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Rural Community Development Initiative Grants (RCDI)
Link
Additional Links
Fact Sheet
Notice of Funding Opportunity (Grants.gov)
Deadline
Application Deadline: Jun 28, 2023
Sponsor
USDA Rural Development (USDA RD)
Purpose
Awards funds to intermediary organizations that then offer financial and technical assistance for recipients to develop the skills and capabilities needed to complete housing, community facilities, and community and economic development projects in rural areas. Recipients can be nonprofit housing and community development organizations, low-income rural communities, and federally recognized tribes.
Funds can be used for:
- Training sub-recipients to perform home-ownership and minority business entrepreneur education
- Offering sub-recipients technical assistance related
to:
- Strategic planning development
- Accessing diverse sources of funding
- Board training
- Developing effective child care facilities
- Developing training tools, for example videos, workbooks, and reference guides
- Fundraising strategies
Amount of Funding
Award ceiling: $500,000
Award floor: $50,000
Project period: 3 years
Estimated number of awards: 30
Estimated total program funding:
$6,000,000
$1,600,000 of the of the total funding will be set aside for projects located in persistent poverty counties.
Applicants must provide matching funds equal to or greater than the federal grant amount. Matching contributions must be a cash match or a confirmed funding commitment. In-kind funds may not be used.
Who Can Apply
Entities eligible to apply as intermediaries include:
- Qualified private organizations
- Nonprofit organizations, including faith-based and community organizations and philanthropic foundations
- Public and tribal intermediary organizations
Entities eligible to apply as recipients include:
- Nonprofit community-based housing and development organizations
- Low-income rural communities
- Federally recognized tribes
Funding recipients and beneficiaries, but not the intermediary, must be located in an eligible rural area. The physical location of the recipient's office that will be receiving the financial and technical assistance must be in an eligible rural area. If the recipient is a low-income community, the median household income of the area where the office is located must be at or below 80% of the state or national median household income, whichever is higher.
Under this funding opportunity, rural and rural area are defined as any area other than:
- A city or town with a population greater than 50,000 residents
- An urbanized area contiguous and adjacent to a city or town with a population greater than 50,000 residents
To determine if a specific address is designated as rural for this funding opportunity, check eligible addresses using the Rural Business Services Property Eligibility Tool.
Eligible intermediaries must have been legally organized for a minimum of 3 years and have at least 3 years' experience working with private nonprofit community-based housing and development organizations, rural communities with low-income, or tribal organizations in the areas of housing, community facilities, or community and economic development.
Geographic Coverage
Nationwide
What This Program Funds
Capacity Building
Application Process
Application requirements, instructions, and other information can be found in the Federal Register.
Applications may be submitted electronically through grants.gov, with a deadline of June 28, 2023.
Paper applications must by mailed to the appropriate USDA Rural Development state office by July 3, 2023.
Contact
For program questions:
Shirley Stevenson
202-205-9685
shirley.stevenson@usda.gov
For additional information, contact the appropriate USDA Rural Development state office.
Topics This Program Addresses
Community Planning and Coalition Building • Economic Development • Education and Training • Healthcare Facilities • Housing and Homelessness