The Washington State Department of Commerce is soliciting proposals from qualified Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) interested in completing planning and predesign projects that will support readiness to apply for a Commerce capital grant program. The selected applicants will receive grant funding for planning, technical assistance, and predesign projects that would directly benefit populations and communities that have been historically underserved by capital grant programs.

No less than $5.45 million in grant funding is offered under this solicitation, with individual planning, technical assistance, predesign, and preconstruction grant awards up to $200,000 per project. Commerce will evaluate projects on the attributes of the proposed scope of work and applicant qualifications.

A minimum of $2 million is reserved for housing-related planning, predesign, or preconstruction activities, which would assist the organization or tribe with pursuing a future capital award from the affordable housing programs authorized in Chapter 43.185A RCW.

Eligibility

Qualified CBOs means your organization has not received a state or federal affordable housing grant in the last seven (7) years, or a Commerce community facility grant in the last two (2) years, and the applicant is:

1. operating in a rural county, or
2. a federally recognized tribe; and
3. serving marginalized or underserved communities without a history of receiving Commerce capital funding; and

Applications meeting the stated eligibility criteria will be prioritized, however other organizations are eligible to apply.

Timeline

• Pre-proposal Conferences:
  • General session: June 10, 2024, 11 a.m.
  • Tribal session: June 11, 1 p.m.
• Proposals due: August 2, 2024
• Funding period: September. 21, 2024 – June 30, 2025

View/Download RFP (Box PDF)

Pre-Proposal Conferences

Potential applicants are encouraged, but not required, to attend a pre-proposal conference to learn more about this opportunity.

Contact: Alice Zillah, RFP Coordinator

Grant writing assistance

To reduce barriers to this grant, Commerce is offering grant writing virtual workshops for this RFP on a first come, first served basis. Please register for grant writing assistance.

If you have questions regarding grant writing assistance connected to this RFP, please contact Alice Zillah.

To encourage widespread applications, this RFP is offered jointly through the Planning and Predesign Capital Equity and Capacity Building, Outreach and Support programs at Commerce. The RFP only focuses on supporting organizations and tribes with candidate affordable housing projects for consideration by Commerce’s Housing Trust Fund, and supporting other candidate projects for consideration by other Commerce capital funding for affordable housing or community facilities, such as the Building Communities Fund program.