North Pima News

As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, the nonprofit organization Local Infrastructure Hub has launched a novel bootcamp series to help communities apply for funding opportunities. But Melissa Hamilton, a Republican lobbyist and politician, has voiced her disapproval.

“If your politicians go to these Bootcamps, please fire them," Hamilton, who was a Phoenix mayoral candidate in 2020, tweeted. “This money is being used to create infrastructure to eliminate our transportation freedom such as road diets, bus rapid transit, dangerous bike lanes adjacent to roads, and 15 min cities.”

The grants are available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. The focus is to connect areas in need of development funding, a report by the National League of Cities stated.

The new bootcamp series focuses on areas of development like drinking water, broadband and local infrastructure. The bootcamps are a three- to four-month period, and offer opportunities for communities to engage and be privy to resources. Those attending include mayors, municipal staff and local politicians.

 “Our expanded offerings will help cities working to close funding gaps for critical infrastructure projects,” said Clarence Anthony, NLC CEO and executive director, according to the National League of Cities. “The grants available in this next series could be transformative to recipients – enabling them to address structural issues that exacerbate inequality, including drinking water safety, failing bridges and highways that physically divide neighborhoods.”       

Starting in June, there will be five bootcamps to prepare people for applying for funding amounting to more than $60 billion. The largest investment is Broadband Opportunities, which provides $42.25 billion in funds to the Broadband Equity, Access and Development Program (BEAD). This program funds opportunities for communities who need high speed internet access improvements.

Others include The Combined Railroad Crossing Elimination Program and CRISI, which allots $3 billion for RCE and $5 billion for CRISI; $2.75 billion for The Drinking Water State Revolving Fund; $5 billion for Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program; and “$2.36 billion for the Bridge Investment Program.