More Money For Small Town Entrepreneurs

The Rural Business Enterprise Grant Program (RBEG) is administered by the Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS), and provides grant funds to a local or regional intermediary which, in turn, lends funds in a flexible manner to local businesses. Funds are designed to facilitate the development of small and emerging private business, industry, and related employment. Money can be used for the acquisition and development of land, and the construction of buildings, plants, equipment, access streets and roads, parking areas, utility and service extensions, refinancing, fees, technical assistance, startup operating cost, working capital, providing financial assistance to a third party, production of television programs to provide information to rural residents, and to create, expand, and operate rural distance learning networks. Grant applications are available from any USDA Rural Development State Office. For further information on these programs, contact your local Rural Development Office. Look in the blue pages of your telephone book under U.S. Department of Agriculture, contact your state information operator (listed in the Appendix), or contact the main office at Rural-Business-Cooperative Service, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Room 5050, South Building, Washington, DC 20250, 202-720-1019, {www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/oa/oadir.htm}.