At CapitalEdge, each of our clients receives a full range of personalized services from staff with years of experience in meeting their unique needs.  Some of the ways that our clients have benefited from our services include:
 
Funding for Local Projects
 
Our clients receive millions of dollars in federal assistance each year through the congressional legislative process for projects in a wide range of areas. Some of our areas of expertise are outlined below.

• Community and Economic Development
• Highways and Public Transit
• Water Infrastructure Improvements and Flood Control
• Law Enforcement and Public Safety
• Parks and Recreation and Historic Preservation 

Legislative Advocacy
 
We play a key role in crafting, promoting, or opposing federal legislation that affects the operations of local governments. Recent legislation in which we have been heavily involved includes:

• Federal surface transportation program reauthorization (SAFETEA-LU)
• Moratorium on state and local taxation of Internet access fees
• Energy bill
• Department of Homeland Security authorization bill
• Water Resources Development Act
• Telecommunications Act

Federal Grants Assistance
 
Our staff conducts thorough, daily searches for funding opportunities through competitive programs at the federal agencies. Based on each client’s priorities and needs, we provide assistance with the grants process, make personal contact with agency program staff to determine their priorities and biases, and marshal support for the application with the area’s congressional delegation. Competition for declining federal grant assistance to local governments is fierce, and we guide our clients to success in areas such as:

• Firefighter Assistance Grants (DHS)
• Police equipment and Interoperable Communications Grants (DOJ)
• Homeless Assistance Grants and HOPE VI (HUD)
• Federal Transit Assistance (FTA)
• Airport Improvement Grant (FAA)
• Brownfields Cleanup and Redevelopment (EPA)

Coalition Building
 
Collaboration with other entities that would also benefit from our client’s priorities is often the best route to success.  At CapitalEdge we often create coalitions with other local governments, businesses and non-profits within the community, as well as with national organizations in order to enhance our client’s lobbying efforts.  Examples of our coalition building are:    

• When a local transit agency was promoting a new program that would guarantee additional funding each year, we organized a coalition of 90 transit agencies across the country to promote successfully the initiative within the American Public Transportation Association and to include it in SAFETEA-LU, the transportation bill approved by Congress in 2005.
• We helped to organize and operate the coalition of communities named as participants in the Round II Empowerment Zones program at HUD to successfully secure annual appropriations to keep the program alive after the Administration in power no longer supported continued funding.

Troubleshooting
 
CapitalEdge staff excels at breaking through federal bureaucratic roadblocks on behalf of our clients. For example:  

• When a client’s use of Section 108 loan proceeds was disallowed by the HUD regional office, we put together the city’s best case for retaining the funds and successfully appealed to high-ranking HUD officials.
• When the transfer of a former Naval Reserve Station stalled, we worked with a city’s congressional delegation and officials in the Department of Justice and FEMA to facilitate the transfer at no cost to the city for use as a police and fire training facility, before the law allowing such transfers expired.