Applications for a new initiative aiming to expand access and improve the reliability and safety of school transportation in Arizona by modernizing the state鈥檚 transportation network are now open.

Administered through A for Arizona, the Arizona Transportation Modernization Grant will disperse $20 million in grants supporting proposals designed to improve school transportation across the state. Ten million dollars were appropriated by the state Legislature earlier in the year and will be matched with federal stimulus funding through the Governor鈥檚 Office. At least $5 million will support proposals in rural and underserved communities.

鈥淭he grant program provides resources in addition to current transportation funding levels to incubate ideas to improve access to reliable and safe transportation for students who attend a district school through open enrollment or attend a public charter school, and to accelerate innovation and efficiency solutions,鈥� According to A for Arizona.

鈥淭he Arizona Transportation Modernization Grants Program will strengthen opportunities for kids and families in rural communities and all areas of the state, and it will expand access to safe transportation for K-12 students,鈥� said Gov. Doug Ducey. 

The program will also seek to expand transportation options for students attending nontraditional schools. 

鈥淭hrough this all-call for solutions, public schools have an incredible opportunity to partner with entrepreneurs, local government, and community leaders to boldly identify options to transport students not solely reliant on yellow school buses,鈥� Thiel Capital Managing Director Jack Selby said. Selby is an A for Arizona board member.

Schools, local governments, and community leaders can submit grant proposals up to $2 million on . The application window will close at 3 pm MST on Friday, October 8.

The post Arizona Transportation Modernization Grant applications now open appeared first on 番茄社区.

Last year was monumental to say the least. Life as we once knew it became a thing of the past, for individuals and businesses alike. As countless businesses struggled to adjust to the unforeseen challenges presented by the pandemic, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), part of the CARES Act, was a lifeline for many.

The PPP loan program was intended to help small businesses, although numerous large businesses also benefited. According to the Small Business Administration, over five million PPP loans were approved, the majority of which went to small businesses. Ninety-two percent of the loans given out were $250,000 or less and 87% were under $150,000. The average loan size was $100,729. 

Many businesses needed the money to keep employees working and to pay for everyday expenses to keep the business open. Business owners were told that the loan would also be 鈥渇orgiven鈥� as long as the money was spent on payroll (60% requirement), mortgage interest, utilities and rent during the eight or 24-week period after disbursement. While the rules for how to use the PPP loan funds were fairly straightforward, the tax effects remained murky.  For months the IRS has taken the position that the expenses paid with PPP loans which were forgiven would not be deductible on the business鈥檚 tax return. With bated breath, the nation awaited Congressional relief with respect to COVID-19. Relief came through at the last minute, including a provision that expenses paid with PPP will be deductible. Congress also reiterated that any forgiven PPP loans will not be includible in the business鈥檚 income.

Here are six things you should know about PPP loans and your taxes:

You Can Deduct Expenses Paid for with the Loan Proceeds Payroll, mortgage interest, rent and utility expenses are all forgivable uses of the loan and Congress has superseded the IRS鈥檚 guidance in Notice 2020-32 disallowing such expenses. Not only are these expenses deductible, but Congress has broadened the categories of expenses that may be paid for with PPP funds to include: software, cloud services, accounting, human resources, property damage due to civil unrest, personal protective equipment, and supplier costs ordered or contracted for prior to loan approval.

You Do Not Have to Include Forgiven PPP Funds in Income While loan proceeds forgiven by the lender are generally includible in income, PPP loan forgiveness is an exception to the general rule. Businesses do not have to include the debt forgiveness in their income.

You Can Take Advantage of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) The FFCRA requires some employers to provide employees with paid leave for reasons related to COVID-19. However, businesses can still take advantage of the FFCRA tax credits in addition to utilizing the PPP loan.

You Can Defer Payroll Taxes Under the CARES Act, employers may elect to defer payroll taxes from March 27 through December 31, 2020. Fifty percent of the deferred taxes accumulated in 2020 must be paid by December 31, 2021 and the remainder must be paid by December 31, 2022. 

You Cannot Use PPP Money to Pay for Business Taxes As mentioned above, the PPP loan may only be used for certain identified categories of expenses. You cannot use the loan proceeds to pay income, sales, or other tax liabilities.

You Can File an Amended Tax Return If you applied for forgiveness but have not received a decision from the IRS at the time of tax return filing and you later learn that you will not receive full or partial forgiveness, you may make the related adjustments by filing an amended return.

