The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through the CDBG program provides communities with resources to address a wide range of unique community development needs. The CDBG program provides annual grants on a formula basis to Entitlement Communities as a means to support viable communities by providing decent housing, a suitable living environment, and opportunities to expand economic opportunities, principally for low and moderate-income persons.

2026 CDBG APPLICATION CYCLE:  Will open in February 2025

Through the Home Investment Partnerships Act (HOME), HUD provides formula grants for communities to use in partnership with local nonprofit groups to fund a wide range of activities to develop rental and single-family homes for income-eligible persons.  

The Cobb County CDBG Program Office utilizes a scoring system to evaluate all grant applications. Reviewers will consider each of the criteria listed in the Application Rating Forms below to determine the merit of each application. 

2026 HOME APPLICATION CYCLE:  Will open in Feburary 2025

HUD also provides funding to communities through the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) which is designed to assist individuals and families to quickly regain stability in permanent housing after experiencing a housing crisis or homelessness. ESG funds are available for five program components: street outreach, emergency shelter, homelessness prevention, rapid re-housing assistance, and data collection through the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS).

The primary objective of the ESG Program is to assist people in quickly regaining stability in permanent housing after experiencing a housing crisis and/or homelessness.

2026 ESG APPLICATION CYCLE:  Will open in February 2025

The Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Program was created by the federal Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 to alleviate the causes and conditions of poverty in communities through the Georgia State Department of Human Services (DHS) Division of Family & Children Services. Cobb County receives an annual formula-based allocation from DHS.

The Community Service Block Grant provides core funding to local agencies to reduce poverty, revitalize low-income communities and to empower low-income families to become self-sufficient. The Program provides support for nonprofit agencies that provide services for low-income persons in Cobb. Eligible households include those whose incomes are at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty level, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget.

2026 CSBG APPLICATION CYCLE:  Will open in October 2024

The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program (42 U.S.C. § 3751(a)) was created as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005. The JAG Program, administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), is the leading source of federal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions. The JAG Program provides states, tribes, and local governments with critical funding necessary to support a range of program areas including law enforcement, prosecution and court programs, prevention and education programs, corrections and community corrections, drug treatment and enforcement, crime victim and witness initiatives, and planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs.

2025 JAG APPLICATION CYCLE:  Will open in May 2025

EFSP is a Federal program administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and is authorized by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987.

EFSP funds are used by Local Recipient Organizations for mass shelter, mass feeding, food distribution through food pantries and food banks, one-month utility payments to prevent service cut-off, and one-month rent/mortgage assistance to prevent evictions or assist people leaving shelters to establish stable living conditions.

The EFSP program goal is for funded agencies, (known as “Local Recipient Organizations”), to use EFSP supplemental funds for mass shelter, mass feeding, food distribution through food pantries and food banks, one-month utility payments to prevent service cut-off, and one-month rent/mortgage assistance to prevent evictions or assist people leaving shelters to establish stable living conditions.

APPLICATION CYCLE:  TBA