Frequently Asked Questions

All individuals and organizations, including City of Albany departments are eligible to apply for funding for projects and programs that are within the City of Albany.

All proposals must be responsive to one or more of the five Priority Impact Areas defined by the City of Albany’s COVID Recovery Task Force.

Please note, funding is available through the City of Albany’s Federal American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) award which defines available uses of funding. The Task Force’s Impact Areas align with allowable uses. Please visit the U.S. Treasury website for the latest information and regulations regarding ARPA funding. The City of Albany is committed to supporting applicants throughout this application process, which includes providing technical support to facilitate meeting the requirements for funding. See the Proposal Instructions for more information.

Up to $25 million is available to fund community projects. There is no minimum or maximum amount that will be awarded to individual projects.

The proposal form will be available beginning on January 11, 2022 and remain open through March 1, 2022. 

After review, selected proposals will be invited to submit a full application.

The proposal can be completed online. It consists of three sections: Applicant Information, Project Overview, and Project Narrative. There are 11 questions, of which 4 are narrative responses between 250 and 500 words each, and 1 is a narrative response up to 1,500 words. Other questions are multiple choice, yes/no, or short responses of 100 words or fewer.

The time required to complete the proposal will vary depending on the applicant and project.

The full application will be completed online. It will consist of six sections. The first two (Applicant Information and Project Overview) are largely updates of information provided in the proposal and will require minimal additional information. Applicants will also be asked to provide more detailed information about the project in the four new sections: Applicant Capacity and Qualifications, Project Impact, Project Plan, and Project Budget.

The time required to complete the proposal will vary depending on the applicant and project.

All interested parties are encouraged to attend or view information sessions and participate in open office hours to receive additional assistance and guidance. All scheduled events and links to online events will be posted. Written questions may be emailed to AlbanyforAll@albanyny.gov. The City’s first priority is to ensure the process is accessible and allows all applicants to bring their best ideas forward.

The City of Albany is accepting volunteers to serve on Impact Area Review Teams. There will be five teams, one focused on each of the Task Force-identified priority impact areas. The Impact Area Review Teams will review proposals and applications and make recommendations to the Leadership Team on which proposals and applications should be advanced for funding. Participation in an Impact Area Review Team is a valuable way to contribute to this process and make your voice heard. Please note the following minimum expectations for Impact Area Review Team members:

• All Impact Area Review Team members are volunteers. Compensation is not offered.
• Members must commit to the necessary time to review proposals and applications in their designated impact area.
• Members must maintain confidentiality of all proposals and applications reviewed as well as deliberation sessions.
• Members are prohibited from submitting proposals, serving as a partner on a proposal, or advising on the development of any proposal.