Harris & Associates combines a dedicated grants team with in-house engineering to support your Capital Improvement Program funding needs. Our team helps public clients anticipate, pre-position, prepare and submit successful grant applications, with extensive experience in following sectors:
- Affordable Housing
- Water, Wastewater, and Stormwater
- Transportation
- Hazard Mitigation / Disaster Recovery
- Economic Development
- Planning
- Climate
A Winning Approach to Grants
Harris’ winning approach to grant applications starts with a thorough understanding of the grant itself: grant requirements and grantor preferences, grant scoring rubrics, potential grant size(s), typical types of successful projects/applications, competitive field/expected number of applicants, etc. We then review your potential project for alignment with the grant opportunity and to highlight the elements of the project that will result in the highest grant score. We only recommend a “Go” on a grant application process if there is a good chance of winning and sufficient funding to make the investment worthwhile.
Our multi-disciplinary teams develop grant packages with the technical detail, consistency, and compelling message to score well and give the grantor confidence that the grantee will be able to deliver a completed project within the required schedule. Once awarded, we help manage post-award grant reporting requirements, providing the transparency and due diligence necessary to obtain timely reimbursements.
Harris & Associates has more than 20+ years of experience with grant applications and the post-award administration of grants. The Harris team has secured grants for our clients through multiple funding agencies and programs, a sample of which includes:
Federal
- US Bureau of Reclamation (BOR)
- US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
- US Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA)
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
- US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
- National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)
State of California
- Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES)
- Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
- Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD)
- State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB)
- Department of Water Resources (DWR)
- Department of Health Care Services (DHCS)
- California Air Resources Control Board (CARB)
Multiple Counties and Cities
We understand the critical need for funding and the impact these projects will have on your communities. As your Trusted Advisor, we hold ourselves accountable to your needs, deliver on our promises, and develop efficient, comprehensive, and actionable solutions to tap into the grant funding available to your local city or county. We often work in tandem with you or your other consultants. Our talented and highly cost-effective team fills in gaps where necessary for such items as reporting on Federal Cost Cutters, environmental assessments, climate change, benefit: cost analyses, financial/budget estimates, GIS, demand analyses, and more.
If you have any questions, need assistance preparing and/or targeting appropriate grants for your city or county, please contact Grants@WeAreHarris.com.
Related People
-
Housing
Housing
Housing Grants can help provide jurisdictions with funding to address a multitude of housing-related projects including, but not limited to, affordable housing developments, rehabilitation of existing structures, preservation of existing affordable housing, local and regional housing trust fund activities, homelessness prevention, and community housing initiatives. Harris is well versed in the realm of housing grants, having assisted our clients in pursuing grant opportunities like the Regional Early Action Planning (REAP), Local Housing Trust Fund (LHTF), Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA), and Encampment Resolution Funding (ERF) grants, among others. Experience in the grants space coupled with our extensive knowledge in the realm of affordable housing allows us to successfully provide services including opportunity identification, grant application assistance including project scope, narrative, and cost estimates, and post-award compliance activities. By leveraging our expertise in the housing grants space, our clients benefit from increased chances of funding approval, streamlined project implementation, and adherence to regulatory requirements.
-
Water, Wastewater, Stormwater, and Recycled Water
Water, Wastewater, Stormwater, and Recycled Water
Harris provides deep bench strength in the Water, Wastewater, Stormwater, and Recycled Water sectors. Our team of planners, grant writers, engineers, rates, financial planning and funding specialists work collaboratively to develop compelling, detailed, and consistent grant applications that give grantors confidence in the project outcomes. Harris’ successful water grants practice includes working with Federal, State, and local agencies on numerous grant programs, including:
- FEMA and Cal-OES - Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, Disaster Grants, etc.
- USEPA - Community and other grants
- BOR - WaterSMART grants
- SWRCB and DWR - Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds, Emerging Contaminants, etc.
-
Transportation
Transportation
Harris supports numerous clients with transportation planning, funding, design, and construction management. Our project planning phase helps our clients identify potential grant funding for roadway safety enhancements; active transportation elements; community beautification; green infrastructure, climate adaptation and sustainability; clean transportation for disadvantaged communities; storm drains; and more.
Harris is adept at the many elements that go into transportation grant applications, including project layout and conceptual design, cost estimating, collision diagrams, warrant studies, crash data research and analysis, pedestrian/bicycle counts, benefit: cost analyses, disadvantaged community thresholds, and more. We team engineers with grant experts to deliver and manage successful grant programs.
-
Hazard Mitigation / Disaster Recovery
Hazard Mitigation / Disaster Recovery
Harris provides full planning, engineering, analysis and grant writing support for hazard mitigation and disaster recovery grants. Depending on the grant requirements, the Harris team can deliver conceptual and/or detailed engineering designs; benefit: cost analyses; detailed project budgets and plans; economic analyses; and more. For Disaster Recovery grants, we can deliver projects and ensure that you meet FEMA’s thorough documentation requirements.
-
Economic Development
Economic Development
Grant opportunities focused on Economic Development provide jurisdictions with funding geared towards supporting local economies through a range of activities like workforce development, small business support, and infrastructure improvements. Harris supports our clients with accessing these grant opportunities through services including researching potential grants that align with our client's objectives and projects, crafting persuasive applications, strategic planning, and compliance reporting. Our experience with pursuing grant opportunities like the US Economic Development Administration (EDA) Public Works Program allow us to assist our clients in advancing their economic development, ultimately enhancing the lives of the communities they serve.
-
Planning
Planning
Grant opportunities in the Planning market provide funding to assist jurisdictions with projects related to infrastructure, transportation, and land-use planning. Examples of some of these grant opportunities include funding offered through the Caltrans Local Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), Regional Early Action Planning (REAP), and the US Department of Transportation (DOT) Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) Transportation Grants. Harris’s extensive experience garnered over decades of project work in transportation, risk and resilience, community planning, and community development, partnered with our experience in the grants space, enables us to offer a range of services from identifying funding opportunities to crafting competitive applications and post-award management. Harris aims to help our clients secure funding for projects ranging from the planning and preliminary design of community-scale green infrastructure to pedestrian-oriented improvements.
-
Climate
Climate
There are several grant opportunities available to jurisdictions that provide funding to address climate initiatives, supporting projects that address environmental sustainability, renewable energy, and climate resilience. Funding opportunities include, but are not limited to, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Justice Small Grants Program, the Department of Energy (DOE) Renewable Energy Grants, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Assistance Grants. Our experience in the grants space combined with the collective knowledge gained through the successful climate and sustainability project work our firm has provided to clients, positions us to effectively provide grants services including performing detailed grant research to identify funding opportunities capable of advancing environmental initiatives, application writing, project design, and post-award grant management.
Housing
Housing Grants can help provide jurisdictions with funding to address a multitude of housing-related projects including, but not limited to, affordable housing developments, rehabilitation of existing structures, preservation of existing affordable housing, local and regional housing trust fund activities, homelessness prevention, and community housing initiatives. Harris is well versed in the realm of housing grants, having assisted our clients in pursuing grant opportunities like the Regional Early Action Planning (REAP), Local Housing Trust Fund (LHTF), Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA), and Encampment Resolution Funding (ERF) grants, among others. Experience in the grants space coupled with our extensive knowledge in the realm of affordable housing allows us to successfully provide services including opportunity identification, grant application assistance including project scope, narrative, and cost estimates, and post-award compliance activities. By leveraging our expertise in the housing grants space, our clients benefit from increased chances of funding approval, streamlined project implementation, and adherence to regulatory requirements.