New State Grant Programs Open Doors for Euclid Development Projects

Euclid entered Ohio's 2026 development-grant season without a publicly identified application for the state's new $25 million Residential Economic Development District program and without a Euclid-based coalition among the 22 recipients of more than $5.06 million in sixth-round Industry Sector Partnership grants. Three Cuyahoga County workforce partnerships did win awards.

For residents who have watched redevelopment plans sit idle, the consequence is concrete: Euclid missed the winter application windows while regional competitors secured workforce funding. The question now is whether city leaders and local institutions can prepare projects, partners and paperwork for the opportunities that remain — and for future rounds — before the money again goes to better-prepared suburbs and coalitions.

Ohio opened both programs late last year. The Department of Development released guidelines in December 2025 for the Residential Economic Development District program, accepting applications from Dec. 16, 2025, through Jan. 16, 2026. The Industry Sector Partnership Round 6 deadline followed at 3 p.m. Feb. 27.

The awards have since rolled out. Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik announced roughly $27 million in Welcome Home Ohio grants in May. In June, the Department of Development announced more than $5.06 million for 22 Round 6 Industry Sector Partnership awards.

Two narrower programs remain open this summer: Ohio's $7.5 million Advanced Energy Fund Grant program, with applications due Aug. 31, and the Historic Preservation Tax Credits cycle, with deadlines running from Aug. 14 through Sept. 30.

The Industry Sector Partnership round Euclid missed was built for regional coalitions, not municipalities acting alone. Each applicant needed at least five private-sector employers of different sizes and at least five additional partners from eligible categories, which could include school districts, colleges, OhioMeansJobs centers, workforce-training nonprofits and economic-development organizations. The coalition also had to focus on one industry, or related industries, facing shared workforce problems across a region or labor-market area.

The state offered $50,000 to $100,000 Spark Grants for emerging partnerships, with a required 2-to-1 match. Established partnerships could seek $50,000 to $250,000 Accelerant Grants with a 1-to-1 match. Since 2019, Ohio has invested $17.6 million in 64 Industry Sector Partnership coalitions.

Cuyahoga County's Round 6 winners illustrate the organized competition Euclid faced. The Cleveland Talent Alliance received funding for its Northeast Ohio Talent and Employer Alignment Project, focused on IT, financial services, health care and manufacturing. The county's other recipients were the Cuyahoga County Workforce Connect Healthcare Sector Partnership and the Workforce Connect Manufacturing Sector Partnership. Euclid employers, schools and nonprofits could have joined those regional coalitions, though available records show no evidence of such participation.

As of mid-July, the Department of Development had not announced a Round 7 Industry Sector Partnership window.

The Residential Economic Development District program offered another route to state support. Grants ranged from $250,000 to $2.5 million for housing-related infrastructure, public safety and community services, and capital for new housing construction near a major project. Eligible applicants included counties, townships and municipal corporations located wholly or partly within a residential economic development district, applying alone or alongside a housing developer, port authority, council of governments, regional planning commission or other local governments.

Other communities have continued to assemble large, development-ready proposals. Governor DeWine and Director Mihalik announced more than $110 million in state-supported funding through the Transformational Mixed-Use Development Program for 13 projects in July 2026. Those projects are expected to generate more than $318 million in new payroll and $1.3 billion in total investment across 10 communities.

For Euclid, the issue is not whether state dollars exist. It is whether the city and its partners can assemble proposals strong enough to compete.

Euclid has secured some targeted state assistance. In May, the Community Improvement Corporation of Euclid received $402,000 through Welcome Home Ohio to support the purchase of 10 homes, part of roughly $27 million in statewide housing-development grants to entities in 57 counties. The Welcome Home Ohio WHO-P component supports the purchase of qualifying residential properties at foreclosure sales for incorporation into a land reutilization or housing program, with a maximum of $100,000 per residential property. That award amounts to less than 8 percent of the ISP Round 6 total and less than 0.4 percent of the Transformational Mixed-Use Development funding — a measure of how much larger the competitive programs Euclid sat out were.

Euclid has also received targeted state capital support. State Senator Kent Smith announced $22.1 million in state capital budget investments for Cuyahoga County projects, including Euclid-area allocations for Sims Park Playground Improvement, Cumberland Aquatic Recreational Replacement Project and Euclid Heritage Trail–Zone 2. Those are project-specific state allocations rather than competitive grants won through applications requiring energy audits, historic documentation or multi-partner workforce coalitions.

Cleveland Metroparks, meanwhile, is planning the third and fourth phases of the Euclid Creek Greenway, including a 0.6-mile trail segment from Euclid Avenue to St. Clair Avenue, with construction anticipated in late 2026.

Regional workforce investments also continue outside Euclid. JPMorganChase announced more than $4 million in philanthropic funding to 12 organizations in Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati to advance career pathways, skills training and work-based learning in emerging technical industries. Northeast Ohio grants include funding to Team NEO and Greater Cleveland Partnership to build a business-led, data-driven workforce upskilling strategy, and to Greater Cleveland Works for an AI-powered job-matching platform aimed at connecting Cuyahoga County residents to quality employment, training and skills development.

The two programs still open this summer are more limited than the missed workforce and housing-infrastructure rounds, and both require substantial advance preparation.

The Advanced Energy Fund is open to Ohio businesses, nonprofits, municipalities, school districts, colleges, universities and other local governmental units pursuing energy-efficiency retrofits in existing Ohio buildings. Applicants must be registered and in good standing with the Ohio Secretary of State, own the property or hold a long-term secured lease, and demonstrate that a project will cut utility energy use by at least 15 percent with a simple payback period of no more than 15 years. Applications also require an ASHRAE Level II energy audit, generally less than two years old, signed by a licensed professional engineer or registered architect. With a $7.5 million statewide pool and an Aug. 31 deadline, any Euclid entity that has not already commissioned the required audit faces a narrow path to applying this cycle.

The historic tax-credit process moves even sooner. An intent to apply is due Aug. 14, followed by historic documentation on Aug. 31 and the full Department of Development application and fee on Sept. 30. Owners need architectural surveys and historic-significance research already in motion — not simply an interest in saving or redeveloping an older building.

Edward Chenock Jr., Community Development Manager for the City of Euclid, oversees the city's federally funded Community Development Block Grant program. The city's FY 2026 CDBG plan went before the public in a June 24 hearing, with a comment period running from June 12 through July 13. That process gives residents a clear place to press city officials about which projects are being prepared for future state competitions, which partners are being recruited and who is doing the preparation before the next deadline arrives.

As of mid-July 2026, no Round 7 Industry Sector Partnership window or future Residential Economic Development District cycle had been announced. Euclid's city administration, Community Development office, local nonprofits, school district and business community have not publicly announced applications, coalition-building efforts or the supporting documentation — energy audits, historic-property research, employer partnerships — needed to compete in the August and September rounds or position the city for future large-scale programs.