Taxes are daunting even without COVID-19 and PPP loans to worry about. Add in conflicting guidance by multiple government agencies and it is understandable that a small business owner may feel overwhelmed. Fortunately, Congress enacted favorable provisions applicable to PPP funds and provided certainty to small businesses awaiting answers before year鈥檚 end. If you need further guidance, the tax lawyers at The Cavanagh Law Firm are always available to answer any questions. 

Giselle Alexander is an Arizona Certified Tax Law Specialist, a CPA, and holds a Masters in Law in Taxation. Giselle represents clients at all states of the tax controversy process and is one of only a few tax attorneys in the U.S. with experience in trying 831(b) micro captive insurance cases before the U.S. Tax Court.

The post Six Things You Need To Know About PPP Loans And Your Taxes appeared first on 番茄社区.

Pulling rural Arizona into digital age

Tens of thousands of residents and businesses in rural Arizona will see expanded access to reliable high speed internet service over the next two years. Places like Bullhead City, Fort Mohave, Page, Payson, Star Valley, and the Tonto Apache reservation. More rural highways will be getting connected, too.

Last week, Gov. Doug Ducey pledged to more than triple grant funding for broadband projects this year to $10 million to help erase the digital divide in rural areas.

Ducey also announced $50 million for the 鈥淪mart Highways Corridor鈥� initiative to bring connectivity to more rural highways as well.

鈥淲e鈥檙e just getting started,鈥� Gov. Ducey said last week after announcing plans to ratchet up efforts and funding to give rural communities the same competitive edge as their urban counterparts.

鈥淭hese grants are a crucial investment in rural Arizona,鈥� the governor said. 鈥淎ccess to fast, reliable internet will aid economic development, enhance educational opportunities, strengthen health care and improve public safety across rural Arizona.鈥�

Here鈥檚 what鈥檚 coming聽

Meanwhile, a number of projects are readying to break ground as a result of $3 million in grant funding approved last year. The Arizona Commerce Authority awards the grants through the state鈥檚 Rural Broadband Development Grant .

Development grants of up to $1 million were awarded for three projects this year:

• Mohave Electric Coop will provide high-speed broadband service at speeds up to 10 Gbps symmetrical to its 35,000 members in Bullhead City, Fort Mohave and Mohave Valley.
• Sparklight, formerly known as Cable One, will provide fiber to approximately 400 business customers in Payson, Star Valley and the Tonto Apache reservation that has symmetrical service up to 2 Gbps
• Commnet Wireless will create a new fiber-optic middle mile to Page to serve 310 small businesses and 1,066 households in the area.

Grants of up to $50,000 each were also awarded to Coconino County, Gila County, Springerville and St. Johns to start plotting broadband projects.

Highways targeted for connectivity

For more highway connectivity, the Arizona Department of Transportation will install more than 500 miles of broadband conduit and fiber optic cable along designated three highway segments:

• Interstate 17 between Sunset Point and Flagstaff
• Interstate 40 between the Arizona-New Mexico and Arizona-California borders
• Interstate 19 between Tucson and Nogales.

Rural digital crisis

Approximately 898,724 Arizona citizens – mostly in rural and tribal communities – have聽 limited or no access to high-speed internet, according to the 2018 Arizona Statewide Broadband Strategic Plan report. Only 78 percent of Arizonans have access to the internet in their home.

The governor鈥檚 announcement to triple grant funding this year is welcome news for rural residents, business owners, students and others who struggle to compete in the digital world, business and community representatives said.

Inadequate broadband services 鈥渕arginalize鈥� all individuals and businesses including commerce, education, medical services, work-from-home businesses, and emergency services, said Dave Lock, CEO of Grand Canyon State Electric Cooperative Association, the statewide association that represents Arizona鈥檚 electric cooperatives.

One of its cooperatives, Mohave Electric (MEC), is the first cooperative in the state to step up to offer high speed internet to consumers in its service area. Currently, only about 150 co-ops out of 900 in the U.S. have a broadband program.

Biggest step ever to close rural gap

About 19 million Americans, or 6 percent of the population, lack access to fixed broadband service at threshold speeds, according to a report from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In rural areas, nearly one-fourth of the population, 14.5 million people, lack access. In tribal areas, nearly one-third of the population lacks access.

Even in areas where broadband is available, approximately 100 million Americans still do not subscribe.

Over the past two decades, state and national leaders have been working to address rural connectivity, including launching the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. The FCC will vote on rules Jan. 30 for the proposed plan that will allocate $20.4 billion to broadband providers serving rural areas in the U.S. This represents the biggest single step ever by the FCC toward closing the rural digital divide.

The fund, to be allocated over the next 10 years, is being made available for the first time to cable providers, wireless companies and electric co-ops, to move more urgently to close the divide.

“This new fund would target rural areas across the country where residents currently lack access to adequate broadband and would deploy high-speed broadband to millions of rural Americans in an efficient and effective manner,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a prepared statement.

The post Bringing rural Arizona up to (high) speed appeared first on 番茄社区.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has granted Phoenix College nearly $1.5 million to support integrating research, mentoring and industry collaborations to improve STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) recruitment and retention among minority students at the college. The grant comes as part of the first round of grants from the NSF鈥檚 Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions program, also known as the HSI program.

鈥淭he National Science Foundation has a strong commitment to promoting the health, prosperity and welfare of the nation by broadening participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,鈥� said Dr. Talitha Washington, co-lead program director of the NSF HSI program.

Phoenix College had to meet a rigorous set of merit requirements to be chosen for the competitive HSI grant.

鈥淎ll proposals for HSI funding go through NSF鈥檚 gold-standard merit review process that identifies which projects to support,鈥� Washington said. 鈥淭hat process considers both the technical aspects of a proposed project and its potential to contribute more broadly to advancing NSF鈥檚 mission.鈥�

Phoenix College is part of the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD), one of the largest community college systems in the United States. Out of a total of 10 campuses, all of which are regionally-accredited, six are now designated as Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and more will follow.

鈥淲hat is really great about our colleges is that we serve a large percentage of Hispanic students, and many of them are first-generation college students,鈥� said Robin Cotter, professor of biosciences at Phoenix College and one of the primary project team members who authored the NSF grant proposal.

Maricopa Community College faculty used their free time to form the grant proposal in the hope that they might introduce their students to more research opportunities that will better prepare them for the workforce, Cotter said.

鈥淢any of us come from research backgrounds, and we know that helping our students make connections with industry and university partners is key to their success as they move along that pathway toward their career,鈥� Cotter said. 鈥淪o we decided to take our free time 鈥� we weren鈥檛 paid to do this 鈥� and we worked together to develop this application. It included faculty from biology, psychology, math, geology, physics; and we all worked together to develop this proposal that then competed at the national level.鈥�

This is the first time this particular grant has been offered by the NSF to HSIs nationwide. Among the applicants were community colleges and universities, including Research I (R1) Universities 鈥� highly competitive research institutions. The grant will fund Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) for students at Phoenix College, and the program is expected to impact more than 3,000 community college students.

The MCCCD schools have teaching laboratories but no independent research labs, inadvertently withholding vital opportunities from students hoping to find careers in STEM fields. The CURE model inserts research directly into community college coursework.

鈥淲e decided that since we couldn鈥檛 give our students independent research opportunities, we were going to embed it into our curriculum,鈥� Cotter said. 鈥淎nd nationwide, they鈥檙e telling us that embedding practical applications of knowledge is the best way to teach students and prepare them.鈥�

Phoenix College is already partnering with local businesses and governments to create opportunities for students to build practical skills. At the request of industry leaders, the college is making workforce training a core part of its curriculum, putting students in touch with industry partners within the first two years of their academic careers.

鈥淚鈥檓 really excited to say that we鈥檙e partnering with the City of Surprise and their water treatment plant,鈥� Cotter said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to identify ways that we can look for micro-plastics and other pollutants in our water system, and then we鈥檙e going to have the students work on ways of removing them in order to improve water quality across the region.鈥�

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is another partner. Students who work with the USDA will look at the impact of environmental factors, including pesticides, on the survival of crop pollinators such as honeybees.

鈥淭he honeybee population is important to the agricultural community here in Arizona and nationwide,鈥� Cotter said. 鈥淪o we鈥檙e going to be working with the USDA, based out of Tucson, and the students will be studying what actually impacts honeybee health and how this can be resolved so that we can maintain these pollinators that are necessary for our agricultural community.鈥�

One of the NSF鈥檚 goals is to gain a better understanding of how to enhance undergraduate STEM education at HSIs, Washington said.

鈥淭he HSI program seeks to increase the number of STEM undergraduate students, who ultimately will become STEM professionals,鈥� Washington said. 鈥淚t seeks to increase retention and graduation rates for STEM students at HSIs and to increase the number of STEM educators and students at HSIs that have little or no prior NSF funding.鈥�

Phoenix College received the NSF grant as the result of faculty-driven collaboration between all 10 MCCCD campuses, Cotter said.

鈥淲e recognize the need to train our students for the workforce, and that it鈥檚 really built on community partnerships, and we encourage anybody who wants to be involved to reach out to us,鈥� Cotter said.

The post Phoenix College receives $1.5 million grant to support STEM education for minorities appeared first on 番茄社区.