The Georgia Smart Communities Challenge is a community research assistance program that empowers communities in their journey to innovation while building resilience for when the expected and unexpected occur. Projects selected to participate in a Georgia Smart cohort receive access to a breadth of resources including funding and technical assistance.
Donor Name: Partnership for Inclusive Innovation
State: Georgia
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Challenge
Deadline: 04/15/2022
Size of the Grant: $100,000
Details:
The Georgia Smart Communities Challenge (“Georgia Smart”) is an award-winning research-led cohort and technical assistance program for local governments within the State of Georgia, USA. It is a competitive program that supports local governments of any size within the State of Georgia— cities, counties, and consolidated city-county governments—by providing funding, access to technical assistance, expert advice, and a network of peers. Georgia Smart communities will receive access to a breadth of resources including a team of researchers, Georgia Smart program management, Smart Community Corps, and Georgia Smart partners.
Theme
- Smart Resilience
Funding Information
- One research grant per community-researcher applicant team, up to $100,000 total
Eligibility Criteria
Teams that wish to apply to Georgia Smart must adhere to the following requirements:
- Eligible Governments: Any local government within the state of Georgia is eligible to apply to be on a team under the Georgia Smart program. These governments include city governments, county governments, and consolidated city-county governments. No population or land area requirements exist for participation. No government outside of Georgia is eligible.
- Team Formation: Applicants are encouraged to form teams that feature collaborative projects that span more than one government/jurisdiction and which include other quasi- or nongovernmental participants (e.g., neighborhood planning units, community improvement groups, business associations, or corporate sponsors). Applications can feature collaboration with nonprofit or for-profit entities, but must be submitted by a lead government. Partnerships with nonprofits, such as community improvement districts, or for-profit companies, such as technology providers, are encouraged where applicable.
- Local Preference: Preference is given to applications that feature collaborations with nongovernment entities that reside within the State of Georgia.
- Researcher Preference: Applications must be either a) multidisciplinary (ex. one researcher from engineering sciences and one researcher from social sciences) and/or b) multi-university (ex. One researcher from Georgia Tech and one researcher from Valdosta State University).
- Team Leads: In the case of a joint proposal across more than one local government, a lead government (“a lead”) must be identified. The lead is determined by the group of collaborators and not by any external criteria (e.g. size, types, or location).
- Letters of Support: All participating local governments must submit a letter of support from a high-ranking elected representative or employee of the local government (e.g. Mayor, County Commission Chair, City Manager, etc.). Collaborative applications across governments require a letter of support from each government involved.
- Letters of Understanding for Non-Government Entities: Applications that list collaborations with non-government entities require a letter of understanding from each collaborator, signed by a representative of the organization authorized to make such an agreement.
- Designated Point of Contact: Applications require a designated point-of-contact who is employed by the lead local government. The point-of-contact needs to have valid email and phone number and must be available to answer questions about the application during the review period.
- Joint Proposal Point of Contact: For joint proposals, the lead government furnishes the point-ofcontact necessary for the purposes of application and submission. The lead will remain as the point-of-contact for the duration of Georgia Smart.
- Community In-Kind Match: Community in-kind match is required. It is expected the project lead and supporting team members spend nontrivial amounts of time on the project every month including monthly status calls, quarterly workshops, stakeholder engagement events, and at least 1 onsite event with Georgia Smart in your community. Community in-kind match is not required to be direct funding but can include budget allocations, private donations, volunteered labor hours, materials, supplies, equipment, software, professional services, land, event space, or other resources that are relevant to and may be used in the execution of the community’s planned work. Communities must supply documentation with their application stating the source, nature, and value of the match, including letters of support or other documents guaranteeing the availability of such resources.
For more information, visit Georgia Smart Communities Challenge.
