Regional Economic Business Assistance Program

Regional Economic Business Assistance, commonly referred to as REBA, is a state-funded incentive program administered through the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. The program is designed to enhance Georgia's competitiveness in attracting sizeable economic development projects and to serve as a vehicle for significant local, regional, or statewide initiatives that provide short-term or long-term economic development benefits. REBA is intended to help "close the deal" when a company is considering Georgia and another state or country for a new location or an expansion. The program materials state that REBA funds are generally targeted toward projects in non-rural counties. REBA funding is focused on the fixed-asset needs associated with an economic development project. Eligible uses identified in the program materials include infrastructure, real estate acquisition, construction, and machinery and equipment. These uses allow REBA assistance to support physical assets and improvements associated with a company's location or expansion. The supplied program information does not identify award minimums, award maximums, total available program funding, a specified number of awards, an indirect cost policy, or a defined project or performance period. It also does not state that applicants must provide a cost share or matching contribution. The REBA flyer identifies eligible applicants as general purpose local governments, including municipalities and counties; local government authorities; regional development centers; and state agencies and state authorities. The program overview further establishes a specific application requirement: a local development authority must be the applicant for a REBA application. Accordingly, although the flyer presents a broader list of eligible governmental entities, the application-specific language requires the REBA application itself to be submitted through a local development authority. The program is a Georgia economic development incentive, and the supplied materials do not establish eligibility outside Georgia. A REBA application must be supported by a recommendation letter from a state agency. The program materials state that this recommendation typically comes from the Georgia Department of Economic Development. This recommendation requirement is an identified component of the application process and reflects the program's role as a competitive economic development incentive intended to support projects important to Georgia's ability to compete with another state or country. Beyond the required state-agency recommendation and the requirement that a local development authority serve as the applicant, the supplied materials do not identify a specific application portal, application form, narrative questions, required financial documents, application review steps, or formal scoring criteria. The source materials do not provide an application opening date, application deadline, pre-application deadline, letter of intent deadline, award notification date, or other dated application milestone. They also do not state that applications are accepted continuously or on a rolling basis, nor do they establish an annual, quarterly, biennial, or other recurring application cycle. As a result, no application deadline or future cycle date can be reliably calculated from the supplied information. No previous award recipients or examples of funded projects are identified in the supplied materials. The named program contact is Sherron Alexander Jackson, Incentives Program Consultant, at sherron.alexanderjackson@dca.ga.gov. The REBA flyer also provides the Georgia Department of Community Affairs address at 60 Executive Park South, Atlanta, Georgia 30329, and the telephone number (404) 679-4840. Applicants should use the official program information and contact details to obtain any application instructions, current funding availability, deadlines, award limits, or other requirements that are not specified in the supplied materials.

Frame the project around REBA's purpose of helping close a competitive company location or expansion decision involving Georgia and another state or country, and connect requested funding to eligible fixed-asset needs such as infrastructure, real estate acquisition, construction, or machinery and equipment.