Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant | RD RBCS 24 REDLG

Opportunity Information: Apply for RD RBCS 24 REDLG

The Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant (REDLG) program is a USDA initiative designed to push capital into rural communities by working through local utility organizations rather than lending directly to individual businesses. The core idea is that rural utilities already have deep relationships with their service territories and can identify projects that will realistically create or keep jobs. Under this program, USDA supports those utilities with either zero-interest loan funding or grant funding, and the utility then re-lends that money to local project owners (often businesses or other eligible local entities) for qualifying rural economic development projects focused on employment impacts.

The program has two main funding paths. First, USDA can provide a zero-interest loan to an eligible local utility. That utility then makes a pass-through loan to an "ultimate recipient" (the local business or project sponsor carrying out the project). The ultimate recipient repays the utility under the terms the utility sets, and the utility is responsible for repaying USDA. This structure keeps the borrower relationship local while still leveraging federal capital, and it is explicitly aimed at projects that will create or retain jobs in rural areas. Second, USDA can provide a grant to an eligible utility to establish a Revolving Loan Fund (RLF). The utility uses the grant dollars as the seed money for a local lending pool, makes loans to eligible projects from that pool, and as those loans are repaid the funds revolve and can be lent again to additional projects. A notable feature of this grant-based RLF structure is that when the revolving loan fund is terminated, the grant amount is repaid to USDA, reinforcing that the grant is intended to capitalize ongoing lending rather than function as a one-time giveaway.

In terms of typical size, USDA anticipates maximum award amounts of up to 2,000,000 dollars for loans and up to 300,000 dollars for grants. The opportunity lists an overall loan award ceiling of 2,000,000 dollars and an expectation of roughly 40 awards. The funding opportunity is categorized as discretionary and is administered by USDA's Rural Business-Cooperative Service. The program aligns with several public-purpose activity areas, including agriculture, business and commerce, community development, education, health, and regional development, reflecting the range of rural projects that can be tied to job creation and retention.

Eligibility is oriented around the utility intermediary, not the end business directly applying to USDA. To be the entity receiving USDA funding and then forwarding it on to selected projects, an applicant must be a qualifying utility organization. Eligible applicants include former Rural Utilities Service borrowers that previously borrowed and have repaid or prepaid an insured, direct, or guaranteed loan, as well as nonprofit utilities that are eligible for assistance from Rural Development Electric or Telecommunication Programs, and current Rural Development Electric or Telecommunication Programs borrowers. In practice, this means the front-door applicants are typically electric cooperatives, telecommunications cooperatives, or similar nonprofit utility organizations with a history of participation in USDA rural utility financing.

From an implementation standpoint, the utility acts as the lender and gatekeeper: it identifies eligible local projects, underwrites and services the loans to the ultimate recipients, and ensures repayment flows back appropriately (either to USDA in the case of the zero-interest loan pathway or back into the revolving fund in the RLF pathway). The emphasis throughout is on measurable rural employment outcomes, meaning the projects supported are expected to demonstrate that they will create new jobs, prevent job losses, or otherwise sustain employment in rural communities.

Key administrative details from the posting include the funding opportunity title "Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant," funding opportunity number RD RBCS 24 REDLG, Assistance Listing (CFDA) number 10.854, and an original closing date of 2024-06-30.

• The Rural Business-Cooperative Service in the agriculture, business and commerce, community development, education, health, regional development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.854.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-12-18.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-06-30. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 40 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for RD RBCS 24 REDLG

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