Award Information: View Rural Business Enterprise Grant Program Awards  by state

Key Dates:  Applications may be submitted to the Michigan USDA Rural Development Office until funds are depleted or until a date to be published in Fiscal Year 2010, whichever occurs earlier.

Program Information: 

• Rural Business and Industry Guaranteed Loans (B&I):   Administered by the Department of Agriculture, the purpose of the B&I Loan Program is to improve, develop, or finance business, industry, and employment and improve the economic and environmental climate in rural communities by bolstering the existing private credit structure through the guarantee of quality loans which will provide lasting community benefits.
• Rural Enterprise Grants (RBEG): The RBEG program to improve rural development through grants for projects including:
  - Acquisition or development of land; easements, or rights of way; construction, conversion and renovation of buildings, plants, machinery, equipment, access streets and roads, parking areas, and utilities;
  - Pollution control and abatement;
  - Capitalization of revolving loan funds including funds that will make loans for start ups and working capital;
  training and technical assistance;
  - Distance learning for adult job training and advancement;
  - Rural transportation improvement; and project planning.
  

Any project funded under the RBEG program should benefit small and emerging private businesses in rural areas. Small and emerging private businesses are those that will employ 50 or fewer new employees and have less than $1 million in projected gross revenues.

Grant Information:  For B&I loans, eligible applicants include an Indian tribe on a Federal or State reservation or other federally recognized tribal group, cooperative organization, corporation, partnership, or other legal entity organized and operated on a profit or nonprofit basis; a public body; or an individual. For the grants, eligible applicants include Indian tribes, rural public entities, and rural private non-profit corporations.  For both programs, funded projects must be in rural areas with populations of 50,000 or less. Ineligible areas include cities or towns of more than 50,000 and the contiguous and adjacent urbanized area of such cities or towns.

To access these funds, businesses in rural areas will work with an approved lender and Rural Development will guarantee a portion of the loan. A borrower must be engaged in or proposing to engage in a business that will:

• Provide employment;
• Improve the economic or environmental climate;
• Promote the conservation, development, and use of water for aquaculture; or
• Reduce reliance on nonrenewable energy resources by encouraging the development and construction of solar energy systems and other renewable energy systems.

For More Information: View the FAQ on  USDA RD Rural Business Enterprise Grants (RBEG) Program  and
USDA RD Business and Industry Guaranteed Loans (B&I).