ON NOVEMBER 15, 2021, PRESIDENT BIDEN SIGNED THE INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT AND JOBS ACT (IIJA) INTO LAW.

Despite historic federal action, the degree to which the IIJA’s potential is achieved will rest upon the actions of local leaders — and how effectively cities and communities capitalize on these funds. Local leaders must marshal funds, prioritize projects, and make clear the principles that guide their efforts. The distribution of the American Rescue Plan required local governments to organize and prepare for federal recovery dollars. Implementing the IIJA will build on these partnerships across sectors and jurisdictions to move from COVID-19 relief to an economy-wide recovery and modernization.

This guide was created to support local action that is ambitious enough to meet the scale of the IIJA. It is intended to advance the conversation to focus on actionable insights for local leaders.

 

This guide is intentionally selective and not comprehensive. It focuses on 30 of the highest impact federal programs and funding streams in the IIJA that cities and local leaders should know about, representing more than $350B in spending. The guide is organized to highlight the timing, funding mechanism, and funding agency or office for programs. It focuses on the following program features:

Is the program new or does it already exist? Existing formula programs that received supplemental funds will move the most quickly. New programs, both formula and competitive, will become available more gradually.

  • How is funding distributed? The guide focuses on formula and competitive funds so that local leaders know who will receive funds automatically and what funds will require application.

  • How big is the program and who distributes it? The guide focuses on agency and program size so local leaders know who to reach out to with questions.

  • Who receives or applies for it? The guide identifies the local parties responsible for receiving funds or applying for them. It does this to empower mayors to convene and organize the many actors involved in ensuring a range of new infrastructure programs achieve big things for their communities.

The guide is organized so that local leaders can determine how quickly individual pots of funding will flow, who will apply for or receive funding, and who to speak with for questions. IIJA funds will be most transformative when used as a supplement to strategic local and regional projects that advance economic competitiveness, sustainability, and improve equity; they will fall short of their potential when treated as many individual pots of money to be separately competed over and managed in silos. This guide was created to facilitate the big picture, transformational thinking this moment demands.