Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods
The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded the City of Memphis and Shelby County Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) a $2,693,160 Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods (RCN) grant. The grant will help mitigate the barrier and impacts of Interstate 40 for seven historically African American and disinvested neighborhoods in North Memphis.
Because of the egregious conditions of the intersections and their significant neighborhood impacts, community-driven planning has been conducted over the last 5-10 years, and this planning grant builds on that foundation, with a focus on working out the design details and to prepare as much as possible for implementation. Important elements for consideration will include improving pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, reimagining perilous pedestrian bridges, and exploring measures to turn adjacent vacant lots into a network of environmentally beneficial green spaces with trails.
Request for Proposal
Grant Management Services: Reconnecting Communities Neighborhood Access & Equity Grant
The CRA has issued this Request for Proposal with the sole purpose and intent of obtaining proposals from interested and qualified professionals offering to provide Grant Management Services. Experience shall include, but not be limited to the following: tracking project performance, risk management, quality control, leading teams, data analysis, reporting, and budget management.
Proposals Due: July 10, 2025
Informational Meeting Presentation
The CRA envisions a work style where the Grant Manager and the CRA work in partnership, with the Grant Manager taking the lead on coordinating and managing the DOT project until the grant ends in 2027.
Q & A
The CRA will be implementing the RCN Grant. We will not be a passthrough entity. We have a subawardee, Innovate Memphis, that will be fulfilling a role as meeting facilitator and conducting some transportation infrastructure usage analysis.
Yes. CRA will be hiring planning, design and engineering professionals as well as an art consultant to complete the grant-funded activities. Our goal is to have those RFPs issued by the end of 2025.
No. However, if the awarded grant manager also seeks to apply for other consulting roles under the same grant, there are boundaries that must be set and certain activities that only CRA staff will complete to ensure competitive bidding practices.
CRA would likely utilize our existing auditing firm to perform these services if necessary.
The grant management consultant will be expected to assist the CRA with managing timelines of the separately procured planning, design, and engineering consultants (PDE). This can include monitoring schedules and the progress of deliverables of the PDE consultants. The PDE consultants are procured by the CRA and are not considered subcontractors of the grant management consultant.
One firm will be awarded a service agreement for grant management services. A few firms will be awarded under a separate procurement process for planning, design, and engineering design services.
Grant Management portion is estimated at $20,000. Project Management portion is estimated at $115,000.
Hours will vary, but we’ve estimated around 15-20 hours per month for 30 months.
Yes, click here.
It’s possible that we would like to have a consultant attend an in-person meeting once or twice over the course of the grant implementation period. However, most of the tasks required by this role may be performed remotely or through virtual meeting attendance.
Ideally, we’d like to receive questions no later than July 3rd, which is one week before submissions are due.