Regional Rural Development Grant

The Regional Rural Development Grant is a FloridaCommerce program established by Section 288.018, Florida Statutes, to support regional approaches to rural economic development. The program is intended to encourage rural communities to leverage limited resources by working through regional economic development organizations. Its stated objectives are to help rural communities attract new businesses, grow existing businesses, and build the innovative and adaptive capacity of rural leaders who are active in community decision-making. The program therefore emphasizes cooperation across rural counties and the development and implementation of long-term regional economic strategies. Eligible applicants are organizations made up of two or more contiguous rural counties that agree to cooperatively establish an economic or tourism development office. The participating organization must have a desire to develop, promote, and implement sound economic strategies designed to improve quality of life in the areas it serves. The source specifically states that consultants may not apply. Because eligibility is framed around regional organizations composed of multiple contiguous rural counties rather than a generally available class of governmental, nonprofit, business, or individual applicants, applicants must satisfy the organizational and geographic structure described by FloridaCommerce. An organization may receive up to $50,000, or up to $250,000 if it represents two or more rural counties, is recommended by the Rural Economic Development Initiative, and is designated by the Governor. The source does not provide an overall amount of funding available through the program or a stated number of awards. It also does not identify an explicit cost-share or matching percentage or ratio. Applicants are, however, required to provide letters of support and documentation of financial or in-kind support from each partner listed on the application. This partner-support documentation is treated as an application requirement rather than as a quantified matching requirement because the source does not state that a specific match must be provided. Applicants must provide a current organizational strategic plan, letters of support and documentation of financial or in-kind support from every partner listed on the application, and a full organizational budget. An organization that does not have a current strategic plan will be required to use a portion of its awarded funds to develop or update its strategic plan. This is the only explicit spending condition stated in the supplied program information. The source does not provide additional allowable-cost categories, prohibited-cost categories, a stated performance period, formal scoring criteria, or a numerical evaluation framework. Applications are available on a continuous basis until all funds are awarded. No fixed application opening date, final calendar deadline, letter of intent deadline, concept paper deadline, or other pre-application gating deadline is stated. FloridaCommerce will review and verify applications within ten days of receipt and notify applicants of any deficiencies. Applicants seeking an application or assistance with completing an application are directed to contact the Regional Rural Development Grant program. Because applications are continuously available while funds remain, the opportunity is treated as rolling rather than as a recurring grant competition with a separately calculated future cycle. The named program contact is Cristin Beshears for the Regional Rural Development Grant, with telephone number 850-717-8486. Although the supplied source includes the label "Email," it does not provide an actual email address, so no email address can be recorded from the source. Correspondence may be directed to the Bureau of Small Cities and Rural Communities - RRDG Program, 107 East Madison Street, The Caldwell Building, Tallahassee, FL 32399. No direct PDF application, NOFO, RFP, or grant-guidelines URL is supplied. The source indicates that applicants may contact FloridaCommerce to request an application or receive assistance with completing one.

Provide all required partner letters and financial or in-kind support documentation; submit a current organizational strategic plan or account for the requirement to use a portion of awarded funds to develop or update the plan; include a full organizational budget. FloridaCommerce reviews and verifies applications within ten days of receipt and notifies applicants of deficiencies.