Kansas City Association Issuing RFP for Grant Money

The Mid-America Regional Council will be issuing a request for proposal for its 2005 District grant program. The RFP is expected to be released next month.

The MARC awards grant money each year to assist in funding local governments, non profits, businesses, schools and other operations for projects that promote waste reduction, reuse and recycling. MARC serves as the association of city and county governments and the metropolitan planning organization for the bistate Kansas City region.

The association seeks to build a stronger regional community through cooperation, leadership and planning. The association’s board of directors consists of 30 locally elected leaders representing the eight counties and 116 cities in the bistate metropolitan Kansas City region.

Funds can only be awarded for projects that divert waste in Cass, Clay, Jackson, Platte and Ray counties. Funds may be used for various programs, including education, waste reduction, reuse, recycling, composting, collection and processing, research and development, and market development for products made with diverted materials.

Prospective applicants may submit an informal, one- or two-page pre-proposal to the MARC offices by noon on Thursday, December 2, 2004. The Grant Review Committee will review the pre-proposals to assess project feasibility and offer suggestions to improve project quality. Final grant applications are due at 4 pm on January 18, 2005, with awards to be made in March and funds made available by July 1.

Grants are intended to provide initial "seed" capital for innovative projects and are awarded to non-profits, local governments, businesses, schools, and individuals. For FY-2004, seven grants were awarded totaling $172,633.

An example of previous grant projects is Habitat ReStore, a surplus and salvaged building material center providing the general public with high quality construction material often for half the price of retail. In three years, through its deconstruction program and from donations of used and surplus building materials, Habitat ReStore has diverted over 740 tons of materials from landfills. Other nonprofits that have used grant funding for recycling projects include The Surplus Exchange and Harvesters.

Local governments have received grant assistance to implement recycling programs. Two examples are Clay County, which established a paper-recycling program in its administrative buildings and Jackson County, which is currently working on recycling plastics and aluminum cans at the Kauffman and Arrowhead stadiums.

Businesses also can apply for grant funds to start or expand waste reduction, reuse, or recycling programs. Businesses that have received grants include Abitibi Consolidated, Embassy Lawn, and Missouri Organic Recycling.

For more information contact Nadja Karpilow, 816/474-4240 ext. 226 or karpilow@marc.org , or visit www.marc.org/swmd/grants.htm