National League of Cities Announces Bootcamps to Support Applicants to Federal Infrastructure Programs

WASHINGTON, June 1, 2023 – Advocacy group National League of Cities is sponsoring a nationwide program designed to advise cities and towns on how to access federal infrastructure funding.

The Local Infrastructure Hub program is hosting a grant application bootcamp aimed at assisting small- and mid-sized cities and towns in their grant applications. The bootcamp series will begin in June and will focus on the programs funded through the $65 billion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

The camp comes ahead of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s allocation by June 30 of the $42.5 billion from its Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.

The broadband opportunities bootcamp will introduce cities to the entire ecosystem of federal broadband opportunities and educate them on ways they can engage with the private sector, the NLC said. It will guide them through the process of applying to the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, it added.

Participants will be guided through the process of creating an asset map for their community, executing a community engagement strategy, utilizing data to understand problems, aligning applications with broader federal priorities, and writing winning applications through provided templates.

Mayors and municipal staff across a wide range of specialties are eligible to participate. Participants will have access to subject-matter experts and individualized coaching sessions. The program will connect applicants with their peers applying to the same programs, the NLC said.

The free bootcamps will last 3 to 4 months and will require several hours of participation each week per team member. Many city leaders tout the program as being highly successful and influential in their grant application process.