Mayor Kris Wyatt How to get a grant
I thought it might be helpful to explain a little of what goes on behind the scenes when the City applies for - and is awarded - a grant.
Bristow currently has three significant grants that I’m particularly excited about. (There are more, but I want to focus on these three.)
• Just over $3 million from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce for infrastructure improvements at our Heartland Industrial Park.
Awarded in 2023, this grant is part of Oklahoma’s Allocated ARPA Infrastructure Program, which uses federal American Rescue Plan funds to support infrastructure at designated industrial parks and other economic development sites.
For Bristow, the funding is helping us address infrastructure needs at our industrial park on the north side, including water and wastewater improvements that are important to making the site attractive and useful for future industry.
The application had to explain the project, the infrastructure needs, the anticipated economic development benefits, and how we planned to carry it out. It also had to meet the requirements of a program using federal funds.
• Our $300,069 Transportation Alternatives Program grant.
This grant will help us build a sidewalk connecting the high school to the football field - a project that will improve safety and connectivity for students and others using that route.
TAP is a federally funded, competitive program administered through ODOT. The application had to explain the project, its need, its benefits, and how we planned to carry it out. Applications are reviewed and scored, and an independent committee makes recommendations before awards are made.
Because these are federal funds, the project must follow federal and state requirements. here is engineering and design work, environmental and other reviews, bidding, contracting, construction, and reporting.
And the timeline is longer than many people realize. ODOT’s guidance estimates that getting a project from final plans to the start of construction can take roughly 8½ to 9 months, with the entire process from application to construction often taking 24 to 36 months. (We aren’t to the “final plans” stage yet.)
• Our $301,015.05 Route 66 beautification grant.
We began with an application to Oklahoma’s Route 66 Revitalization Grant Program, administered through the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and overseen by the Oklahoma Route 66 Commission. (We applied three times before we were awarded.)
The application had to explain what we wanted to do, why it mattered, how it would benefit Bristow and Route 66 tourism, and how we planned to carry it out. The project’s design, impact, organizational capacity, sustainability, and budget were all part of the evaluation.
The Commission reviewed the applications and selected the projects to receive funding. But being selected was only the beginning. We still have a grant agreement to complete, requirements to meet, a project to carry out, eligible expenditures to document, and a final report to submit.
That’s more than $3.6 million in grant funding directed toward improvements in Bristow.
And this is the part I think is important for people to understand: when a grant is awarded, the work is not finished. In many ways, that’s when another phase of the work begins.
There are agreements to finalize, requirements to meet, budgets to establish, and project details to work through.The City has to carry out the project according to the grant agreement, which may include engineering, environmental reviews, procurement requirements, bidding, construction, reporting, and coordination with the funding agency.
For infrastructure projects, the time between “We were awarded the grant” and “The project is complete” can be substantial. There are many steps that have to be completed correctly before construction can begin.
And no, the grant money does not arrive as a check in the mail.
Grant funds are administered according to the requirements of the particular program, either through reimbursement or an approved drawdown process, with documentation required along the way.
I’m proud of the work that has gone into these three awards, and I’m even more excited