Business Programs

	Alaska

Business and Cooperative Programs

[ Home ] [ B&I Guaranteed Loans ] [ Intermediary Relending ] [ Rural Business Enterprise Grants ] [ Rural Business Opportunity Grants ] [ Rural Economic Development Loans and Grants ] [Value-Added Agricultural Product Market Development Grants]

Promoting a dynamic business environment in rural Alaska is the goal of USDA Rural Development’s varied business programs. These programs work in partnership with private sector and community-based organizations to provide financial assistance and business planning. They help fund projects that create or preserve quality jobs and/or promote a clean rural environment. The financial resources of USDA Rural Development are often leveraged with those of other public and private credit source lenders to meet business and credit needs throughout rural Alaska.

Business and Industry Guaranteed Loans

The Business and Industry (B&I) Guaranteed Loan Program helps create jobs and stimulates rural economies by providing financial backing for rural businesses. This program provides guarantees up to 90 percent of a loan made by a commercial lender. Loan proceeds may be used for working capital, machinery and equipment, buildings and real estate, and certain types of debt refinancing. The primary purpose is to create and maintain employment and improve the economic climate in rural Alaska. This is achieved by expanding the lending capability of private lenders in rural areas, helping them make and service quality loans that provide lasting community benefits. This program represents a true private-public partnership.

B&I loan guarantees can be extended to loans made by eligible lenders in all areas of Alaska outside the Municipality of Anchorage.

Assistance under the B&I Guaranteed Loan Program is available to virtually any legally organized entity, including a cooperative, corporation, partnership, trust or other profit or nonprofit entity, Indian tribe or federally recognized tribal group, municipality, county, or other political subdivision of a state.

Intermediary Relending Program

The Purpose of the Intermediary Relending Program (IRP) is to finance business facilities and community development projects in rural areas. This is achieved through loans made by the Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS) to intermediaries. Intermediaries relend funds to ultimate recipients for business facilities or community development. Intermediaries establish revolving loan funds so collections from loans made to ultimate recipients in excess of necessary operating expenses and debt payments will be used for more loans to ultimate recipients.

Who May Borrow?

Intermediaries may be private nonprofit corporations, public agencies, Indian groups, or cooperatives.

Ultimate recipients may be private or public organizations or individuals.

Rural Business Enterprise Grants

USDA Rural Development makes grants to public bodies, private nonprofit corporations, and federally-recognized Indian tribal groups to finance and facilitate development of small and emerging private business enterprises.

Eligible uses of funds are: technical assistance (providing assistance for marketing studies, feasibility studies, business plans, training etc.) to small and emerging businesses; purchasing machinery and equipment to lease to a small and emerging business; creating a revolving loan fund (providing partial funding as a loan to a small and emerging business for the purchase of equipment, working capital, or real estate); or to construct a building for a business incubator for small and emerging businesses. GRANT FUNDS DO NOT GO DIRECTLY TO THE BUSINESS.

Eligibility is limited to public bodies, private nonprofit corporations, and federally recognized Indian tribal groups. Public bodies include incorporated cities and towns and villages, boroughs, townships, counties, States, authorities, districts, Indian reservations, and other federally-recognized Indian tribal groups in rural areas. The small and emerging businesses to be assisted must have less than 50 new employees, less than $1 million in gross annual revenues, and be located outside the Municipality of Anchorage.

Rural Business Opportunity Grants

Rural Business Opportunity Grants (RBOG) are made to promote sustainable economic development in rural communities with exceptional needs. This is accomplished by making grants to pay costs of providing economic planning for rural communities, technical assistance for rural businesses, or training for rural entrepreneurs or economic development officials.

To be eligible for a RBOG applicants must be a public body, nonprofit corporation, Indian tribe, or a cooperative with members that are primarily rural residents. They must have significant expertise in the activities they propose to carry out with the grant funds, and the financial strength to ensure they can accomplish the objectives of the proposed grant. They must be able to show that the funding will result in economic development of rural area (any area of Alaska that is not within the boundaries of a city with a population in excess of 10,000 inhabitants.) The project must include a basis for determining the success or failure of the project and assessing its impact.

Rural Economic Development Loans and Grants

Loan Purpose

Provides zero-interest loans to electric and telephone utilities financed by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, to promote sustainable rural economic development and job creation projects.

Reference: Section 313 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 and 7 CFR 1703, Subpart B.

Eligibility and Disposition of Loan Proceeds

Zero-interest loans can be made, at the discretion of the Administrator of the Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS), to any RUS electric or telephone utility that is not delinquent on any federal debt or in bankruptcy proceedings.

The RUS utility is required to relend, at zero percent interest, the loan proceeds to an eligible "third-party recipient" for the purpose of financing job creation projects and sustainable economic development within rural areas. Priority is given to financing third-party recipient projects that are physically located in rural areas having a population of less than 2,500 people.

The RUS utility receiving the zero-interest loan is responsible for repaying the loan to RBS in the event of delinquency or default by the third-party recipient.

Third Party Recipients

Third-party recipients may be private or public organizations having corporate and legal authority to incur debt. If you are interested in a loan as a third-party recipient, you must apply to the RUS utility in your area, not RBS.

Grant Purpose

Provides grant funds to electric and telephone utilities financed by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, to promote sustainable rural economic development and job creation projects through the operation of a revolving loan fund program.

Reference: Section 313 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 and 7 CFR 1703, Subpart B.

Eligibility and Use of Grant Proceeds

Grants can be made, at the discretion of the Administrator of the Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS), to any RUS electric or telephone utility that is not delinquent on any federal debt or in bankruptcy proceedings.

The RUS utility is required to operate and administer a revolving loan fund program using the grant proceeds. The fund will be operated by the RUS utility in accordance with an RBS-approved revolving loan fund plan.

To establish the revolving loan fund, the RUS utility is required to contribute to the fund an amount equal to 20 percent of the grant. This contribution will be provided by the RUS utility from its own sources and will remain as part of the fund until the fund is terminated.

Value-Added Agricultural Product Market Development Grants

Value-Added Agricultural Product Market Development Grants (VADG) was authorized by the Agriculture Risk Protection Act of 2000 and has two primary objectives. The first is to encourage independent producers of agricultural commodities to furthered refine these products increasing their value to end users. The second objective is to establish an Information resource center to collect, disseminate, coordinate, and provide information on value-added processing to independent producers and processors.

Business and Cooperative Programs is also committed to supporting the President's National Energy Plan. Business and Cooperative Programs' energy web page addresses energy issues important to agriculture and agribusiness; identifies loans and grants that are energy related; and provides useful links to other energy websites.

Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Grants and Guaranteed Loans

Purpose: Enables the purchase of renewable energy systems and makes energy efficiency improvements for agriculture producers and rural small businesses in eligible rural areas.

Funding is available in the form of grants and loan guarantees. In addition to stand-alone grants and loan guarantees, applicants may apply for combination loan guarantee and grant funding (combination package).

For renewable energy systems, the minimum grant is $2,500 and the maximum is $500,000. For energy efficiency improvements, the minimum grant is $1,500 and the maximum is $250,000.

USDA Rural Development Alaska State Office
800 W. Evergreen, Suite 201
Palmer, Alaska 99645
(907)761-7705 (phone) - (907)761-7783 (fax)
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