The company building the Purple Line has announced its next round of nonprofit grant recipients in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.

The Beyond The Rails program was first launched in fall 2023 by Purple Line Transit Partners, the private-sector partner of the Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Transit Administration.

Since then, it has distributed $130,000 in grants to groups along the Purple Line, the planned 16-mile light rail that will stretch from Bethesda to New Carrollton and connect with the Metro. It’s slated to open in late 2027.

The grants benefit groups along the Purple Line that are dedicated to education, youth sports, public safety and the environment, and those that address food, rent and utility insecurity, according to a press release from Purple Line Private Center Partners.

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The latest round of grants, of up to $3,000, is going to:

  • Community Health and Empowerment through Education and Research (CHEER) in Long Branch and Takoma Park
  • Ebenezer Church of God’s back-to-school supplies drive in Landover Hills
  • Favor’s Table weekly food and clothing distribution in Hyattsville
  • Long Branch Waterworks Wizards Community Swimming Foundation
  • Montgomery Housing Partnership
  • New Hampshire Estates and Oakview Elementary PTA
  • Salvation Army National Capital Area emergency rent and utility assistance program
  • Town of Landover Hills Farmers Market

“We’ve visited nearly all of the organizations we support to gain a deeper understanding of what they do, and we’re constantly inspired by their tireless efforts to better the lives of individuals along the Purple Line corridor,” PLTP CEO Doran Bosso said in the release.

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The company also announced that with this round, it has expanded the number of recipients from 12 per year to 16 — eight in summer and eight in winter.

The maximum amount a group can apply for will also increase to $5,000 from the current $3,000 maximum.

Purple Line construction began in 2017. The line was to begin serving riders in 2022 but faced delays due to litigation from disgruntled residents, cost overruns and the COVID pandemic.

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The original design-builder pulled out of the project in 2020, forcing the MTA to take over construction while finding a new builder, which started in 2022 under the name Maryland Transit Solutions.

The project’s total cost, including the contract for its operations, is estimated to exceed $9 billion. The original 2016 agreement was for $5.6 billion.

Construction has felt never-ending for many area residents, and shop owners along the line say their businesses have suffered rom parking losses, ripped-up sidewalks and barely visible storefronts.

The state launched its own grant program — separate from Beyond The Rails — to help small businesses located within a half-mile of construction, but some owners say they’ve been hit harder than what the grants would cover.

Danny Zawodny contributed reporting to this story.