2007 – 2008 FUNDING CYCLE
The Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA) is responsible for administering the State of Texas CDBG Program. This is a competitive statewide grant program. A State Review Committee (SRC) at ORCA and a AACOG Regional Review Committee (RRC) independently review and score all applications submitted in the AACOG Region. The combined scores of these two review committees determine the overall score assigned to each application submitted. The final assigned score is used to determine whether a grant application is funded in this funding cycle.
The AACOG RRC is made up of 12 members from the AACOG Region, each appointed by the Governor to a two-year staggered term. The current Chairperson of the AACOG RRC is Kerr County Judge Pat Tinley. The RRC held its first meeting in June 2006 when it conducted its 2007-2008 funding cycle organizational meeting. At this meeting the RRC established regional priorities and scoring criteria for project priorities, project merits and local efforts.
The deadline for submitting applications to ORCA for this funding cycle was September 21, 2006, and for submitting copies of the applications to the AACOG RRC was October 20, 2006. AACOG staff is currently reviewing and tabulating the 25 applications submitted in preparation for the RRC scoring meeting. The AACOG RRC scoring meeting is scheduled for January 9, 2007, beginning at 8 a.m. in the AACOG Boardroom, 8700 Tesoro Drive, Suite 100, San Antonio.
All applicants will be invited to attend the scoring meeting and to provide a short 5-minute (max) presentation to the committee. Committee members will have an opportunity to ask questions pertaining to the specific project. For more details on the scoring process and meeting please refer to the AACOG website, Government Services link, then the Procedural Requirements link. The RRC will score each application immediately after all presentations have been made. All RRC scores will then be submitted to ORCA.
ORCA will not generate the state scores until after each RRC convenes to score regional applications. In the case of unresolved appeals, ORCA will not release the SRC scores or the composite scores until after the SRC has taken final action regarding the deposition of any and all appeals.
AACOG will continue to fully support ORCA in administering the CDBG program and the allocation of the CDBG funds that are critical in helping rural communities with their infrastructure projects. If you have any questions pertaining to the AACOG RRC please contact Joe Ramos at jramos@aacog.com or 210-362-5212.
For more information on ORCA and the various grant programs available please visit their website at www.orca.state.tx.us.