ARPA Cultural and Tourism Fund

Round 2

Overview:

The City of Brownsville (COB) has received $65.3 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) funding to combat the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 in the community. Many non- profit arts and cultural organizations and tourism related organizations had to cease operations or had their operations severely diminished due to the mandated closures. As such, the City of Brownsville has elected to allocate up to $2.62 million of its ARP funding to help rebuild Brownsville, non-profit arts and cultural organizations, and organizations that attract tourism to the City of Brownsville. Round one of the grant program awarded $1.29 million to eight organizations. Round two of the program will award up to $1.32 million. The City of Brownsville has deemed previous awardees ineligible to receive funding for the second round of the grant funding. Previous awards were based on demonstrated economic harm and in an effort to maximize the impact of the Cultural & Tourism grant within the community, the City of Brownsville encourages organizations not previously awarded to apply. The City of Brownsville will administer the Program and will make the final determination on award and award amounts.

ARP funding to Cultural and Tourism organizations must be responsive to the negative economic impacts of the pandemic of those operating before the pandemic and affected by required closures and other efforts to contain the pandemic. For this grant, costs must be incurred between March 3, 2021, and December 30, 2023. All costs must not be covered by any other Federal emergency funding (CARES Act, SVOG, PPP, ARP, etc.) and must comply with any Guidance, Frequently Asked Questions and Answers issued by the federal government or the State of Texas, which includes without limitation, the US Treasury. For Assistance, the US Department of Treasury’s guidance on the Coronavirus Relief Fund can be found as follows:

You may apply using the following link: Cultural and Tourism Grant Application - Brownsville Convention & Visitors Bureau (visitbtx.com)

Application Information: 

The application will be available starting Wednesday, June 15, 2022. Deadline to submit a completed application is Monday, July 18, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. Central Standard Time. Failure to meet the submission deadline will preclude a proposal from consideration by the City of Brownsville. Additionally, two informative sessions will be held to provide technical assistance and to answer general questions regarding the completion of the application. 

Informative Session 1- In Person: 

The informative session 1 meeting will be held in person at the Brownsville Public Library Main Branch located at 2600 Central Blvd, Brownsville, Texas 78520 on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, at 3:00 p.m.  

Informative Session 2 - Virtual: 

The second informative session will be held virtually on Wednesday, June 29, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. The following link provides access to the Virtual Informative Session meeting for ARP Cultural and Tourism Grant Fund: 

Join from the meeting link: https://brownsville.webex.com/brownsville/j.php?MTID=m74d1c7ef5e4cfa52437b5d8dc2039b48 

Join by meeting number 

Meeting number (access code): 2484 533 2373

Meeting password: cGPJfKwr857

Watch Informative Session 2 recording using the following link:

https://brownsville.webex.com/recordingservice/sites/brownsville/recording/playback/89b71c46d9ea103abd7900505681082c

Recoding Password: 2tBam46n

For any questions regarding this application please contact Olga Moya, Grant Manager at [email protected].

The City of Brownsville does not discriminate on the basis of disability in the admission of, access to, treatment of, or employment in its programs, activities, or public meetings. If language assistance is needed for Non-English speaking individuals please contact (956) 548-6167. Any individual with a disability in need of an accommodation is encouraged to contact the ADA Coordinator at (956) 548-6037. For telephone access for people with speech or hearing loss, please call 1-800-RELAY-TX. Please provide 2-3 days’ notice so that proper accommodations can be provided. If you have any questions regarding this publication, please call the Office of Strategic Initiatives at (956) 548-6167.