Our speaker will guide you through the process of preparing for your infrastructure grant award. This preparation will include ensuring compliance with post-award requirements, such as monitoring, record retention, closeout, and audit preparation. The speaker will emphasize federal funding and uniform guidance in this process.

Learning Objectives:

• Determine if you are “infrastructure grant ready”.
• Identify and mitigate risk prior to taking on federal grant funding.
• Ensure compliance with your federal award and uniform guidance by assisting them in navigating the post-award phase, including monitoring, closeout, and audit preparation.

This session will cover the most important financial concepts and terms encountered in federal grant applications and grant management requirements. The terms will be explained in plain language with plenty of examples to illustrate how they apply to the grant lifecycle in real life. Participants will be invited to help build a sample budget in real time.

Learning Objectives:

• Recall allowable vs. unallowable costs under Uniform Guidance.
• Explain the difference between direct, indirect, and cost-share requirements.
• Build a sample grant budget aligned with financial best practices.

The federal grants landscape is undergoing a structural shift — not just in policy, but in responsibility. As executive orders, budget proposals, and administrative actions accelerate change, states are becoming the new center of gravity for federal financial assistance. With more programs moving away from federal-level administration and toward state pass-through models, states must prepare to manage greater compliance discretion, increased oversight expectations, and a rapidly growing volume of subrecipient relationships. This session explores what these changes mean for state agencies today — and how to build the systems, staffing, controls, and governance necessary to operate as high-performing pass-through entities in the future. Participants will gain practical insights into capacity building, risk mitigation, and cross-state coordination strategies needed to ensure states can confidently administer a new era of federal funding.