What are Recovery or Stimulus Grants and Contracts?

Recovery 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 Money?

The 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.

• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Defense
• Department of Education
• Department of Energy
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Federal Aviation Administration
• Federal Communications Commission
• Federal Emergency Management Agency
• General Services Administration
• Department of State
• Department of Treasury
• Department of Health and Human Services
• Department of Homeland Security
• Department of Housing & Urban Development
• Department of Interior
• Department of Justice
• Department of Labor
• National Aeronautics & Space Administration
• National Endowment for the Arts
• National Institutes of Health
• National Science Foundation
• Department of Transportation
• Department of Veterans Affairs

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 download this PDF file on Sources of Information About Federal Stimulus Funds, which contains charts on each state and links to each State’s main page and/or to its Recovery page. 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
• Onvia’s Recovery.org – Click on the state you are interested in.

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.

Economic Stimulus Program Guide

This Special Report from Washington Technology contains information on ARRA, state and local government gains, the future of the economic stimulus programs, info on regulatory and compliance issues, and tips for making the most of stiimulus funding.

This Foundation Center website contains reports, funding resources, and information on how foundations are dealing with the economic situation.

This White House site on the Recovery Act provides information on progress to date in implementing recovery activities, including a blog, roadmap, and success stories.

This site is a joint effort of the Association of American Universities (AAU), the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), and The Science Coalition (TSC) to demonstrate the impact of stimulus-funded university research activities across the country. You can get the latest news on research efforts as well as information on research activities in each state.

This 76-page Guide from Congressman John Tierney is in PDF format and contains loads of useful information on stimulus funding, including funding for infrastructure, energy, education, arts, employment, public safety, economic and community development, health, small business, and individual tax credits.

This excellent site from the National Council on Non-Profits has links to nine Special Reports on stimulus funding and economic recovery including non-profit grant opportunities, stimulus grant tips, and sources of information on funding,