Municipal Investment Fund

The Municipal Investment Fund (MIF) is a transformative opportunity for communities across the US to develop finance-ready project pipelines that will unlock private investment, create jobs, lower energy costs, and improve life for all Americans.

For more information on the Municipal Investment Fund, contact MIF@iclei.org. To stay apprised of technical assistance offerings available beyond MIF awardees, subscribe to the ICLEI USA newsletter

Overview

In July 2025, ICLEI USA selected 49 MIF Communities!

ICLEI- Local Governments for Sustainability USA partnered with CGC to offer $11.25 million in market-building grants and technical support to help 49 communities — Local governments, Tribes, and their partner not-for-profit organizations across 46 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and four Tribal nations — develop public-private partnership plans that can accelerate the deployment of capital to clean energy projects. Grantees will gain partners, tools, and frameworks that will enable them to deploy clean energy projects in their communities to advance the creation of new jobs, affordable energy, clean air, and clean water.

By early Summer 2026 and the end of the MIF grant period, communities who participated in the MIF program had identified nearly 1,000 projects representing over $11 billion of investment pipelines in clean energy projects across the nation covering: solar and storage, building energy efficiency, geothermal, water energy nexus and more. In the second half of 2026, ICLEI USA and CGC have been focused on helping accelerate projects in the pipeline to bring them closer to finance readiness, through extending one-on-one predevelopment technical assistance for some, and matching with national scale customer solutions providers for others.

National Convening

On 6 and 7 October 2026, ICLEI USA and CGC hosted the MIF National Convening in Baltimore. Local government staff and local green banks worked with providers, financing partners, and technical experts to examine what their projects need next, and how to leverage public credit, low-cost seed capital, assets, permitting authority, and purchasing and derisking powers to draw in diverse capital stacks and achieve scale. Working sessions, pitches, and one-on-one coaching helped find answers to problems, forge partnerships, and identify strategies to overcome key hurdles. Read our full blog: From Plans to Projects: How 49 Communities Are Moving Clean Investments Forward | ICLEI USA.

An image of speakers at the MIF National Convening in Baltimore from October 6-7, 2026.

An image of the cover page for the MIF Outcomes report.

Outcomes Report

ICLEI USA has now published its report sharing MIF Outcomes: Locally-Led Clean Energy Deployment: Barriers, Solutions & Lessons for Replication, highlighting lessons from the 49 communities supported through the MIF. Local governments have tools to help close the gap between a community priority and a project ready for financing. This report explores how they’re putting those tools to work, with case studies, promising solutions, and recommendations for other communities to draw from.

Municipal Investment Fund Selected Communities

Select an awardee on the map to learn more!

Case Studies from Municipal Investment Fund Communities

Timeline

The application deadline was March 5, 2025, and ICLEI USA is not accepting additional applications at this time. ICLEI USA selected 49 communities in July 2025.

January 16th, 2025: Municipal Investment Fund Launches its Call for Proposals.

March 5th, 2025: Application period closed. MIF Receives 114 Applications Across 46 States and Tribal Nations Despite the Funding Freeze in March.

July 2025: CGC and ICLEI USA restructure MIF and announce their nationwide selection of $250,000 MIF grants.

September 2025 – November 2025: Selected awardees sign contracts.

October – June 2026: Grantees receive technical assistance from ICLEI USA, CGC, and trusted partners to develop public-private partnership plans and a pipeline of financeable projects.

February – April 2026: Public-private partnership plans delivered by communities.

October 2026: MIF National Convening in Baltimore

October – December 2026: Pre-Development services extended to 16 MIF communities to advance financial readiness

What’s Included

Technical Assistance: Awardees receive expert guidance throughout the Municipal Investment Fund application process. Grantees will gain tools and frameworks to advance clean energy projects in their communities, a pipeline of clean energy projects geared for investment, and relationships with infrastructure investors and related practitioners.
Market-Building Support: Awardees receive funding to develop public-private partnership plans that can accelerate the deployment of capital to NCIF-qualified projects.

Funding Scope and Requirements

The Municipal Investment Fund is contingent on the availability of funding. Market-building activities, as defined by the U.S. EPA as:

Building the market for financeable qualified projects.
Are not tied directly to Qualified Projects the Recipient intends to finance.
Are necessary and reasonable for the deployment of Financial Assistance to Qualified Projects.

Predevelopment activities, as defined by the U.S. EPA as:

Improving the likelihood of the grantee financing qualified projects.
Tied directly to qualified projects grantees intend to finance.
Being necessary and reasonable for the deployment of financial assistance to qualified projects.