Providing
REGIONAL SOLUTIONS
for East Texas

TDA is pleased to see interest from many communities in the upcoming 2027 Texas Community Development Block Grant applications. No action is required for communities at this time; however, here are several items that may be useful as you look forward to the release of grant applications this fall: Save the Date for your local governing body resolution. All TxCDBG grant applications require a resolution adopted by the local governing body to authorize submittal of the application, commit to adhere to the requirements of the TxCDBG program, and commit matching funds, if applicable. TDA recommends marking your calendar to complete this task at your October 2026 meeting. The required resolution language will be provided in the Application Guide, to be released in September 2026. Procure a grant administrator. Many Grant Recipients hire a consultant to be responsible for grant administration and reporting requirements. If your community would like to have a grant administrator also assist in preparation of the grant application, the services contract must be competitively procured prior to any participation by the firm in the application process. TDA has compiled a user-friendly guide to procuring a grant administrator according to TxCDBG policies: Solicitation and Contract Documents for Administration Services* Contracts The Unified Scoring Committee will determine at its meeting in September whether to offer an annual or biennial cycle for the Community Development Fund – the sample documents in this guide account for both options. A similar guide for engineering procurement will be made available later this fall. No engineering work is required for the first phase of the application process. Attend your regional meeting to establish Project Priorities (or review the adopted priorities once posted). Consider the projects important to your community in each of the Priority 1 categories, as well as other projects that are important to your community. ETCOG's regional meeting will be held Thursday, August 6, 2026, at 12 noon, at ETCOG headquarters TDA’s default priorities can be used as a reference for the available project categories; each region will identify its own priorities within this structure: 2027 Regional Project Priority Scoring Element - Default.pdf

ETCOG will hold a Public Hearing on Thursday, August 6, 2026, at 12:00 p.m. during its Executive Committee meeting at 3800 Stone Road, Kilgore, Texas. The purpose of the hearing is to gather public input on the Texas Community Development Block Grant ( TxCDBG ) Program Regional Project Priority Types for the East Texas region. As part of the standard TxCDBG process, each Council of Governments region in Texas is encouraged to identify the project types that best reflect regional needs and priorities. During the hearing, ETCOG’s Executive Committee will receive comments from local officials, stakeholders, and members of the public regarding which eligible project categories should be prioritized for East Texas. These priorities may include needs such as water and sewer infrastructure, street improvements, housing, and other eligible community development activities. Regional project priority types play an important role in the TxCDBG application process. The priorities adopted by ETCOG will be submitted to the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA), which administers the TxCDBG program, for use in the upcoming funding cycle. Regional priorities account for a portion of the scoring used to evaluate grant applications. ETCOG encourages anyone with an interest in community development needs across East Texas to attend the hearing and provide input during the public comment period.