Economic Development Loans & Grants
USDA - Rural Economic Development Loans and Grants
Description: Provides zero-interest loans and grants to Rural Utilities Service borrowers to promote rural economic development and job creation projects.
Loan and Grant Purposes: Funds are passed on to third party borrowers as zero-interest loans for projects that create jobs in rural areas, or that provide infrastructure or community facilities in rural areas that will lead to economic stability.
Who Is Eligible? Rural Utilities Service Electric and Telephone borrowers with outstanding loans, and not delinquent on loans, are eligible.
Other Loan and Grant Criteria: Applications are scored on job creation potential, sustainability of projects, suitability of project to the area, diversification of employment in the area, amount of supplemental funds, relative income, and employment levels.
Loan Amount: A maximum of $740,000 per loan application may be requested.
Maturity for loans is a maximum of 10 years.
Grant Amount: A maximum of $300,000 per grant application may be requested to establish a revolving loan fund. The grant is to the cooperative which in turn lends the money to the qualifying borrower. Maturity for the loan is a maximum of 10 years. A 20% match of local funds is required.
Application Turnaround: Normal turnaround time is approximately 5 months from initial receipt of an application to a decision on whether a project will be funded.
Additional Economic Development Resources
