According to the non-partisan Brookings Institution, the odds are particularly stacked against small and medium-sized rural and lower-income communities. Sixty percent of Delaware’s 57 municipalities have fewer than 2,000 residents each.

Mix said this is where IPA’s 50-year history of assisting local governments becomes a major asset. They are natural connectors; they know people; they know who to contact about issues; they know which nonprofit agencies advocate for which issues; they know who might want to start a project but needs partners.

“Often the grants are for something new, for something that doesn’t exist,” he said. “Where we play a big role is pulling together the right stakeholders, the right team to go after these grants.”

In addition to Mix and graduate and undergraduate students from the Biden School, three new hires will allow IPA to support local governments in identifying and responding to grant funding opportunities. Chase Barnes and Matthew Harris joined IPA in July and September, respectively, and the search is underway for a third addition to the team. Barnes, who earned his master's degree in public administration from the Biden School in 2022, brings his experience as a Legislative Fellow and Local Government Management Fellow to the table, and Harris, who graduated from UD’s College of Arts and Sciences in 2005, returns to UD after more than a dozen years working as an urban planner for the City of Wilmington.

IPA’s grant assistance team is assisting civic leaders in multiple ways. A curated funding opportunities portal helps municipal officials uncover promising grants, and regular, drop-in grant development hours provide the time and space for addressing questions and delivering on-demand assistance. Ultimately, IPA staff and students will put pen to paper to help towns translate project concepts and plans into grant submissions. All while serving as guides through the matrixed world of government infrastructure funding.

Greg Patterson is the State of Delaware’s infrastructure improvement coordinator. He helped design this project on behalf of the governor and knows just how complex infrastructure management can be. For instance, he said, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes 375 federal programs, administered by 10 different federal agencies.

“You have to be able to look through all that and try and stay up on that and everything that’s coming out of Washington and multiple federal agencies,” Patterson said. “This program will certainly help the towns and cities latch on to these opportunities and hopefully get some of these dollars.”

How many dollars will come to Delaware is yet to be seen, though both Mix and Patterson said it will be far many multiples beyond what First State municipalities might have expected without the IPA assistance.

Consultants often charge hundreds of dollars per hour for the sort of customized grant development services IPA will offer. Typically, that cost would be too exorbitant for many of Delaware’s small, low-resource communities. Now, they have a fighting chance.

About the Institute for Public Administration

The University of Delaware's Institute for Public Administration (IPA) addresses the policy, planning and management needs of its partners through the integration of applied research, professional development and the education of tomorrow's leaders. As a research and public service center in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration, IPA collaborates with state agencies, municipal governments, nonprofits, communities and businesses to examine  complex policy issues and improve quality of life in Delaware and beyond.