The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) has announced the opening of applications for counties, municipalities, and school districts to receive funding from the Local Recreation Improvement Grants Program (LRIG). This initiative is managed by the Division of Local Government Services (DLGS). The Murphy Administration has allocated $20 million from the state budget for fiscal year 2025 to this competitive grant program. For five years, it has supported improvements and repairs to public recreational facilities such as local parks, municipal recreation centers, and sports fields.
"This grant program has become a cornerstone during the Murphy Administration because it recognizes the importance of public recreational spaces for people's physical and mental health. By having quality walking trails, playground equipment, basketball courts, and other recreational resources, community well-being is strengthened," said DCA Commissioner Jacquelyn A. Suárez. "With the help provided to populations to update and build new recreational facilities, DCA is investing in those community assets that mean so much to residents of all ages and backgrounds."
LRIG funds will be awarded to selected applicants to cover costs related to updating community centers, playgrounds, pools, fields, walking or biking trails, greenways, multi-sport courts and recreational facilities; one-time personnel costs directly related to improvements; professional project development services costs; equipment costs for play areas and recreational facilities; and environmental remediation costs necessary for preparing recreational sites.
Eligible applicants include counties, municipalities, and school districts in New Jersey.
To obtain LRIG funds, applicants must submit specific information:
Applications should be submitted through the DCA's SAGE system portal: https://dcasage.intelligrants.com/portal.asp. The deadline is January 31st 2025 at 5 p.m.
Detailed guidelines and information about the fiscal year 2025 LRIG Program are available at https://www.nj.gov/dca/dlgs/programs/lriggrants.shtml on the DCA website.
The DLGS promotes local government interests by providing technical and financial assistance in budgeting matters, financial reporting joint services purchasing management. It ensures financial integrity across all local government units by reviewing approving municipal county fire district budgets evaluating many local government financial operations guiding officials' conduct.
The DCA offers a wide range of programs services including local government administration finance affordable housing production fire safety building security community planning development disaster recovery mitigation historical preservation information privacy.
For more information about DCA visit https://nj.gov/dca/ or follow them on social media.
