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RuBA provides business training, mentorship, and funding up to $25K
Program to be delivered in English and Spanish
The Audacity Institute is accepting applications for the Rural Business Assistance Program (RuBA). to support small business, startups, side gigs or an amazing business idea.
Participants in the RuBA program will receive loans that will be forgiven upon completion of a nine-month online business training and mentorship program through the Audacity Institute.
“The RuBA program was designed to provide funding and support for business owners and those with amazing ideas,” said Danielle Rees from the Audacity Institute. “Audacity will provide mentoring and business training with peer support from a cohort of other Nevada rural business owners. The virtual training will require just a three-hour commitment per month over the nine-month program.”
Funds of up to $25,000 will be deposited in October after the first education session and one-on-one mentoring has been completed.
Qualified applications will:
• Have a business or business idea with less than $2 million in annual sales
• Be based in rural Nevada (which excludes the City of Reno, City of Sparks, and Clark County)
• Have been impacted by COVID-19
The online application closes on September 3rd at 11:59 p.m. Applications are available in English and Spanish and can be accessed at: RubaNV.com.
Audacity will provide application assistance in both Spanish and English at: 775-470-7789 or info@audacityinstitute.org.
RuBA is funded by a Community Development Block Grant from the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development.
Learn How to Access Capital to Start | Grow | Expand Your Business
WHEN
Tuesday, August 17, 2021 9:00 – 10:00am Pacific Time
Join the Nevada Small Business Administration and Nevada Small Business Development Center to meet Nevada lenders.
This program aligns with a Western Nevada Development District Economic Recovery and Resiliency Plan strategy to connect small businesses with financial resources. These efforts continue to promote the region as a place where small businesses, entrepreneurs, and high-tech companies can start, build and grow.
The webinar features a panel discussion with loan officers from four Nevada lenders and an SBA representative. You will learn how to prepare for your next loan pitch, how lenders make their loan decisions, tips from the lenders on how to improve your loan pitch, and steps you could take to mitigate challenges when accessing capital.
ABOUT SBA
SBA maintains a local network of partners to counsel, mentor, and train small businesses. These independent organizations funded by the SBA provide high-quality training and counseling designed to meet the specific needs of small business owners and new entrepreneurs— for free or at a low cost. These SBA-approved experts can help create a successful business plan, get expert advice on expanding a business, or train a business team.
Collected by the Western Nevada Development District
Economic development grants and loans can help revitalize and build sustainability in urban, rural, and tribal communities. Strategic investments help support local economies, create jobs, and attract private investments to better residents’ lives. Every first Friday, the Western Nevada Development District will share our Five for Friday; grant programs from a variety of sources that can help the region navigate economic recovery from the pandemic, support volunteer fire departments or bring connectivity to tribal lands.
Investing in America’s Communities
The Economic Development Administration (EDA) is investing $3 billion from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan which will enable the EDA to provide larger, more transformational investments across the nation in six grant categories while utilizing its greatest strengths, including flexible funding to support community-led economic development. This is the largest economic development initiative from the Department of Commerce in decades and will help communities across the country impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Upcoming EDA webinars that will take a deep dive on the grant categories:
Economic Adjustment Assistance Webinar
Monday, August 9 @ 2pm EST
Indigenous Communities Webinar
Tuesday, August 10 @ 2pm EST
Good Jobs Challenge Webinar
Thursday, August 12 @ 2pm EST
EDA American Rescue Plan Programs | U.S. Economic Development Administration
Every Nevadan Recovers
The State of Nevada has launched its Nevada Recovers website to solicit ideas and projects for monies the state will receive from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) which will allocate a total of $6.7 billion to the state through a wide number of programs and services, such as K-12 education, vaccine distribution, food security, consumer protection, housing assistance, direct payments to taxpayers, and additional unemployment insurance assistance. The ARP also includes direct aid to State and local governments, which should deliver $2.7 billion to the State of Nevada, with counties and local governments expected to receive an additional $1 billion (collectively). Along with the digital survey found on the website, the State Treasurer’s office has kicked off a 75-day “Nevada Recovers Listening Tour” to connect with communities all over Nevada to get ideas on how the state could spend the money.
