We expect USDA to launch the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program in the coming month. The program will make grants to organizations that provide technical assistance and make small loans to rural small businesses. We also received great news in the president’s budget, which proposes expanded funding for the program from $4 million to $26 million annually.

Organizing staff from the Center for Rural Affairs have traveled from Wisconsin to Oregon and places in between to promote the new program that we won with the help of allies and supporters as a part of the 2008 farm bill. The release of the administration's budget is an excellent start in the effort to expand the reach of the program.

 

We will let you know when the program is launched and when your call or letter to Washington can help.

Contact: Brian Depew, 402.687.2103 x1015, briand@cfra.org for more information or to be added to a list to receive notifications about the program.

 

Watch for the next issue of the Center’s Rural Brief series, a periodic examination of federal rural development and asset-building policy and funding. We’ll look at President Obama’s recently-released fiscal year 2010 budget. To receive the Rural Brief, please contact Kim Preston at 402.687.2100 or kimp@cfra.org.