Grant Investment Explorer
About the Explorer
The Explorer is a map and database that shows how much public grant funding each municipality in southwestern Pennsylvania received from 2015–2023. This includes rural and urban municipalities across all 12 counties in the region and includes grant funding from federal, state, and local sources. For each municipality, you can view total combined grant funding, total per capita grant funding, and ranking compared to other communities across the region.
How you can use it
While this information is publicly available, it’s usually hard to compare across communities. This map brings the data together in one place, making it easier to see regional trends, spot differences, and understand how funding is distributed.
Use this map to:
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Compare your municipality’s grant revenue to that of similar municipalities
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Strengthen grant applications by showing need OR demonstrating a strong track record
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Inform decisions about strategic partnerships and resource sharing
Where the data comes from
The data come from the annual financial reports that municipalities submit to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). We included municipalities that reported consistently for all nine years, omitting those with missing reports.
The data reflect municipal revenues attributed to federal, state, and local grants. This includes competitively won funds and omits public revenues from other sources (e.g., loans, formula funds, etc.) as well as funding from private (e.g., foundation) grants. The map illustrates the role of public grants in municipal revenues specifically–it does not provide information about funding to other local entities like nonprofits or authorities.
The map currently displays aggregate grant revenues across time (2015-2023), funder type (federal, state, local), agency (DCED, EPA, etc.) and topic (transportation, community development, etc.). Stay tuned for an update that will allow for viewing and downloading information from specific years, agencies, topics, and other filters.
What's next with the Explorer?
We’ll continue digging into the data and sharing what we learn, especially from communities that are finding success with grant awards. We’ll also add more data and filters allowing for more information about how specific agencies, topics, and more are funded across SWPA.
Have ideas for future research or want to share how you’re using this data? We’d love to hear from you. Please contact sarah@swpahub.org.