimes it's just not that forward.
[00:48:01.480]Easy to understand so I and I understand that this, this is the goal we were trying to make it a little more simpler.
[00:48:07.980]We really appreciate you helping out those small communities, you don't have the resources.
[00:48:15.980]Yeah.
[00:48:16.980]Right. Well thank you. It's nice to meet you.
[00:48:19.980]Have a good day everyone. Bye.
[00:48:22.980]Thank you.

Nebraska Infrastructure Hub

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments

Related Channels

Nebraska Infrastructure Hub

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments