Federal grant programs / Department of Housing and Urban Development

Community Compass Technical Assistance and Capacity Building (14.259)

Also known as Community Compass Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Program

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$412 million
• Grant awards308
• Typical award$825,250
• Awarded in FY 2025$49.0 million
• Size rank416 of 1,823
• Type of assistanceCooperative agreements

Key findings

• Annual funding fell from $83.1 million in fiscal 2021 to $49.0 million in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 416th largest of 1,823 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 20 largest recipients received 94% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 19 states and territories.

What the program funds

Community Compass brings together technical assistance funding appropriations from across HUD program offices, including the offices of Community Planning and Development, Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, Housing, Public and Indian Housing, and Policy Development and Research. This cross-funding approach recognizes that HUD’s grantees, subgrantees, and other customers often interact with a variety of HUD programs as they deliver housing or community development services. Community Compass allows for holistic technical assistance to address the program and policy implementation deficiencies and skill gaps of grantees and subgrantees across multiple HUD programs, often within the same engagement.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Forecast opportunities

• FY2026/2027 Community Compass Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Program Notice of Funding Opportunity
  Forecast · Expected deadline February 3, 2027 · up to $35.0 million
• Distressed Cities Technical Assistance (DCTA) Program for Fiscal Years 2026 and 2027
  Forecast · Expected deadline March 11, 2027 · up to $3.0 million

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

Award recipients tasked to provide technical assistance to PHAs must have at least one staff, subcontractor, or consultant that has at least five years of demonstrated Public Housing programs experience, including agency operations, voucher programs, property management operations, and capital investment programs including capital improvements and various methods of housing development. In addition, award recipients tasked to provide technical assistance to PHAs must have at least one staff, subcontractor, or consultant that has at least two years of demonstrated finance and underwriting experience related to RAD conversions. Funds may only be used to assist organizations to improve their ability to manage HUD funds. Funds may not be used to assist individuals or families.

What the money can and cannot pay for

All successful applicants must operate within the structure of the ‘demand-response system’. Under the demand-response system, HUD identifies technical assistance and capacity building needs and prioritizes them based on Departmental, programmatic and jurisdictional priorities. HUD is solely responsible for determining the entities to be assisted, the location, and the nature of the assistance to be provided. Successful applicants may be funded to conduct the following eligible activities: Needs Assessment; Direct TA and Capacity Building Engagements; Tools and Products; Self-Directed and Group Learning; Knowledge Management; Data Analysis, Reporting, and Performance Measurement; and NAHASDA Allocation Formula Administration and Negotiated Rulemaking and Consultation. These activities are further described in the Program Notice of Funding Availability. Funds may only be used to assist organizations to improve their ability to manage HUD funds. Funds may not be used to assist individuals or families.;

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Distressed Cities TA requires cost sharing or matching as described below, this requirement does not apply to Community Compass TA or Thriving Communities TA. Leveraging at least 5% of the total requested amount is a requirement for this NOFO. Leveraging beyond this 5% up to 10% will improve an applicant’s score. See sections I.A.1.b and V.A.1 of this NOFO. Generally, Federal sources are not allowed to be used as cost share, match, or leverage unless otherwise permitted by a program's authorizing statute (for example, HUD's Community Development Block Grants program).MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Deadlines

Applications submitted through http://www.grants.gov must be received by Grants.gov no later than 11:59:59 pm eastern time on the application deadline date.

Award range and average, in the agency's words

The Range is between $100,000 and $40,000,000. The maximum award amount is an estimate based on the amount of funding available and the expected number of awards.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

By state

17 states have a page for this program: those that received at least $1 million or 10 awards.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.