Two of the upcoming Town Hall meetings have been announced in the WNDD region:
August 10th, 5:00 pm: Pershing County – Pershing Community Center, Lovelock
August 12th, 1:30 pm: Mineral County – Hawthorne Ordnance Museum
Volunteer Fire Departments
The Leary Firefighters Foundation’s Jeremiah Lucey Grant Program provides funds to paid and volunteer departments in three areas of support: training, with the goal of enhancing the professional development of departments; equipment, with the goal of providing the best equipment to help keep firefighters and the communities they serve safe; and technology, with the goal of ensuring that fire departments update along with technological advances. Grants typically range from $5,000 to $25,000. Deadline: Letters of Intent 8/15/2021; invited applications 10/1/2021. Visit the Foundation’s website to review the guidelines for the Jeremiah Lucey Grant Program.
Urban and Community Forestry Program
This program provides funding to local governments, educational institutions, Native –American tribal governments and non-profit groups for urban forestry projects. Proposed programs should foster partnerships reflecting the ongoing effort to provide healthy, safe and livable neighborhoods are highly encouraged. This grant program is part of Nevada’s ongoing initiative to provide funding for urban tree inventory and analysis, management planning, urban forestry awareness, education and outreach projects, and new urban tree plantings. Grant applications are open, and are awarded on an open and continuing basis They range from a minimum of $2,000 to a maximum grant request for urban forestry management planning, inventory, or tree assessments of $30,000.
Urban and Community Forestry Program
Broadband Service on Tribal Land
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has grants available for broadband service on Tribal Lands that promote the use of broadband to access remote learning, telework or telehealth resources during the Covid -19 pandemic. NTIA expects to make awards under this program within the following funding ranges: Broadband Infrastructure Deployment Projects: Between $1 million and $50 million. Broadband Adoption and Use Projects: $50,000 to $2.5 million. Deadline is September 1, 2021.
CEDS Priority Projects Identified
The Summer 2021 edition of the Western Nevada Development District (WNDD)’s Economic Recovery Update shares how WNDD’s Economic Recovery & Resiliency Plan is moving into the action phase. Plus, it details how the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy Update has identified the region’s top infrastructure projects and workforce programs that promote economic recovery, community resiliency and job growth in top-paying industries. The update also shares information on the Economic Development Administration’s unprecedented $3 billion economic development initiative under the American Rescue Plan Act.
Part of a CARES Act Supplemental Award for the U.S., the Update aims to support the revitalization, expansion, and improvement of distressed communities’ infrastructure with a comprehensive goal to attract industry, encourage business retention, growth and recruitment, and generate sustainable private-sector jobs and investments.
This monthly newsletter is part of WNDD’s effort to identify and develop strategies to create and build a more resilient economy in our region, plus the latest in available grant opportunities.
$3 Billion in Funding Immediately Available to Communities Across the Country
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo announced six programs, collectively called Investing in America’s Communities, that the Economic Development Administration (EDA) will execute to equitably invest the $3 billion it received from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
This is the largest economic development initiative from the Department of Commerce in decades and will help communities across the country impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
In this morning’s White House press conference, Secretary Raimondo said all grant awards will be evaluated “through an equity lens.” The return on the EDA investments will be measured through job creation, she added.
WNDD staff will keep membership posted as more information on Rescue Plan grant distribution becomes available through the EDA and how CEDS-supported projects can be aligned with these investment categories.
Investing in America’s Communities includes:
1. Build Back Better Regional Challenge ($1 billion) will capitalize on American ingenuity and American workers by providing a transformational investment to regions across the country to revitalize their economies.
2. Good Jobs Challenge ($500 million) is designed to help get Americans back in good-paying jobs. The program will develop and strengthen regional workforce training systems and sector-based partnerships with a focus on programs targeted at women, people of color and historically underserved communities.
3. Economic Adjustment Assistance ($500 million) grants will help hundreds of communities across the nation plan, build, innovate, and put people back to work through projects tailored to meet local needs.
