Deadline: 22-Nov-22
The Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development (MDARD) is offering a grant opportunity to promote the sustainability of land-based industries and support infrastructure that benefits rural communities.
Land-based industries included:
- Food and Agriculture
- Forestry
- Mining
- Oil and Gas Production
- Tourism
The grant funds are available for projects that address expansion and sustainability of land-based industries; worker training related to land-based industries; and energy, transportation, communications, water and wastewater infrastructure to benefit rural communities and micropolitan statistical areas.
Funding Information
- The maximum limit on grant fund requests is $100,000.
Funding Areas
- Funding will be focused on the following types of projects in rural areas:
- Infrastructure Development: Examples of projects could be roadways, bridges, renewable energy, wastewater, rural housing, broadband, etc.
- Rural Capacity Building: Examples of projects include museums, local and regional tourism campaigns, technical assistant programs, shared service models, feasibility studies, etc.
- Business Development: Examples for projects include business expansion ensuring long-term creation or retention of jobs with a strong local and/or regional impact. For this year, projects with a focus on livestock processing are encouraged.
- Talent Development and Training: Examples of projects include local and regional workforce development programs, workforce training, rural housing projects, childcare, etc.
Eligibility Criteria
- Individuals
- Organizations
- Businesses
- Local Units of Government (county, city, township, village, school district; any authority composed of counties, cities, townships, villages and school districts or combination of these entities)
- Federally Recognized Tribes
- Educational Institutions
Ineligible
- Projects or applicants in the following counties are not eligible for grant funding:
- Bay, Berrien, Calhoun, Clinton, Eaton, Genesee, Ingham, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Kent, Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Midland, Monroe, Muskegon, Oakland, Ottawa, Saginaw, Saint Clair, Van Buren, Washtenaw, and Wayne.
- State agencies are not eligible for grant funding.
- Indirect costs are not allowed under this grant program. Indirect costs are defined as the expenses of doing business that are not readily identified within the project but are necessary for the general operation of the organization and the implementation proposal related activities.
- Projects that include telecommunications facilities owned or operated by an educational institution or an affiliate, a local unit of government or any other government entity.
- The construction of telecommunication facilities or wireless telecommunication facilities in areas where broadband services of at least three mbps downstream and 768 kbps upstream are available.
For more information, visit https://www.michigan.gov/mdard/business-development/grantfund/rural-development-fund-grants
