What Are These Grants and Contracts?
Recovery Act Grants and Contracts-- which are also known as Stimulus Grants and Obama Grants -- are grants and contracts that have been created to help jumpstart the U.S. economy. In early 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which is a law that specifies that these new funds ($787 billion) can be spent for the following purposes:
- To preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery.
- To assist those most impacted by the recession.
- To provide investments needed to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health.
- To invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits.
- To stabilize State and local government budgets, in order to minimize and avoid reductions in essential services and counterproductive state and local tax increases.
Who Gets the Stimulus Money?
Recovery Act / stimulus grant money has been allocated to 28 different U.S. Government agencies. Each agency is responsible for determining how it will spend these funds. Based on their published Recovery Act plans, Federal agencies award grants and contracts to State governments, schools, hospitals, government contractors, and non-profit organizations. State governments, in turn, may also award recovery grants and contracts to non-profit organizations, businesses and, in some cases, to individuals.
Where Can I Find Information on Each Federal Agency's Recovery Act Plans?
Below is a list of major Government Agency websites where you can find this information. Each Federal agency, and some of their sub-agencies, has a portal or web pages dedicated to providing information on that agency's Recovery Act activities.
Where Can I Find Information on State Recovery Plans and State Recovery Grant and Contract Opportunities?
Each U.S. State and Territory is required to report on their Recovery Act activities, and many states provide listings of grant and contract opportunities. To find this information, go to or search for the home page of your State Government (for example, do a Google search for "Maryland State Government.") On the State Government Home Page, you might find a link to its Recovery Act activities, or you can search for it. Here is an example for Maryland's Recovery Act page.
You can also look at this page for Summaries of State and Territory Recovery Funding, which contains information and charts on each state including major projects, funding breakdowns, estimated jobs by quarter, top cities, and top recipients.
Other sites where you can find State-specific information are:
- Recovery.gov - the Federal Government's Official Recovery Act Website.
- The Foundation Center Best ARRA Funding Resources by State
Where Can I Find Federal Grant and Contract Opportunities Related to the Recovery Act?
Most, but possibly not all Federal recovery grant and contract opportunities are published on the two websites listed below-- grants.gov (for grants) and FedBizOpps (for contracts). Other opportunities may be listed on Federal Agency websites.
- Grants.gov - the Federal Government's Official Grants Website.
- FedBizOpps.gov - the Federal Government's Official Business Opportunities Website
Where Can I Find Additional Resources and Information on the Recovery Act?
As you can imagine, there are lots of resources on the Web -- just do some searches. One good way to find Recovery Act information that pertains to your field of interest is to check the websites of professional associations that work in that field. Many professional associations are tracking recovery/stimulus funding and opportunities.
Below are some sites that you may find useful. They are not listed in any particular order.
Other pages related to government grants include:
- Government Business Grants
- Business Grant Resources
- Other Government Grants
- New Government Grant Opportunities
- Grant information by Government Agency
- Deceptive Grant Practices and Ripoffs
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about government grants
- Finding and getting Free Money
- Proposal writing Blog