FY2027 Operating Support Grant Application

The Operating Support Grant (OSG) program is a competitive funding source of up to $100,000 annually made available through the City of Cincinnati and delivered to Community Development Corporations (CDCs) through HomeBase Cincinnati. The program is funded by HUD’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME dollars. A small amount of funding also comes from the City of Cincinnati’s General Fund.

The OSG program provides operating and project support to build and strengthen the capacity of eligible non‐profit CDCs and certified Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs).

HomeBase Cincinnati staff collect applications. A committee of industry experts (who are not on staff or on the board of a CDC) scores the applications and makes recommendations for funding to HomeBase and  the City of Cincinnati, who then finalize funding allocations. Funding levels will be determined by a scoring table, taking into account the following categories:

Organizational Capacity & Vision
Community Alignment
Commercial Development
Housing Development
Dollars Leveraged
Effective use of OSG Funds
Reporting and Compliance

For more information on the City’s involvement, please reach out to the Office Of Grant Administration at CMOGrantShared@cincinnati-oh.gov.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Eligible CDCs that serve the City of Cincinnati through developing affordable housing units, performing commercial and economic development, addressing public facilities and streetscape activities, violence prevention/reduction, neighborhood safety, and increasing community engagement in the neighborhoods.

To be eligible for CDBG funding, organizations must meet HUD's community development criteria as well as support the objectives for CDBG laid out in the City's Consolidated Plan for the CDBG allocation.

Per U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD):

“Community development activities build stronger and more resilient communities. In order to be eligible for (HUD) funding, CDC activity must qualify as meeting the following national objectives of HUD’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG):

1. Benefiting low- and moderate-income persons,

2. Preventing or eliminating slum or blight, or

3. Meeting other community development needs having a particular urgency because existing

conditions pose a serious and immediate threat to the health or welfare of the community and

other financial resources are not available to meet such needs.

Community development corporations (CDCs) are 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations that are created to support and revitalize communities, especially those that are impoverished or struggling. (Eligible for CDBG.)”

Application Information

This application will be separated into four sections (total 15 questions). The first section is aimed at understanding the focus and trajectory of your organization. The second section will allow you to list the project pipeline you are working on, and the third will ask questions related to use of OSG funds and ability to leverage dollars and partnerships to maximize success. The final section will allow you to upload supplemental materials.

Please pay attention to the word limits and clearly articulate your vision for impact, as it will be referenced later in the application. You may attach more detailed descriptions of specific  projects at the end as an attachment to save space in the application.

Refer to the following timeline for key dates and meetings with this OSG application cycle:

Section I: Capturing Your Organization's Vision & Capacity 

 

The following section aims to provide a clear understanding of your organization's capacity and trajectory, especially as it relates to real estate development and place-based initiatives. It also considers the alignment of this vision with existing community plans and engagement.

When self-identifying your organization's capacity, please consider the descriptions and project types on the CDC Continuum image on the following page that correlate with the 3 umbrella CDC-categories in the descriptors.

 Section I: Capturing Your Organization's Vision & Capacity 

Please take a moment to consider the image below. Much like the non-profit lifecycle, it describes aspects of various kinds of community based organizations and CDCs- including organizational charateristics and types of "projects" those organizations typically work on.

As identified in the 2024 CDC Capacity Analysis, across the Cincinnati ecosystem there are 3 distinct categories of CDCs and other nonprofit entities affiliated with HomeBase. Where would you place your organization within the following CDC Capacity Continuum that correlates to the 3 distinct categories described below:

 

Category 1: Comprehensive Real Estate CDC (Established, leading large-scale development) 

Includes Develop & Own on the CDC Continuum

Types of Projects typically led by Develop & Own:

• Self-performing Development
• Leveraging funding (outside of City funds)
• Operation and management of real estate
• Partnerships with larger developers
• Income Generating

Typical organizational charateristics of this group of CDCs:

• Professionally led and staffed
• Actively engaged as real estate development enterprises that acquire, (re)develop/rehab, lease and manage residential and commercial properties
• Have strong partnerships with the City, for-profit developers and funders
• Maintain a strong connection to the residents and business owners in the neighborhoods they serve

Category 2: Developing CDC (Growing in capacity, leading small to mid-sized projects)
Includes the Engage & Act, and Partner & Prosper from the CDC Continuum

Types of Projects typically led by Partner & Prosper CDC’s

• Self-performing Development
• Leveraging funding (outside of City funds)
• Operation and management of real estate
• Partnerships with larger developers

 Types of Projects typically led by Engage & Act CDC’s

• City funded Strategic Acquisitions
• Manage small development projects funded by the city
• Advocacy & Engagement for larger developments

Typical organizational charateristics of this group of CDCs:

• Have Executive Directors that have demonstrated real estate development capabilities
• Engaged in residential and mixed-use projects with support from the City and other institutions
• May be struggling to achieve the impacts demanded by the conditions in target geographic areas
• In need of additional and consistent technical and financial assistance to grow into sustainable real estate development enterprises

 

Category 3:  Community-Engagement Based CDC / Organization (Focused on engagement, advocacy, and early-stage development)

Includes the Incubate and Startup CDCs from the CDC Continuum

Types of Projects typically led by Startup CDC’s:

• Manage small development projects funded by the city
• Apply for grants that are managed by City/ The Port
• Activation & Engagement projects
• Planning and researching next steps associated with neighborhood plan

 Projects typically led by Incubate CDC’s:

• Neighborhood Plans
• Organizational Strategic Plans
• Research on Development Opportunities
• Community Awareness of the organization

Typical organizational charateristics of this group of CDCs:

• Involved in community organizing, advocacy, marketing and promotion of commercial districts, and social services.
• Mostly volunteer-led and have limited budgets
• Play a critical role in community-building initiatives, support quality-of-life improvements, and serve as liaisons to the City government

 Section II: Project Pipeline

 

The following section aims to give room to clearly lay out your existing pipeline of place-based, commercial, and residential projects. We recognize that markets vary from neighborhood to neighborhood, and capacity varies from CDC to CDC, so be honest and upfront about the tasks you plan to complete in the “Expected Phase/Status” section.

If you would like to include more detail than the table allows for, there will be an opportunity to attach additional information about your projects.

*Note: HomeBase evaluates CDCs year-over-year on their ability to execute the projects listed in their applications, so consider what can be executed from July 2026 - June 2027.

 Section II: Project Pipeline

Section II: Project Pipeline

*Note, you may include additional descriptions of the projects listed as an attachment at the end of the form.

Section III: Use of OSG Funds

The following section aims to ensure that your organization will be a good steward of the federal funds that make up OSG. This is a chance to describe how your organization will effectively utilize, leverage, and remain in compliance for the funding received. Organizations who do these effectively typically maximize the impact of OSG funding.

Section III: Use of OSG Funds

Section IV: Attachments

Please use this section to attach supplemental documents for your application. Note that not all of them are required.

By clicking on each of the following items, I the submitter, acknowledge that each of these items have been included with this application and that if a required item is missing, the application will not be considered. There are four file upload spaces. The following are required unless denoted otherwise: