Community Development Block Grant

To complete an application, click the button above to create an account.

CDBG Application Guidelines

The City of Framingham’s Community Development Program invites local nonprofit organizations or City departments to submit Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program proposals for projects starting on July 1st and ending on June 30th. CDBG funds are allocated to the city by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to impact many services and programs, principally for low- and moderate-income residents.

The City of Framingham received $473,889 in FY26 CDBG funding annually. 

Final figures for FY27 will not be known until after the federal budget is passed and HUD announces the allocation amount. 

The chart below lists amounts awarded to different projects in FY26:

Eligibility criteria include, but are not limited to:

• Compliance with federal eligibility standards
• Overall benefit to low- and moderate-income persons
• How such benefits will be measured/reported
• Project goals
• Need for the proposed activity
• How the proposed project is unique, complementing, and not duplicating existing services.
• The experience and capability of applicants to provide proposed activities
• Documentation of support for the project
• The availability of matching funds for the activity will also be considered.

Eligible projects will be forwarded to the committee to make funding recommendations for final approval by the Mayor and City Council.

The Community Development Program and the City reserve the right to reject any incomplete and unresponsive proposals to the information requested in the proposal package. 

The Community Development Program can recommend or reject any proposal, in whole or part, determined not to be in its interest. Note that CDBG funds must be used conforming to applicable city, state, and federal laws that include procurement policies, equal employment opportunity/Section 3 requirements, anti-kickback rules, Davis-Bacon Act (prevailing wages for construction projects over $2,000 or housing of eight units or more), bonding and insurance regulations, environmental requirements, and the Build America Buy America Act (BABA).

Evaluation Criteria

Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds are awarded through a competitive proposal evaluation process. The evaluation considers all aspects of the proposal as described in the RFP and proposal application.

Proposals are checked first by the City’s Planning and Community Division staff for completeness of application, content, and eligibility under CDBG guidelines. Eligible applicants will have proposals reviewed and ranked by members of the Community Development Committee using the City of Framingham’s Application Evaluation Worksheet. If a question arises during its review, the committee reserves the right to contact the applicant for clarification. 

Based on the committee’s review and ranking of proposals, recommendations will be presented to the Mayor’s Office, which will render the final decision on grant awards. Ultimately, the City Council votes to accept or reject the annual aggregate federal funds before the Annual Action Plan is submitted and the funds dispersed.

The Division of Planning and Community Development and the Community Development Committee will have sole discretion on the approval of funds. The committee has the discretion to partially or fully fund a proposal. A well-written application does not guarantee funding since this is a highly competitive process. 

Applicants should give adequate attention to the completeness, conciseness, and responsiveness of the information provided in response to the questions asked within the application. The RFP will be the only time for organizations to present proposals since no future meetings or hearings are scheduled between the submission and allocation dates. 

Please get in touch with the Community Development Department at communitydevelopment@framinghamma.gov if you have any questions concerning the Evaluation Worksheet or the application.

Summary of eligible and ineligible community development block grant activities

This is a summary of the activities that are eligible and ineligible for assistance under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program under governing regulations of the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 24, Part 570, Sections 570.200 – 570.207. This summary is based upon the Final Rules published in March 1996 and is meant to be a guide. Please check with CD staff or the HUD website for any changes that may have occurred since 1996.

General Policies – 570.200

The CDBG Program's primary objective is to develop viable communities by providing decent housing and a sustainable living environment and expanding economic opportunities, principally for low- and moderate-income persons. Funds must be used to give maximum feasible priority to activities that will carry out one of the three broad national objectives of benefit to low and moderate-income families, aid in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight, or activities that meet an urgent community need due to existing conditions that pose a severe and immediate threat to the health or welfare of the community where other financial resources are not available to meet such needs. 

At least 70% of the total CDBG funds must be used for activities that benefit low—and moderate-income persons, and at least 51% of the beneficiaries of the individual activities must be low—to moderate-income persons.

