Rural Business Opportunity Grant (RBOG)

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The RBOG program promotes sustainable economic development in rural communities with exceptional needs through provision of training and technical assistance for business development, entrepreneurs, and economic development officials and to assist with economic development planning. Rural Development is participating in the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP), which is a new Administration-wide initiative that will accelerate the resurgence of manufacturing and help cultivate an environment for businesses to create well-paying manufacturing jobs in regions across the country. The IMCP is designed to reward communities that demonstrate best practices in attracting and expanding manufacturing by using long-term planning that integrates targeted investments in workforce training, infrastructure, research, and other key assets. The IMCP is being initiated in FY 2013 as EDA, USDA, SBA and EPA each provide funding for regional implementation strategy grants. The agencies will allocate funding through existing programs to advance this critical national priority. Strategies developed by these grants, as well as existing strategies and those otherwise under development, will enhance regions’ efforts to compete for future proposed large scale IMCP grants (10 to 100 times the size of the implementation strategy grants). These grants will be given to communities with the best strategies for attracting private investment. IMCP partner agencies will coordinate funding across agencies in order to leverage complementary activities while also preventing duplication of efforts. Specific information on how applicants can participate in IMCP can be found at Section V.10 of this Notice.

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