FTA to offer grants for transit projects in poor communities

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) yesterday issued a notice of funding opportunity to solicit proposals for $8.5 million in grant funding for transit projects aimed at helping lift communities out of poverty and support recovery from substance abuse.

Titled "Helping Obtain Prosperity for Everyone" (HOPE), the grant program supports planning, engineering and technical studies or financial planning to improve transit service in areas experiencing long-term economic distress, FTA officials said in a press release.

The program also will support coordinated human service transportation planning to improve transit service or provide new services, such as rides to opioid abuse recovery and treatment programs.

Eligible applicants must come from counties with more than 20 percent of the population living in poverty for 30 years or more, as measured by the U.S. Census, or the 2013-2017 American Community Survey.

Proposals must be submitted electronically on the grants.gov website by May 4.