Rural Community Development Initiative Program

The United States Office of Rural Development is an agency which is operating within the United States Department of Agriculture.

The Office of Rural Development is the government’s main agency that is mainly accountable for building programs and techniques that can assist in the improvement of the country’s economy and the people’s standard of living in rural areas.

For the past couple of years, the Office of Rural Development has been operating the Rural Community Development Initiative project wherein they aim to establish the capability and ability of private, nonprofit community-based housing and community development groups and institutions, as well as low-income rural communities to boost their housing, community facilities, and also their economic and community developments projects in certain rural areas.

The Rural Community Development Initiative could be awarded to legitimately capable private, public, and tribal groups or organizations that have the knowledge and capability of offering training and technical assistance to nonprofit community-based housing and community development organizations, as well as low income rural communities.

The activities that are allowed in the project can include:

a) Providing training to intended grant beneficiaries regarding conducting programs on home-ownership education.

b) Providing training to intended grant beneficiaries regarding programs for minority business entrepreneurs.

c) Providing training and technical assistance to intended grant beneficiaries on how to effective prepare strategic plans.

d) Providing training and technical assistance to intended grant beneficiaries on how to access alternative funding sources.

e) Developing organizational capacity by way of board training.

f) Developing training tools, including videos, workbooks, and reference guides for the use of intended grant beneficiaries.

g) Providing training and technical assistance to intended grant beneficiaries on how to develop successful child care facilities.

h) Providing training and technical assistance to intended grant beneficiaries on how to develop effective fundraising strategies.

The grant awards ranges from $50,000 to $500,000 depending on the level of the activities and services included in the application proposals.

Interested groups and organizations can visit the nearest Rural Development field office to acquire further application instructions and documentation.

The applicants of the Rural Community Development Initiative Grants is going to be deemed eligible to submit an application if they’re a qualified public, private, or tribal organization that has the experience and ability to provide technical assistance to nonprofit community-based housing and community development organizations, and low income rural communities.

The program will be made available in the States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia.

In the fiscal year 2007, the Office of the Rural Development has made 38 new grants under the Rural Community Development Initiative project.

Iola Bonggay is an editor of TopGovernmentGrants. She maintains Websites providing resources on government business grants and philanthropy giving.