After years of elusive promises during the previous president’s tenure of “infrastructure weeks” that never materialized, the Biden-Harris administration and Congress took action, passing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. The legislation authorized more than $1 trillion to repair and rebuild the nation’s public works.
In White Plains, N.Y., where I am mayor, we have won grants designed to make our streets safer, to cool and beautify our neighborhoods, and to reduce our energy consumption. A key to our success is a crucial feature of the legislation: a provision that funds be distributed directly to municipalities without having to pass through state governments. Local governments, which are in the best position to determine priority projects in their jurisdictions, would thus benefit from a more streamlined and effective way to address challenges in their communities.
All good news, right? There was one problem. The sheer scale of the programs funded by the federal laws was daunting. Many smaller local governments, already operating with lean staffing, did not know where to start and in some cases felt overwhelmed. Which programs would apply to the issues we were facing? What was the likelihood of success with regard to a particular application? With our limited resources, where should we concentrate our efforts? We had gone from famine to feast but didn’t know how to get to the table.
To help secure the funds, our team turned to the Local Infrastructure Hub, a national consortium led by Bloomberg Philanthropies that is helping small and midsized communities develop competitive infrastructure grant applications. The effort is supported by a range of forward-looking philanthropic organizations, and its partners include the National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Results for America.
The Local Infrastructure Hub’s pro bono boot camps and training sessions opened doors to the technical guidance we needed. Boot camp leaders provided our city's staff with applicable fact sheets and data points, connected them to subject matter experts and coached them in one-on-one sessions that sharpened our grant applications. In no time, we had an array of resources at our fingertips.
White Plains is one of nearly 800 cities, villages and towns that have participated in these boot camps. Participating cities have drawn down more than $2 billion in federal grants and are more than three times as likely to have successful applications than those that don’t participate.
White Plains has now won three federal awards. We secured $1 million to plant 750 trees, allowing us to improve the tree canopy in the neighborhoods that need it most. The trees will help combat extreme heat brought on by climate change and will help the physical and mental well-being of our residents. We won a $400,000 grant to develop an action plan for safer streets for all our residents, improving pedestrian and cycling safety. And we received a $126,510 energy-efficiency grant to replace lighting with LED bulbs in city facilities and to electrify some of our HVAC systems. We want to bring geothermal heating and cooling to our library, the biggest consumer of energy of our many public buildings.
The benefits of the boot camps have also made an impact outside the realm of federal infrastructure funding. The information gleaned and the tactics discussed assisted us in our successful application for a $10 million grant from the state to revitalize our downtown.
That’s why the Local Infrastructure Hub has been a gift that keeps on giving. As a mayor, I participate in meetings of the New York Conference of Mayors and the U.S. Conference of Mayors and take advantage of educational opportunities to enhance my knowledge of budgeting, finance and the myriad issues faced by mayors on a daily basis. It’s the same with the Local Infrastructure Hub. To me, this continuing education is an obligation of our jobs — to become more knowledgable so we can better serve our citizens.
Starting this month, the Local Infrastructure Hub is offering a new round of boot camps on subjects ranging from flood mitigation grants to direct payments for clean energy initiatives to community resilience. I encourage my fellow mayors to pursue this invaluable assistance.
When Congress and the administration designed these opportunities, they realized that the first point of contact between government and its citizens is at the local level. The federal government has done its job. So, too, has a coalition of philanthropic organizations. It is now up to us — the local leaders — to take the baton and run with it.
Thomas Roach is the mayor of White Plains, N.Y. The Local Infrastructure Hub, established by Bloomberg Philanthropies, also brings together support from the Ballmer Group, the Emerson Collective, the Ford Foundation, the Kresge Foundation and the Waverley Street Foundation.
Governing’s opinion columns reflect the views of their authors and not necessarily those of Governing’s editors or management.
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