Grants Received by the City

Economic Development

The City of Laramie is one of the state’s most successful competitors for business retention, expansion, and relocation grants through the Wyoming Business Council’s Business Ready Communities with just over $20 million secured to date. (www.wyomingbusiness.org). Through this program, the City of Laramie and its economic development partners improved and increased business-ready infrastructures and recruited new businesses to the area. The net result of this effort has been an estimated 400 jobs and a marked increase in technology and manufacturing sector companies within Laramie!

Arts & Parks

Our Town Grant

Awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts: While Laramie has been known as a great place to live, work, and play, we also recognize that it’s a great place to create! In 2014, the University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie Main Street Program, and the City of Laramie partnered together to pursue an Our Town Grant. Funds from this grant were used to create Laramie’s first public art plan, as well as the Laramie Public Art Coalition, which exists to enhance the unique visual and cultural vibrancy of the community. For a virtual or on-the-ground tour of our downtown murals and other community art installations, visit: https://www.laramiepublicart.org/projects

Land & Water Conservation Fund

Awarded by the State of Wyoming with funding from the National Parks Service: Laramie has actively utilized this program for the past several years, and each one of Laramie’s sixteen parks hosts improvements which were covered by Land and Water Conservation funding. Land and Water Conservation funds have not only increased the amount of park space in Laramie, but has also improved the quality of these parks. Most recently, Land and Water Conservation funding helped to develop the Imperial Heights neighborhood park in the eastern portion of the community, and is the first new park Laramie has built in decades. Details on the Imperial Heights park is available at https://cityoflaramie.org/Facilities/Facility/Details/19

Transportation Activities Program

Awarded by the Wyoming Department of Transportation with funding from the Federal Highway Administration: As Wyoming’s unofficial cycling capital, vehicles sporting bike racks and bicyclists and fill our streets, even during inclement weather conditions. Laramie’s cycling culture has been supported by numerous grants awarded through the Transportation Activities Local (formerly, Transportation Enhancement Activities-Local) program, which has allowed the City of Laramie to continuously develop and expand its Greenbelt Park Trail system a few miles at a time. Our most recent project, now in its final stages, included the installation of a pedestrian bridge across 22nd Street, which links with the new trail section at the Cirrus Sky Technology Park—Wyoming’s only business park dedicated to technology businesses.
https://www.cityoflaramie.org/documentcenter/view/3802

Community Development

Community Development Block Grant

Awarded by the Wyoming Business Council with funding from Housing and Urban Development: Community Development Block Grant funds have been used locally for everything from the remodeling of City Hall to helping to create manufacturing jobs in Laramie. Most recently, a Community Development Block Grant was used to demolish a long-abandoned Yttrium plant, which was a blemish in our historic West Side neighborhood for generations. This demolition was also a part of a larger WYDOT project to relocate a bridge over the railroad. https://laramiemidwestrefinery.com/

Brownfield

Awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency: Laramie is the only Wyoming community to receive an award through the EPA’s 2017 Brownfield Funding program. The award will be used to build upon the momentum of the Community Development Block Grant, as described above, by taking a closer look at some possibly contaminated sites in Laramie’s West Side. https://cfpub.epa.gov/bf_factsheets/gfs/index.cfm?xpg_id=9700&display_type=HTML

Clean Water and Drinking Water RLFs

Awarded through the Office of State Lands and Investments: Large revolving loans are perhaps the most significant way in which federal investments have supported Laramie. While we look for cost savings within every project, there’s no way around big-ticket expenses when it comes to infrastructure improvements. Revolving loan funds have helped Laramie modernize older systems, replaced failing lines, and extend services to support business expansion and future growth of the community. Had you visited Laramie earlier in the year, you would have seen the water line replacement work occurring on Grand Avenue near the University of Wyoming campus. This work was funded through the Revolving Loan Fund and allowed the City to complete this work ahead of WYDOT’s 2018 reconstruction of this street.

Public Safety

Homeland Security

Awarded through the Wyoming Department of Homeland Security and directly from Federal Emergency Management: Homeland Security funds have helped to modernize the Laramie Police Department. This week, the Laramie City Council accepted an award to help purchase ballistic vest body armor for our officers. Similarly, FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant has enabled the Fire Department to purchase personal protective equipment. Homeland Security Funding through the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program allows the Laramie Police Department to dedicate personnel to address drug activities stemming from the I-80 corridor. We’ve also utilized Regional Emergency Response Teams funding for personal protective gear and other equipment. And, the United States Fire Administration has helped the Laramie Fire Department enhance response capability through the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response program.