1.  Background
 

a. The Military Presence Stabilization Fund (The Fund) is established as a special fund in the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA).  Monies shall be used to fund actions designed to make the State less vulnerable to closure pursuant to federal Base Realignment and Closure and related initiatives.  The North Carolina Military Affairs Commission (NCMAC) shall approve the use of The Fund for this purpose.  In addition, the NCMAC is authorized to use up to $225,000 of the funds allocated from The Fund to provide grants to local communities or military installations.  The authorized amount of $225,000 is the combined total for all grants that could be awarded. 

b.  NCMAC Goals:

• Support and enhance North Carolina’s existing military installations and missions.
• Increase the economic impact of the military and defense industry in North Carolina.
• Improve the quality of life for Uniformed Service members, Veterans, and their families.
• Provide legislative and state agency coordination for military-related issues.

2.  Purpose of Community Grant Program:

To fund grants to local communities and military installations for projects designed to strengthen the State’s posture when the Department of Defense (DoD) reviews.  Projects can be leveraged to promote, preserve, or enhance military missions and installations in North Carolina.  The NCMAC strives to support locally-driven initiatives that support the NCMAC’s goals and build on regional and State assets to spur a thriving and prosperous military presence within North Carolina.    

3.  Criteria for selection:

a.  Applicants must be a military installation, local community government, or a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that can demonstrate a direct and ongoing relationship to a military installation and/or local community government and that relationship must fulfill the primary purpose of the Community Grant Program.

b.  The NCMAC shall only consider initiatives that directly support, sustain, protect, and enhance North Carolina’s military communities or installations.

c.  Projects must improve the military compatible value of the installation or the local communities’ ability to support the military installation, personnel and then families.

d.  Projects must have a clearly defined, measurable outcome in support of the NCMAC mission and goals.

4.  Process:

a.  Applicants for NCMAC grant consideration shall:

            1.  Submit a NCMAC Program Project Application (Attachment A):

            2.  Submit a Budget and Financial Report Form (Attachment B):

            3.  Submit a Project Timeline with Milestones; and

            4.  Submit a draft press release announcing the grant award.

b.  When scheduled, the applicant must be prepared to present the project proposal upon request to the Grant Review Committee (GRC). (See Timeline in Sec 6.)

c.  Grant approval requires a majority vote at the full NCMAC meeting.  If an application is approved but cannot be funded in the current Fiscal Year, the application will be carried forward to assist in the development of the NCMAC’s budget for the next fiscal year.

5.  Conflict of Interest:

Every applicant should identify for the NCMAC any conflicts of interest existing at the time of its application or up to and until the grant agreement is executed. Municipalities that are sole applicants should also inquire of any business or non-profit corporation with which they are coordinating the project(s) proposed in the application whether the businesses or non-profit corporations are aware of any such conflicts of interest. Finally, throughout the administration of any grant, each grant recipient has the duty to promptly inform NCMAC of any conflict of interest in the administration of the grant of which it becomes aware.

6.  NCMAC FY 2020-2021 Grants Timeline:  (Revised Timeline)

Oct 5, 2020                 Applications due no later than 11:59 PM EDT.

Oct 12-16, 2020          Review of Applications:  NCMAC administrator from DMVA will review all applications for completeness and eligibility.  GRC reviews all eligible applications, presentations and provide a priority list of proposed grant recipients and grant amounts to the NCMAC.    

Oct 19-23, 2020          NCMAC GRC convenes to review grant applicants. Optional:  Presentations from proposed grant recipients during the week.

Oct 27, 2020               GRC forwards recommendation to the Executive Steering Group (ESG).

Nov 10, 2020              Recommendations out to NCMAC members.           

Nov 17, 2020              NCMAC approves final recipients and amounts for FY 2020-2021 grants. Optional:  Presentations by grant recipient finalist(s) at full meeting of the NCMAC.

Nov 18, 2020              FY 2020-2021 Community Grant recipients announced.                                         

7.  Use of Funds:

a.   All  expenditures shall be in accordance with the State of North Carolina’s procurement requirements, rules and regulations up to the sum of two hundred twenty-five thousand dollars ($225,000) and may be used to provide grants to local communities and/or military installations.

b.  These funds shall only be used for actual project expenses and shall not be used to pay for lobbying, salaries, travel or other administrative costs.

c.  Local matching funds are not required but will be considered.  Cash and in-kind contributions shall be evaluated on a pro rata and or per capita basis based on the requesting organization’s ability to contribute.

8.  Contracting:

a.  DMVA will provide administrative support for NCMAC’s management of the grant.

b.  Payment shall be made on a lump sum basis or increments, in accordance with the approved Project Timeline with Milestones.

c.  All grant contracts are for a period of one year from signing.  Project extensions shall be considered on a case-by-case basis and applicants shall request an extension in writing 30 days prior to the expiration date. 

9.  Reporting Requirements:

a.  The grant recipient must prepare and file quarterly progress reports in accordance with the Project milestone schedule to the Grant Manager and NCMAC Grant Administrator.

b.  The NCMAC administrator from DMVA will forward each project’s progress report to the NCMAC Finance Committee, who shall present it at the quarterly NCMAC meeting.

c.  The progress report will include how funds have been expended and what has been accomplished during the quarter.

10.  Guidance to Applicants:

a.  The applicant shall submit a grant funding application directly to the NCMAC administrator from DMVA via email and NCMAC administrator from DMVA will send the applicant and acknowledgement of receipt via email.  The NCMAC administrator from DMVA will forward the application(s) to the NCMAC Chair and Vice Chair or GRC as directed.

b.  NCMAC will not provide grants or cooperative agreements to individual or to for-profit entities.

c.  Projects should be accomplished within one year (12 months) of contracting.  If the project is expected to take longer than one year to complete, then the applicant must justify a grant extension request.

d.  Presentations to the GRC will include the grant proposal, clear support of the criteria listed above, details of the proposed project, expected deliverables and total funding requested. 

e.  Presentations are limited to maximum of 15 minutes.

f.  The GRC will provide recommendations to the ESG.

g.  A second presentation may be required at the full NCMAC meeting.

h.  Upon conclusion of the presentations, the NCMC members will approve grantee selection and grant amounts to be awarded.  

Point of Contact:

NC Military Affairs Commission

ATTN: Department of Military and Veterans Affairs                            

For questions contact: Kelly Jackson 

Email:  kelly.jackson@milvets.nc.gov

Phone:  984-204-8331