Five for Friday: February 17, 2023
Curated by: The Western Nevada Development District…
This edition of Five for Friday focuses on opportunities for economic development around the region in the areas of recreation, business accelerators, farming and the arts.
Grant Opportunities & More
Expanding Recreation Economies Across Rural America
Federal Agencies Partnering to Create New Tools and Resources
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced in mid-January that it will create a plan to expand recreation economies to help people thrive across rural America. The USDA Rural Development, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), and U.S. Forest Service will partner to develop an annual plan to expand economic opportunities related to recreation in communities surrounding America’s national forests. The annual plan will outline the ways the agencies will partner to conduct program outreach, host informational sessions and workshops, and develop toolkits to help people access the resources they need to thrive in recreation economies.
The agencies will also:
- Provide technical and planning assistance to help local, state and Tribal leaders develop regional economic development plans that advance recreation economies
- Provide funding under Rural Development and NIFA programs to help U.S. Forest Service gateway communities expand resilient recreation infrastructure and business development projects that create jobs
- Develop and maintain strategic partnerships
USDA Rural Development Stakeholder Announcement
USDA RISE Grant Program: From Innovation Centers to Job Accelerators
The Rural Innovation Stronger Economy (RISE) Grant Program offers grant assistance to create and augment high-wage jobs, accelerate the formation of new businesses, support industry clusters and maximize the use of local productive assets in eligible low-income rural areas.
RISE grant funds can be used to:
• Build or support a business incubator facility
• Provide worker training to assist in the creation of new jobs
• Train the existing workforce with skills for higher-paying jobs
• Develop a base of skilled workers and improve their opportunities to obtain high-wage jobs in new or existing local industries
The RISE project must serve a rural region small enough to allow close collaboration among partners. It also must include important elements of the region’s prioritized industry cluster (concentrations of related industries).
Grant amounts are awarded competitively with a minimum of $500,000 and a maximum grant amount of $2,000,000.
Application Deadline: April 20, 2023
Farmers Market Promotion Program Promotes Farm-to-Table Initiatives
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), requests applications for the fiscal year 2023 Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP). FMPP’s purpose is to support the development, coordination, and expansion of direct producer-to-consumer markets to increase access to and availability of locally and regionally produced agricultural products. FMPP achieves this goal through the creation, coordination, and delivery of outreach, training, and technical assistance to domestic farmers markets, roadside stands, community-supported agriculture programs, agritourism activities, online sales or other direct producer-to-consumer (including direct producer-to-retail, direct producer-to-restaurant and direct producer-to-institutional marketing) market opportunities.
Approximately $15.4 million is available to fund FMPP applications under this solicitation. FMPP Capacity Building projects range from $50,000 to $250,000, while Community Development Training and Technical Assistance projects range from $100,000 to $500,000.
Application Deadline: May 2, 2023
Webinar: March 15, 2023 at 10 am PT
2023 Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP)
Nevada BLM Visitor Services Partnerships
The BLM’s Recreation and Visitor Services Program oversees a broad and complex set of recreation related programs, which provide a multitude of recreation opportunities and experiences. These recreation resources and visitor services support strong local economies and public land conservation. BLM Nevada has an opportunity to work with partner organizations to assist with the following:
• Increase and enhance access to BLM public lands and waters
• Increase and enhance recreational opportunities
• Enhance public satisfaction at BLM recreation sites and areas
• Collect visitor and recreation resource data by conducting inventories and visitor assessments
• Conduct inventory, monitoring, data management, assessment, planning on BLM public lands and waters
• Provide enriched visitor services information, interpretation and education, including websites
• Protect visitor health and safety
• Improve accessibility for persons with disabilities
• Improve motorized and non-motorized trails including trail construction and maintenance, comprehensive travel and transportation inventory and assessment
Program funding totals $1.6 million with awards ranging from $20,000 to $750,000.
Eligible institutions include, state and local governments, non-profits and Native American Tribal Governments.
Application Deadline: April 10, 2023
NOFO: Nevada BLM Recreation and Visitor Services Program
Challenge America Bolsters Arts Programs to the Underserved
The National Endowment for the Arts Challenge America offers support primarily to small organizations for projects in all artistic disciplines that extend the reach of the arts to groups/communities with rich and dynamic artistic and cultural contributions to share that are underserved. Challenge America features an abbreviated application, a robust structure of technical assistance, and grants for a set amount of $10,000. Grants require a cost share/match of $10,000 consisting of cash and/or in-kind contributions. Total project costs must be at least $20,000 or greater.
Challenge America supports arts projects in all artistic disciplines, including Artist Communities, Arts Education, Dance, Design, Folk & Traditional Arts, Literary Arts, Local Arts Agencies, Media Arts, Museums, Music, Musical Theater, Opera, Presenting & Multidisciplinary Arts, Theater, and Visual Arts.
Possible projects include, but are not limited to: arts programming, including commissioning or presentation of artists or artwork; marketing and promotional activities; and organizational planning.
This category may be a good entry point for organizations that are new to applying for federal funding.
Application Deadline: April 27, 2023
