NYS Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) Program

The Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) Program is operated by the New York State Department of State and provides state planning funds to community-based organizations (CBOs) and municipalities to develop community plans for areas with multiple vacant properties or brownfields. Funds can be used to: study an area’s existing conditions; develop an area plan; build community consensus for the plan; and identify strategic development sites. OER offers a local match grant of 10% of the BOA grant, up to a cap of $25,000.

The BOA Program has funded planning work by CBOs and municipalities since 2005, but recently the Program has received limited annual appropriations, and the state is currently not accepting applications for new BOA areas.

BOA planning is typically conducted in three steps: pre-nomination, nomination and implementation. To learn more about eligible activities that can be funded under each step, see New York State's Brownfield Opportunity Areas (BOA) Program.

BOA applications from city-based CBOs require the community organization either to form a partnership with a City agency or receive a letter of support from OER. Groups considering applying for a BOA grant should contact OER.

Learn more about 20 NYC projects that have received BOA funding.