DRAFT Proposal

Part Two:
The Bear River Association of Governments, BRAG, is requesting additional funds for the HEAT program. BRAG is a tri-county Association that serves the counties of Box Elder, Cache, and Rich. BRAG has a program designed to provide assistance for low income families in each of the three counties. HEAT has provided utility assistance to X number of families this year and with an increase in funding through a Community Development Block Grant. We are requesting $500,000 from the annual allocation $8 million that the Utah Dept. of Community and Culture receives from the federal government specifically for similar projects. With an increase in funds available to the HEAT program we will increase the families helped from X to X and also increase the amount each of our existing clientele can receive.

Part Three:
SPONSER APPEAL
Each year the Utah department of Community and Culture receives $8 Million from the Federal Government for the specific purpose of funding low to moderate income families in several areas, including housing. The eligible projects according to Utah Government website are “Infrastructure projects (water systems, sewers, sidewalks), public facilities, community services, housing, and economic development.”
The same site also says that these funds are reserved for all counties except for Salt Lake County. Because we are three of the remaining 28 counties and in population make about 10 percent of the available recipients of the funds we feel that 6 percent of the funds is a fail allocation.
This is a perfect opportunity to use funds earmarked for low income families in a way that has immediate and powerful effects. In the last year we have provided heating assistance in the amount of $X. We have had to turn down X number of candidates based on limited funds. Through the grant we will be able to give X people assistance and raise the amount we are able to give to each family. This is a low risk project, the systems are already in place and succeeding so the chance for a failure and wasting the money is very low.

PROBLEM
Due to the economic recession of the last several years there are X more families that qualify for this program than did last year. We project that due to the rise in oil costs the cost of heating a home will increase by X. These two factors have caused our funds we currently operate with to be inadequate to meet the needs of the families in our counties.

SOLUTION
We will use the added funds from the grant to increase funding to our current clients, add new families to our client list, and also educate all of our clients on how to minimize their heating costs. We are confident that with the Board of Directors we have we can utilize these funds in swiftly and efficiently meeting these goals.

CAPABILITIES
Our organizations credibility is top notch. BRAG is a first rate organization that has accomplished many things. Our HEAT program has already made a difference in people’s lives by helping X number of families with their bills. Our Chairman, Rich Van Dyke is accomplished and has done lots of good things to bring confidence in his ability to disperse the funds appropriately. Because most of our Board is made up of Mayors of the cities in which our people live we have a good vision of what really needs to happen for our clients best interests.

BUDGET
We are asking for $500,000 based on the population in our three counties. Also based on our current budget of $XX.XX we have accomplished X, and with these funds we will be able to XX.

Part Four:
We feel that we have made a compelling case for the approval of this grant and know that we will be able to change people’s lives with the money. We urge the approval of our grant request and will be more than happy to provide any additional information in order to justify the approval we desire. Contact Jeremiah Harrison for more information.
Signed by the Chairman, Mr. Van Dyke