Opportunity Overview
The North Carolina Department of Commerce, Division of Community Revitalization (DCR) is accepting Round 1 applications for the Renew NC Community Infrastructure Program, funded through HUD Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) resources for Hurricane Helene recovery. The program supports local-government infrastructure projects in designated western North Carolina Most Impacted and Distressed (MID) areas that address documented Helene impacts and strengthen resilience.
Funding
The Community Infrastructure Program has a total allocation of $193.5 million. The first round makes $55 million available. Individual grants range from $500,000 to $15 million per project. Each project is subject to a 10% Activity Delivery Cost cap. Applicants may submit more than one application, although DCR may limit the number of awards for equitable distribution.
Eligible Applicants and Locations
Eligible applicants are units of local government located in eligible HUD- or State-identified MID areas, including counties, municipalities, water and sewer authorities, transit agencies, and park or recreation districts. Eligible areas include Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mecklenburg ZIP code 28214, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Surry, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, Yadkin, and Yancey. Projects located inside the City of Asheville are not eligible because Asheville has its own CDBG-DR allocation.
Eligible Activities and Allowable Costs
Eligible activities include restoration of critical services and infrastructure; demolition, rehabilitation, or construction of eligible public or semi-public facilities; flood-control and stormwater projects; acquisition tied to an eligible project; rehabilitation of schools and health care centers; site preparation and related infrastructure; reasonable architectural and engineering costs; and costs necessary for HUD environmental, construction, and accessibility compliance. Every project must demonstrate a documented Hurricane Helene tie-back, include mitigation measures, satisfy an applicable CDBG national objective, and comply with the federal environmental-review process.
Vehicles, routine maintenance, operating expenses, and non-permanently installed equipment are generally ineligible. Equipment purchases are restricted except where allowable under 24 CFR 570.201(c). DCR retains final authority over cost eligibility.
Match and Leverage
The controlling NOFO does not state a mandatory fixed-percentage match or cost share. However, leveraged non-CDBG-DR resources are a material scoring factor worth up to 20 points. The scoring matrix indicates that documented leverage of roughly 25% or more generally earns full leverage points. Other funding may not duplicate or supplant the same costs requested from CDBG-DR.
Deadline and Submission
Applications must be submitted online through the Renew NC Grant Portal by September 16, 2026 at 5:00 PM. The controlling NOFO does not state a time zone, so Atlas does not infer one. Late applications are not accepted, and applications will not be accepted by hard copy or email. A separate application is required for each project.
Required Application Materials
The current Application Guide identifies required and supporting materials including an active SAM.gov registration certificate or screenshot; project-area map; Hurricane Helene tie-back documentation; HUD-2880; documentation of internal financial controls and the most recent audit; organization chart; resumes of key project-management staff; documentation of the required publicly noticed meeting/hearing process; site-control documentation such as a deed, purchase option, or long-term lease; preliminary professional project cost estimates; budget and leveraged-resource information; and applicable letters of support or funding commitment. Applicants must also complete all portal sections and required certifications. The portal will not allow advancement where required uploads are missing.
Public Hearing and Federal Compliance
Applicants must hold at least one public hearing before applying and a second at the designated post-award stage. The pre-application notice must be published at least 10 and no more than 25 calendar days before the hearing. Selected projects must comply with federal cross-cutting requirements including Davis-Bacon, Section 3, Section 504, URA, NEPA, 2 CFR Part 200, duplication-of-benefits rules, civil-rights requirements, ADA, limited-English-proficiency access, conflict-of-interest controls, and other applicable requirements. Applicants must not undertake choice-limiting actions after the project becomes federally connected and before environmental clearance.
Scoring
Competitive scoring includes applicant capacity (10 points), community need (20), soundness of approach (40), leverage of other resources (20), and achieving results (10). Round 1 also provides priority points for water/sewer and utilities, parks/recreation, and roads/bridges. Projects must first clear threshold requirements for applicant/location eligibility, unmet need and disaster tie-back, mitigation, national objective, financial feasibility, eligible activity, and complete timely submission.
Amendments and Contact
The NOFO was originally published June 26, 2026. DCR updated it on August 10, 2026 to extend the application period and revise national-objective, public-hearing, and scoring language, and again on August 17, 2026 to update the first-round allocation and funding limits. Questions may be sent to dcr.grants@commerce.nc.gov; DCR also maintains a current program FAQ and application guide.
Atlas Fit Analysis
Atlas Opportunity Score: 91/100. This is a large, authoritative, currently open North Carolina capital-funding pathway with explicit eligibility for rehabilitation of schools and health care centers, strong recovery relevance, and substantial award size. The score is moderated by the heavy local-government, federal-compliance, environmental-review, public-hearing, site-readiness, and professional-cost-estimate burden, as well as Round 1 priority scoring that favors water/sewer, utilities, parks/recreation, and roads/bridges.
N9+ Fit Score: 0/100. Atlas will not force N9+ into this program. The current NOFO expressly restricts non-permanently installed equipment and generally treats equipment purchases as ineligible except under narrow CDBG public-facility rules. The opportunity is strong for school and healthcare facility recovery but does not establish remote physical-examination hardware, connected diagnostics, or telehealth platform costs as a supported use.
Dr. Miltie / QC Healthcare direct-applicant assessment: No Bid. Dr. Miltie/QC Healthcare is not an eligible direct applicant because the applicant must be a qualifying local-government entity. A vendor role would have to arise from a specific local-government project, be an allowable project cost, and comply with federal and local procurement requirements.
Realistic Applicant Screening
Atlas recommends screening eligible western North Carolina local governments with documented remaining Helene-related school, health, shelter, nursing-home, utility, or other public-facility needs. Avery County is one realistic jurisdiction to evaluate because Hurricane Helene caused significant damage to healthcare infrastructure in the county, including the loss of a High Country Community Health dental clinic. Any application must still establish a current, non-duplicated unmet need, eligible site/project structure, local-government sponsorship, national objective, environmental compliance, and a complete financing plan. McDowell, Henderson, Watauga, and Yancey county jurisdictions also experienced significant school-facility damage during Helene, but completed repairs cannot be repackaged as unmet need; project-level screening must confirm an eligible remaining gap.
Next Action
Eligible local governments should verify the live Renew NC portal, confirm that the required pre-application public hearing has been properly noticed and completed, lock the project scope and site control, document the Helene tie-back and unmet need, prepare a professional cost estimate and financing plan, clear duplication-of-benefits and environmental constraints, and upload the complete application package before the September 16 deadline.
Controlling sources: Renew NC Community Infrastructure Program NOFO and Community Infrastructure Application Guide.