Veteran Woman Grant

Purpose: RUST loans may be used to finance up to 100 percent of the costs necessary to upgrade, remove or replace project tanks, including corrective actions, to meet applicable local state, or federal standards, including, but not limited to, any design, construction, monitoring, operation, or maintenance requirements adopted pursuant to Health and Safety Code sections 25284.1, 25292.05, 25292.4, or 41954. Description: Replacing, Removing, or Upgrading Underground Storage Tanks (RUST) loans are available to assist small business underground storage tank (UST) owners and operators in financing up to 100 percent of the costs necessary to upgrade, remove, or replace project tanks, including corrective actions, to meet applicable local, state, or federal standards, including, but not limited to, any design, construction, monitoring, operation, or maintenance requirements adopted pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 25284.1, 25292.05, 25292.4, or 41954.

The Asheville Recovers Together Grant provides Asheville, North Carolina small businesses impacted by Tropical Storm Helene with reimbursement grants of $5,000 to $75,000 to support recovery and ongoing operations. Funded by the City of Asheville and jointly administered by ArtsAVL, Eagle Market Streets Development Corporation, and Mountain BizWorks in collaboration with community partners across the city, the program is designed to help local businesses stabilize, recover, and grow following the storm's economic impact. Grant funds may be used for payroll, rent and utilities, inventory, supplies and equipment, marketing, and other eligible business operating expenses, and may also support efforts to rehire staff, replace lost inventory, add jobs, or launch new products and services. Eligible applicants must have a primary location within Asheville city limits, have been operating before September 27, 2024, have experienced financial losses due to Hurricane Helene that were not fully covered by insurance or other funding, have owners who are legal U.S. residents, have generated at least $20,000 in revenue in one of the last three years, and be currently open or have a plan to reopen. Businesses must also be in good standing with no active bankruptcies, tax liens, or federal funding bans. Nonprofits, cannabis-related operations, passive real estate or investment holdings, political or lobbying organizations, adult entertainment businesses, corporate-owned national franchises or chains, and residential short-term rentals are not eligible. Awards are issued as reimbursements, requiring applicants to pay eligible expenses upfront and then submit receipts or proof of payment for review and approval.

North Carolina’s Customized Training Program is the state’s premier workforce development initiative, helping businesses build and sustain a highly skilled, competitive workforce. The program, now branded as NCEdge, offers businesses workforce development strategies that align with a company’s unique needs and goals. NCEdge supports new, expanding, and existing businesses, providing flexible, up-to-date training solutions valid for up to three years. The cost of the training is covered by the state of North Carolina through the North Carolina Community College System. With 58 community colleges across North Carolina, NCEdge ensures businesses in all 100 counties have access to high-quality training resources.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) provides a continuing opportunity for the rapid support of early-stage applied research to explore innovative new concepts with the potential for transformational and disruptive changes in energy technology. Spurring Projects to Advance Energy Research and Knowledge Swiftly (SPARKS) awards are intended to be flexible and may take the form of analyses or exploratory research that provides the agency with useful information for the subsequent development of focused technology programs. SPARKS awards may also support proof-of-concept research to develop a unique technology concept, either in an area not currently supported by the agency or as a potential enhancement to an ongoing focused technology program. Applications must propose concepts that are not covered by open ARPA-E focused FOAs and that do not represent incremental improvements over existing technology. SPARKS awards are defined as single-phase efforts of durations of 18 months or less with a total project cost of $500,000 or less and will be issued through Grants. ARPA-E expects to make approximately $10 million per fiscal year available for new awards, subject to the availability of appropriated funds. This announcement is purposely broad in scope to encourage the submission of the most innovative ideas in energy technology to support transformative energy R&D that complements ARPA-E’s primary mechanism, which is through the solicitation of research projects in focused technology programs.ARPA-E’s focused programs target specific areas of technology that the agency has identified through extensive interaction with the appropriate external stakeholders. The focused programs have significant potential impact on one or more of the statutory goals described in Section I.A of the FOA. Awards made in response to the solicitation for focused programs support the aggressive technical targets established in that solicitation. Taken in total, ARPA-E’s focused programs cover a broad swath of energy technologies and applications.

The DBIA Dairy Grants provide dairy farms and dairy manufacturing and processing businesses across 11 Midwestern states with reimbursement grants of up to $150,000 to support value-added projects, business diversification, and industry-wide initiatives. Administered by the Dairy Business Innovation Alliance (DBIA) and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service, the program serves for-profit dairy businesses based in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Funding is offered through two grant tracks. -The Dairy Business Builder Grant: Awards reimbursements of up to $150,000 to small-to-medium farmers and processors for projects focused on dairy farm diversification, the creation of value-added products (such as cheese, yogurt, and beverages), enhancement of dairy by-products, or expansion of dairy export programs. -The Dairy Industry Impact Grant: Awards up to $100,000 for projects in targeted topic areas (e.g. dairy exporting and sustainability) that have the potential to positively impact the dairy industry as a whole. Applicants may apply to both grant programs in the same cycle if they have two separate qualifying projects, and may receive awards from both. Grants are issued as reimbursements after eligible project expenses have been incurred and documented; recipients have 12 months from the date of award to complete spending and submit reimbursement requests. Since launching in 2020, DBIA has distributed nearly $24 million across more than 290 awards to dairy farmers and processors throughout the region.