Sablan’s office compiled a booklet of potential grants available for the CNMI under the America Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009, more commonly referred to as the $787 billion stimulus law.
He said the booklet should help the CNMI identify potential grants.
“There’s a lot of money out there but there’s also a lot of work involved,” said Sablan during a teleconference he arranged for the local media last week.
Under the stimulus law, Sablan said the CNMI will have to compete with the states and other territories.
“Many of these are formula-based grants to existing programs. Federal agencies have already begun to notify agencies in the commonwealth regarding new funding that will be available for existing programs and further notifications will continue in the weeks ahead,” he said.
“Some of the funds will be available on a competitive basis. State-level governments, such as the CNMI, that will submit the best grant proposals will receive funding,” he added.
The CNMI will be eligible to compete for about $338.5 million in grants.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial has appointed Commerce Secretary Michael Ada to lead the CNMI Stimulus Team whose main job is to write grant proposals to different federal agencies.
Sablan said his office is always available to help the CNMI government in this endeavor.
“My office has put together this booklet. We’ve broken the [grants] down program by program and the estimate of how much the CNMI would be getting. I hope it helps the public,” he said.
“I encourage the people of the commonwealth to get their share of this money and I am happy that they are trying. I hope they succeed. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he added.
The CNMI stands to receive up to $100 million in pro-rated grants and must compete for other grants.
Sablan said the CNMI’s share could be more than the initial estimate because specific financial aid under the Pell Grants has not been factored in.