Eligible Activities offered by the Community Development Department  – 570.201

CDBG funds may be used for the following activities:

1. Public facilities and improvements: Acquisition, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or installation of public facilities and improvements, except buildings, for the general conduct of government. Activities may include:
   • Removal of material and architectural barriers that restrict the mobility and accessibility of elderly or severely disabled persons to public facilities and improvements;
   • Design features and improvements that promote energy:
   • Architectural design features and similar treatments intended to enhance the aesthetic quality of facilities and improvements receiving CDBG assistance:
   • Eligible facilities include shelters for the homeless; convalescent homes; hospitals, nursing homes; battered spouse shelters; halfway houses for run-away children, drug offenders, or parolees; group homes for intellectually challenged persons; and temporary housing for disaster victims
2. Public services: Provision of public services (including labor, supplies, and materials), including but not limited to those concerned with employment, crime prevention, child care, health, drug abuse, education, fair housing counseling, energy conservation, homebuyer down payment assistance, or recreational needs. To be eligible for CDBG assistance, a public service must meet each of the following criteria:
   • A new service or a quantifiable increase in the level of an existing service above that which has been provided with State and Local funds in the previous 12 calendar months and
   • The amount of CDBG funds obligated for public services shall not exceed 15 percent of the annual grant and 15 percent of program income received during the immediately preceding program year.
3. Facilitate economic development: CDBG funds may facilitate economic development by:
   • Providing credit, including, but not limited to, grants, loans, loan guarantees, and other forms of financial support, for the establishment, stabilization, and expansion of micro-enterprises;
   • Providing technical assistance, advice, and business support services to owners of micro-enterprises and persons developing micro-enterprises and
   • Providing general support, including, but not limited to, peer support programs, counseling, childcare, transportation, and other similar services, to owners of micro-enterprises and persons developing micro-enterprises.
4. Technical assistance: Provide technical assistance to public or nonprofit entities to increase their capacity for eligible neighborhood revitalization or economic development activities.

Special activities by Community-Based Development Organizations (CBDOs). – 570.204

1. Eligible activities:CBDO may use CDBG funds to carry out a neighborhood revitalization, community economic development, or energy conservation project, including:
   • Activities listed as eligible; and
   • Activities not otherwise listed as eligible – excluding buildings for the general conduct of government business, general government expenses, and political activities.
2. Activities must:
   • Meet the public service requirements, although services specifically designed to increase economic opportunities through job training and placement and other employment support services;
   • Meet the requirements of the guidelines for evaluating and selecting economic development projects under Section 570.209 and
   • Must not result in the recipient exceeding the 20% limit on planning and administrative costs.
3. Eligible Entities are:
   • Non-profit or for-profit organizations engaged in community development activities primarily within an identified geographic area and whose primary purpose is the improvement of the  physical, economic, and social environment;
   • Section 301 (d) Small Business Investment Companies, including those which are profit-making; State or local Development Companies; or Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs);
   • Organizations are similar in purpose, function, and scope.

Eligible planning, urban environmental design, and policy-planning management-capacity building activities – 570.205

1. Planning activities which consist of all costs of gathering data, studies, analysis, and preparation of plans and the identification of actions that will implement such plans, including, but not limited to:
   • Comprehensive plans;
   • Community development plans;
   • Functional plans in areas such as:
   • Housing, including the development of a consolidated plan;
   • Land use and urban environmental design;
   • Economic development;
   • Open space and recreation;
   • Energy use and conservation;
   • Floodplain and wetlands management following the requirements of Executive Orders 11988 and 11990;
   • Transportation;
   • Utilities; and Historic preservation.
   • Other plans and studies such as:
   • Small area and neighborhood plans;
   • Capital improvement programs;
   • Reasonable costs of general environmental, urban environmental design, and historic preservation studies.
   • Strategies and action programs to implement plans, including the development of codes, ordinances, and regulations;
   • Support of clearinghouse functions, such as those specified in Executive Order 12372 
   • Analysis of impediments to fair housing choice.
   • Policy planning/management/capacity building activities that will enable the recipient to determine its needs;
   • Set long-term goals and short-term objectives, including those related to urban environmental design;
   • Devise programs and activities to meet these goals and objectives;
   • Evaluate the progress of such programs and activities in accomplishing these goals and objectives and
   • Manage, coordinate, and monitor activities necessary for effective planning implementation but exclude the costs required to implement such plans.

