Iowa’s Rural Innovation Grant program is offering a new round of funding to help rural communities jumpstart projects designed to address some of their current issues and challenges.
The program is seeking to support creative ideas that focus on community investment, growth and connection in rural Iowa towns and cities.
The Iowa Rural Innovation Grant Program includes three distinct funding options:
- Rural Grocery: With food security becoming a critical issue, rural grocery stores play an important role in rural prosperity by being a local anchor business contributing to the vitality of rural places. They offer employment opportunities, provide healthy and fresh foods, and keep wealth in the community. Applicants may request up to $25,000 for technology upgrades and/or adoption of new approaches to service delivery.
- Rural Food Processors: Iowa has a strong focus on rural agriculture, including value-added ag products and has seen significant growth in the small food processor industry. The goal of this program is to provide critical information, services, and resources to existing small businesses on the verge of growth. Applicants may request up to $5,000 for equipment or technology upgrades, or support services to help the business meet industry regulations and strategically grow the business.
- Economic Gardening: This will assist local companies with identifying new markets. It will use sophisticated tools for strategic research. That combined with analytical frameworks will help local companies scale up and create jobs and wealth in rural communities. Companies will be connected to a team of specialists through the National Center for Economic Gardening. The team will use corporate tools to find new markets, provide competitive intelligence, identify industry trends, assess digital marketing efforts, and find qualified leads. Applicants may request up to $5,000 to contract with the center and implement recommendations.
Aiding rural communities
It’s administered by the Center for Rural Revitalization, a division of the Iowa Economic Development Authority. IEDA works with the Governor’s Empower Rural Iowa Initiative Task Forces. The Center for Rural Revitalization is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Empower Rural Iowa (ERI) initiative. It implements ERI task force recommendations, acts as a liaison to rural communities, and helping small communities access programs.
To qualify for a Rural Innovation Grant, the applicant must be an Iowa business incorporated in the state or authorized to do business and is operating in the state. Eligible projects must exist and benefit an Iowa community whose population is 20,000 or less.
The project may not be contiguous to a city with a population of 40,000 or more. If the application is for a countywide project, it must be located in one of the 88 least populous counties.
The application process, which opened Sept. 3 on IowaGrants.gov, will close at 4 p.m., Friday, Oct. 25. Applicants must apply online through IowaGrants.gov. To view a full application, you must create an IowaGrants.gov login.
To learn more and apply for the Rural Innovation Grants, visit here.
