The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) and the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) are accepting applications for funding and technical assistance related to transportation and land use planning, and implementation projects throughout northeastern Illinois. CMAP is the metropolitan planning organization for the seven counties of northeastern Illinois. RTA serves as the oversight, funding, and regional planning agency for the transit Service Boards (Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, and Pace).

The COVID-19 pandemic’s unexpected impacts on the region’s local governments have strained municipal capacity like never before while declining revenues are making it especially difficult to plan for 2021 and beyond. CMAP and the RTA are approaching the 2021 Call for Planning Assistance by taking these conditions into consideration.

The focus this year will be to provide technical assistance to municipalities of high and very high need (CMAP Community Cohorts 3 and 4). Annually, Community Cohorts are established by grouping communities throughout northeastern Illinois based on four factors: population, median household income, tax base per capita, and percent of population located in an economically disconnected or disinvested area. The 2020 Community Cohorts and the methodology for determining the cohort designations can be found on CMAP's website.

CMAP and the RTA have separate technical assistance programs, but applicants simply need to apply once. Through this coordination, the agencies can offer planning and implementation assistance to an expanded base of eligible applicants, provide interagency expertise, technical assistance, and capacity, while aligning all efforts with Invest in Transit, the regional transit strategic plan, and ON TO 2050, the comprehensive regional plan.