4. Indigenous Communities ($100 million) program will work hand-in-hand with Tribal Governments and Indigenous communities to develop and execute economic development projects they need to recover from the pandemic and build economies for the future.
5. Travel, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation ($750 million) program will focus on revitalizing the hard-hit travel, tourism, and outdoor recreation industries and accelerate the recovery of communities that rely on these sectors.
6. Statewide Planning, Research and Networks ($90 million) grants include funding for state planning efforts as well as grants to build Communities of Practice to extend technical assistance to support EDA’s work with grantees.
Additionally, EDA is making a Coal Communities Commitment, allocating $300 million to ensure support for these communities as they recover from the pandemic and create new jobs and opportunities, including through the creation or expansion of a new industry sector.
The EDA and the American Rescue Plan Funding Opportunities are providing informational webinars which will be held on July 27, 2021 and July 29, 2021.
Collected by the Western Nevada Development District
Economic development grants and loans can help revitalize and build sustainability in urban, rural, and tribal communities. Strategic investments help support local economies, create jobs, and attract private investments to better residents’ lives. Every first Friday, the Western Nevada Development District will share our Five for Friday; grant programs from a variety of sources that can help kickstart a business, raise up a neighborhood or integrate the arts into the community.
Federal Funding for Rural Communities
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s COVID-19 Federal Rural Resource Guide organizes funding opportunities identified in the CARES Act and other federal resources that can help support rural America. This resource matrix organizes funding opportunities identified in stimulus bills and other federal resources that can help support rural America. Opportunities are categorized by customer and assistance type.
Rural Innovation Stronger Economy
Rural Innovation Stronger Economy (RISE) is intended to help rural communities identify and maximize local assets and connect to networks and industry clusters within their region. The new grant encourages a regional, innovation-driven approach to economic development. RISE grant funds can be used to build or support business incubators, provide worker training, or re-train workers for higher paying jobs. Grant ceiling is $10 million
USDA Launches Grant Program to Help Expand Regional Economies and Create High-Wage Jobs in Distressed Rural Communities | USDA
Application deadline: August 2, 2021.
Rural Innovation Stronger Economy (RISE)
Our Town
Our Town OUR TOWN | National Endowment for the Arts is the National Endowment for the Arts’ creative placemaking grants program. These grants support projects that integrate arts, culture, and design activities into efforts that strengthen communities by advancing local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes.
Successful Our Town projects ultimately lay the groundwork for systems changes that sustain the integration of arts, culture, and design into local strategies for strengthening communities. These projects require a partnership between a nonprofit organization and a local government entity, with one of the partners being a cultural organization. Cost share/matching grants range from $25,000 to $150,000, with a minimum cost share/match equal to the grant amount.
Application deadline: August 5, 2021.
Our Town National Endowment for the Arts
Community Navigator Pilot Program The SBA
Community Navigator Pilot Program allocates grants to eligible organizations which promote awareness of and participation in SBA programs among small businesses in underserved communities. The program is designed to promote the use of SBA COVID relief programs and other SBA programs by small businesses owned and controlled by:
• Women
• Veterans
• Socially and economically disadvantaged small business concerns as defined by section 8(a)(4)(A) of the Small Business Act, including economically disadvantaged minorities and other disadvantaged individuals
Competitive grant awards will range from $1 million to $5 million for a two-year performance period.
Application deadline: July 23, 2021.
Community Navigator Pilot Program Notice of Funding Opportunity
Tribal Tourism Grant Program
The Department of Interior solicits proposals from federally recognized Tribes to receive grants to support Tribal tourism feasibility studies and/or Tribal tourism business plan development. The Program supports Tribes to increase capacity of Tribes to plan, develop and manage tourism and related infrastructure in support of economic development and the NATIVE Act.
Application deadline: August 6, 2021.
The Western Nevada Development District shared the big picture view of the grant opportunities, priorities and programs offered by the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) in an informational webinar event that gave the low down for developing a competitive grant application for your organization.
The webinar features: