AREAS OF EXPERTISE

HCG has a long history of successfully identifying federal programs and finding creative opportunities to secure funds for community and economic development projects.

HCG’s knowledge of higher education policy, work with institutions of higher education and focus on building and leveraging strong long-term relationships with members of Congress and officials in the Trump Administration, coupled with a well-planned and executed legislative strategy, allow us to significantly enhance our higher education clients’ ability to attain their respective financial, policy, and programmatic goals.

Our professional staff tracks all issues related to housing and community development, including the status of funding for key federal housing and community development programs and housing policy issues. HCG advocates accordingly for favorable outcomes for our clients.

HCG has worked with various federal agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Interior’s National Park Service and Bureau of Reclamation to secure funding for client projects, obtain regulatory relief, and broker beneficial discussions between clients and federal agencies to advance mutually beneficial objectives.

HCG has expertise in Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) programs, which provide funding for local governments and its partners to protects its communities. Our work is focused on assisting our clients in the preparation of grant applications and developing working relationships with key DOJ and DHS officials. We continually work to raise the profile of our clients and leverage opportunities for them to engage through participation on agency advisory boards and grant peer review.

HCG works with our clients’ congressional delegations to secure funding for transportation priorities through the authorization process and competitive grants. In addition, we have worked to influence essential policy improvements to meet our clients’ needs. Understanding the complex nature of large-scale transportation projects is one of our specialties.

HCG has extensive experience with water resources issues, particularly water infrastructure development, planning and implementation, flood control, harbors, ports, environmental restoration, and shore protection. While we assist in securing federal funding assistance, HCG’s water resources practice provides strategic counsel in the legislative and regulatory arenas.

HCG recognizes the significance of federal competitive grants as a critical funding source and implements a collaborative client-based approach that focuses strategic campaigns for winning federal grants. We maximize our relationships and interactions with federal agency officials to obtain the highest possible level of knowledge and intelligence to produce highly competitive grant proposals. Recent Client successes include City of Cincinnati, OH City of Memphis, TN, West Valley City, UT, California State University, Fullerton, Lansing Community College in the areas of arts, broadband, community development, education, environment, healthcare, public safety, and transportation.

HCG actively seeks strategic partnerships to maximize service to clients and to expand client relationships that advance their interests in Washington and locally. We find partnerships valuable when advocating on an issue that affects our clients and many others within certain sectors. We also seek partnerships to enhance our capabilities and competitiveness as needed when pursuing federal resources and business opportunities.

As clients may be aware, federal funding is generally awarded in a two-step process: Congress must first authorize projects and then funding must be appropriated for programs or specific projects. HCG has great expertise in the authorization and programmatic appropriations processes.

In addition to seeking funding for clients, HCG will also counsel clients regarding legislation and regulatory action that may benefit or harm them. For example, we have provided strategic assessment, advice, and legislative advocacy for tax reform that protected the tax-free status of municipal bonds and collective bargaining legislation that could adversely impact the interests of many of our clients.

Communication with our clients is a key component of our Washington representation. Our client activity reporting is customized and highly dependent on the needs and preferences of individual clients. Our client service managers will work with clients to establish the most ideal form and schedule of communications. Robust communication between HCG and clients is critical to building a strong, results-oriented relationship.

HCG’s experience as a lobbyist to higher education institutions and a consultant to private sector firms engaged in partnerships on federal research work through the Department of Defense enables our firm to help public and private sector entities advance their federal business development and contracting objectives.