Strategic Economic and Community Development is a Farm Bill provision that allows the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to give priority for projects that support the implementation of regional economic development plans through the following four USDA Rural Development programs:
- Community Facilities loans, grants and loan guarantees
- Water and Waste Disposal Program loans, grants and loan guarantees
- Business & Industry Program loan guarantees
- Rural Business Development Grants
Purpose:
Projects that promote regional economic development can capitalize upon the unique strengths of specific rural areas. USDA Rural Development helps finance these projects by helping applicants overcome multi-jurisdictional challenges and by helping leverage federal, state, local or private funding. Regionally focused projects help USDA resources have a larger impact, enabling greater wealth creation and quality of life improvements.
To be eligible for SECD, a project must:
- Be eligible for the underlying program
- Be carried out solely in a rural area
- Support a multi-jurisdictional strategic economic community development plan
- Consideration for regional development priority will be based on:
(1) How well the project supports a multi-jurisdictional plan, and
(2) How well the plan addresses collaboration and investments from other federal and philanthropic agencies.
Application deadline: June 30, 2017