BY TFN Staff
The Funders Network is launching a new pilot funding opportunity that will leverage infrastructure funds to ensure projects benefit underserved areas, including training and expanding career pathways for local workers in critical industries.
The deadline to apply is Sept. 15, 2025
The Partners for Places Jobs and Inclusive Infrastructure Initiative is aimed at supporting communities with investments and technical expertise to effectively implement equitable infrastructure projects. This new pilot will be launched through the Partners for Places community-centered grantmaking program.
With this initiative, Partners for Places will award place-based grants to community partnerships advancing inclusive infrastructure projects, support cohort learning, and provide access to regional and national expertise to help communities achieve their goals.
This funding is not for the physical infrastructure itself, but for the human infrastructure needed to create meaningful collaborations and center community engagement.
This value is at the heart of Partners for Places: bringing together the key partners who can make tangible progress on shared goals while keeping the voices of communities front and center.
The focus of this new initiative is to enable communities to ensure that project implementation directly benefits frontline and low-wealth communities through job creation, workforce development and training, equitable contracting, and other inclusive economic modalities.
The grant is intended for projects that are already supported by public funds. These include water infrastructure funds, as well as Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funds that have already been allocated.
The first round of investments will have a strong emphasis on place-based water-related projects. TFN anticipates at least half of the projects will focus on water project implementation. Those working in other infrastructure areas may apply.
Partners for Places Jobs and Inclusive Infrastructure Initiative
Resources:
- Application Information and Forms
- Click here to access the Invitation to Apply, Selection Criteria and other documents.
- Overview Session: July 30 from 2-3 p.m. ET
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- TFN will provide more information about this pilot funding opportunity during this virtual overview session.
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Questions?
- For questions about this funding opportunity, please reach out to TFN’s Vice President of Programs and Strategic Partnerships Ann Fowler Wallace at ann@fundersnetwork.org
- For funders interested in investing in the Partners for Places Jobs and Inclusive Infrastructure Initiative, or the core Partners for Places grant program, reach out to TFN’s Chief Development Officer Aileen Rosa Sánchez at aileen@fundersnetwork.org.
Featured image: Members of TFN’s Urban Water Funders and Inclusive Economies working groups gathered in Baltimore to discuss the new Partners for Places funding initiative following TFN’s 25th Anniversary Conference in March.