Growing businesses from the ground up in rural Oklahoma can be difficult, but at Rural Development we have programs designed to help our brightest entrepreneurs. As program director for one of the top funding agencies for rural businesses in America - and previously to that an economic development assistant in rural Oklahoma – I understand how difficult it can be to not only start a business but to be successful. Something I want to accomplish is to help not only our business startups, but also bring much needed sales tax revenue to our rural communities.
Small business funding is one of the most sought-after assistance within the Rural Business Cooperative Services (RBCS) section of USDA Rural Development. While RBCS cannot directly assist a small business with capital needs through grant funding, we can work with public entities to provide that assistance through the Rural Business Development Grant Program.
Through the years we have seen incredible success with this program. The Town of Laverne is now home to a commercial kitchen incubator available for small food business owners to lease in order to create their delicious canned and packaged food items. The City of Comanche acquired a run-down roadside motel and updated it to create a space for small business owners to lease once a month as vendors at the Chisholm Trail Trading Post’s Second Monday Trade Days. Hoboken Coffee in Guthrie was able to reduce their ten-year plan down to five years by working with Logan County EDC to purchase a larger roaster. This has allowed Hoboken Coffee to expand into the wholesale market. Rural Enterprises Inc was able to provide a 12-month training program to small businesses and entrepreneurs through their Women’s Business Center and Main Street Altus created a strategic plan for their main street district. We have seen our Native American Tribal partners create revolving loan funds to assist multiple small businesses within their tribal jurisdictions for many years as they continue to revolve their funds that were granted to them through Native American Set-aside dollars.
There are some key things to note when applying for this program. The grant is designed to assist businesses in rural areas of the state that have less than 50 employees and less than $1 million in gross annual revenue at the time of application. Assistance can look like a piece of equipment; real estate; training or technical assistance. While the business itself is unable to directly apply for funds, they benefit as the ultimate recipient of the funding. Public entities, such as municipalities, Native American Tribes, Institutes of Higher Education and some nonprofit organizations are eligible to apply for funds that they will in turn use to assist a small and emerging business. Public entities may also apply for funds to contract services with a third party to create a strategic economic development plan for a rural community or area; or to create a revolving loan fund to assist multiple businesses who may not be ready for conventional financing. This entity must also identify a small and emerging business, located in a rural area, as the ultimate recipient of the funds.
Applications are accepted once a year, with this year’s deadline being February 28. Applications should be submitted via email to our staff. The RBDG program is a jobs driven program, it is important to share in the scope of work how the project will create or retain jobs in the rural community. While there is no maximum to apply for, the average grant amount funded with state allocated dollars is $100,000, so it should be noted that we cannot fund partial projects and all funds needed for the project will be verified prior to selection of the recipients.
Our staff is available to discuss potential projects with you and provide you with the information and forms you need to submit your application. For more information, please contact the Oklahoma RBCS staff at OKBusiness@usda.gov or 405-742-1060.