New York Building Recreational Infrastructure for Communities, Kids and Seniors (NY BRICKS) Grant

The New York Building Recreational Infrastructure for Communities, Kids and Seniors (NY BRICKS) - Round 2 is a competitive New York State capital grant program overseen by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and administered by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. The initiative recognizes the role of Community Centers in supporting physical health, mental well-being, and community connections for youth and older adults. Round 2 makes at least $75 million in 2026-2027 New York State Budget capital funding available to eligible Municipalities and Not-for-profit Entities for Community Center projects. At least $37.5 million of Round 2 funding is designated for projects in Underserved Communities, as determined through the Community Need scoring process established in the RFA. Funding may support the design, construction, major renovation, and equipping of a Community Center, together with other related Capital Costs necessary to carry out the NY BRICKS Initiative. Eligible Applicants may receive grants ranging from $250,000 to $15,000,000, subject to the applicable project priority and grant funding level. Priority 1 supports new Community Centers, new construction, or expansion for additional square footage with grants from $5,000,001 to $15,000,000. Priority 2 supports those same project types with grants from $1,000,000 to $5,000,000. Priority 3 supports renovation of existing Community Centers with grants from $250,000 to $5,000,000. No partial grants will be awarded. Eligible Project Costs must be Capital Costs. Grant proceeds may not be used for working capital, staff, rent, utilities, internal labor, supplies, preliminary planning or market studies, grant writing, administration, legal or insurance fees, minor repairs or routine maintenance, long-term debt, acquisition of real property, or prohibited tax credit financing arrangements. Grant funds also cannot reimburse costs incurred on or before April 1, 2026. The NY BRICKS Grant may cover no more than 80 percent of the Capital Costs of the proposed Project, and the Grantee must provide at least 20 percent of the Capital Costs from other committed funding sources. Applicants are expected to confirm that proposed Matching Funds are eligible; for example, State and Municipal Facilities Program Grants cannot be used for the required match, although they may be used for eligible project costs above the Match amount. Applicants must demonstrate the total project cost and, for competitive scoring, should document committed funding sufficient to complete the Project. Documentation may include bank or investment statements, audited financial statements, donor pledges or agreements, grant award letters, contracts, loan commitments, bond documentation, personal service contracts, and qualifying paid invoices. Non-final or contingent funding commitments are not treated as secured funding for evaluation purposes. Eligible Applicants are Municipalities and Prequalified Not-for-profit Entities that provide Community Centers in New York State. For this RFA, Municipality means only a County, City, Town, Village, or Indian Nation. A Not-for-profit Entity must be incorporated with the New York State Department of State or chartered by New York State and must have approved Prequalification status in the Statewide Financial System before submitting its Application. The organization must remain Prequalified through execution of the Grant Disbursement Agreement and payment of requisitions. Applicants may submit only one Application for one Community Center at one Project Location. The Applicant must have adequate Site Control, be the primary operator responsible for management and day-to-day operations, schedule and coordinate programming, maintain regular published hours, serve the public and the community in which the facility is located, and provide programming across social, educational, recreational, and cultural activities for youth, adults, and seniors. A Community Center cannot primarily function as a commercial enterprise, library, school, gym, daycare facility, house of worship, food pantry, or health care facility. Applications must be submitted through the DASNY Grants Application Portal. Applicants must create a DASNY Power Apps Portal account, create an Organizational Profile, complete the applicable Application sections and program-specific materials, upload required supporting documents as PDFs, review the completed Application, and select Submit Final Application. The RFA directs applicants to use Appendix 1 for application preparation, Appendix 2 for program-specific questions and the Applicant Worksheets to Calculate Community Need and Project Planning, and Appendix 3 for the Application Certification. Site Control documentation, evidence of project planning, project budget materials, and documentation of committed funding are required where applicable. Individual uploaded files are limited to 32 MB. Once an Application is submitted, no changes or additions may be made, and DASNY and NYS OPRHP will not seek missing or explanatory materials during review. Technical Portal problems may be directed to portalhelp@dasny.org, while substantive RFA questions must be submitted through the NY BRICKS SurveyMonkey process. Evaluation occurs in three steps. Step One determines whether the Applicant and Project satisfy all eligibility requirements in Section Four. Step Two scores Community Need and Project Planning using the required worksheets; an Application must earn at least 31 combined points to proceed, and a Community Need score of at least 20 identifies an Underserved Community. Step Three provides up to 60 additional points, consisting of up to 20 points for Project Impact and up to 40 points for Project Viability. Project Viability evaluates construction readiness, the quality of the project budget, and committed funding sources. The minimum total score for award consideration is 85. Awards are generally made to the highest-scoring applications within each project priority level, subject to available funding, the Underserved Community allocation, full funding of the requested grant amount, and the State's regional diversity goal. In the event of tied scores, Project Viability and regional diversity may receive increased scrutiny. The RFA was announced August 31, 2026. The application submission period opens November 2, 2026 and closes December 7, 2026 at 3:00 PM EST. The Applicant Webinar is to be posted by September 14, 2026, substantive questions are due by 3:00 PM on September 30, 2026, and answers are scheduled to be posted by October 26, 2026. Application eligibility review and scoring are scheduled for December 8, 2026 through February 12, 2027, and awards will be announced no earlier than February 26, 2027. Award Letters are conditional and do not themselves authorize disbursement. Awardees must satisfy all conditions precedent and enter into a non-negotiable Grant Disbursement Agreement with DASNY before grant funds can be disbursed. The RFA does not state that Round 2 recurs on an annual, biennial, quarterly, or other fixed schedule.

Do not submit until the Application and all required attachments are complete because no changes or additions are allowed after submission. Confirm every Section Four eligibility requirement before filing because missing eligibility items cannot be supplied later. Not-for-profit applicants should obtain approved SFS Prequalification well before submission. Strong applications should provide advanced design documentation, evidence of construction readiness, a detailed and current Project budget, and committed funding sufficient to complete the Project. Confirm that the requested grant amount fits the selected Priority Level and that the required 20% match is supported by eligible committed funding. Submit well before the 3:00 PM EST deadline to reduce technical-submission risk.