Program administrative costs – 570.206

1. General management, oversight, and coordination. Reasonable costs of overall program management, coordination, monitoring, and evaluation, including:
   • Salaries, wages, and related expenses of staff engaged in program administration. Program administration consists of the following types of assignments;
   • Providing local officials and citizens with information about the program;
   • Preparing program budgets and schedules and amendments to it;
   • Developing systems for assuring compliance with program requirements;
   • Developing interagency agreements and agreements with sub-recipients and contractors to carry out program activities;
   • Monitoring program activities for progress and compliance with program requirements;
   • Preparing reports and other documents related to the program for submission to HUD;
   • Coordinating the resolution of audit and monitoring findings;
   • Evaluating program results against stated objectives; and
   • Managing or supervising persons whose primary responsibilities about the program include such assignments as those described in paragraphs (a)(1)(i) through (viii) of this section.
   • Travel costs incurred for official business in carrying out the program;
   • Administrative services performed under third-party contracts or agreements, including such services as general legal services, accounting services, and audit services; and
   • Other costs for goods and services required for administration of the program, including such goods and services as rental or purchase of equipment, insurance, utilities, office supplies, and rental and maintenance (but not purchase) of office space.
2. Public information: providing information and other resources to residents and citizen organizations participating in the planning, implementation, or assessment of activities being assisted with CDBG funds.
3. Fair housing activities. Provision of fair housing services designed to further the fair housing objectives of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601–20) by making all persons, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or handicap, aware of the range of housing opportunities available to them;
4. Indirect costs. Indirect costs may be charged to the CDBG program under a cost allocation plan prepared following OMB Circular A–21, A–87, or A–122 as applicable.
5. Submission of applications for federal programs. Preparation of documents required for submission to HUD to receive funds under the CDBG and UDAG programs. In addition, CDBG funds may be used to prepare applications for other Federal programs where the recipient determines that such activities are necessary or appropriate to achieve its community development objectives.
6. Administrative expenses to facilitate housing. CDBG funds may be used for necessary administrative expenses in planning or obtaining financing for housing;
7. Section 17 of the United States Housing Act of 1937. Reasonable costs for overall program management of the Rental Rehabilitation and Housing Development programs authorized under section 17 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, whether or not such activities are otherwise assisted with funds provided under this part.
8. Reasonable costs equivalent to those described in paragraphs (a), (b), (e), and (f) of this section for overall program management of:
9. A Federally designated Empowerment Zone or Enterprise Community; and
10. The HOME program under Title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12701 note).

Ineligible activities – 570.207

The general rule is that any activity not authorized under the provisions of §§570.201–570.206 is ineligible to be assisted with CDBG funds. This section identifies specific ineligible activities and provides guidance in determining the eligibility of other activities frequently associated with housing and community development.

1. The following activities may not be assisted with CDBG funds:
   • Buildings or portions thereof, used for the general conduct of government,
   • General government expenses;
   • Political activities.
2. The following activities may not be assisted with CDBG funds unless carried out as a unique economic development activity, a public service, an eligible community-based development organization, or by the recipient as explicitly authorized.
   • Purchase of equipment;
   • Construction equipment;
   • Fire protection equipment. Fire protection equipment is considered for this purpose to be an integral part of a public facility, and thus, purchase of such equipment would be eligible under §570.201(c);
   • Furnishings and personal property;
   • Operating and maintenance expenses;
   • Payment of salaries for staff, utility costs, and similar expenses necessary for public works and facilities, new housing construction, and income payments.

 Area Benefit Eligible Census Tracts