Developers
How LCA Grants Work
All LCA grants are awarded to a City, County, or other Development Authority. Development teams will partner with the government organization on the application and completing the project, but developers or community organizations cannot apply directly to any of the LCA programs without a government partner.
Steps to Apply
Talk with staff at the city where your project is located. All LCA applications come from a city, county, or development authority. Development teams partner with government staff, but the grant is between the government organization and the Metropolitan Council.
Minneapolis and Saint Paul have a process with pre-applications to decide which applications they will sponsor and submit. Learn about the Minneapolis and Saint Paul processes.
Talk with the Program Coordinator. Applicants tend to score better when they talk with the Program Coordinator managing the program they're interested in applying to. The Program Coordinator can help you understand program priorities, eligible activities, and what makes a successful appliction. Contact information is listed on program pages.
Government partner staff will start and submit the application. The government staff person you are working with will start the application and will let the Program Coordinator know who will be collaborating on the application in WebGrants. Wait to register for an account until you have talked with your government partner staff. As the project team you will work with your government partner on filling out the application, but the government partner will submit the final application.
Review the Tips for Project Teams section on the Apply for LCA Grants page for tips from past successful applicants on working with your government partner throughout the process.
If you are awarded a grant
If your project is awarded a grant, the Metropolitan Council will have a grant agreement with the government organization you are working with, not with your project team. We encourage all government partners to have a sub-recipient agreement with the project team.
The grant funding is sent out as resimbursement for project work that is done during the grant term. The government partner will submit a request for funds to be released. The Metropolitan Council will release funds to the government partner, who will then pass those along to the project team. Each city has a different process for this, so talk with your government partner about their process.
More detailed information on the post-award process is available on our Current Grantees page.
Is your project the right fit?
As you think about applying, consider
- The scoring criteria for the program and how well you think your project might score.
- Eligible activites for the program. Even if you score well, the program might not pay for the things you need.
- Talk with the Program Coordinator. They will answer your questions and can help you understand project fit.