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Grant Details:
Application Due Date: December 2010 est

Description: 

Overview:

Grant funding for community centers, fire stations, fire trucks, specialized life-saving equipment such as "jaws of life" and protective clothing worn by fire fighters.

Eligibility:

In accordance with the State of Arkansas Five Year Plan for Arkansas Housing, Community and Economic Development Programs the following entities are eligible for funding under the Rural Services Block Grant Program (RSBGP):

• Incorporated and unincorporated cities and towns in RURAL Arkansas with less than 3,000 people (verifiable by current US census information)
• Population must be at least 51% low to moderate income (LMI). A complete list of Arkansas community LMI percentages is available on the DRS website at www.arkansas.gov/drs.
• In keeping with our enabling legislation, a rural area is defined for the purpose of this program as “all the territory of the State of Arkansas that is not within the outer boundary of any city or town having a population of 20,000 or more according to the latest federal census or within such a city or town’s neighboring urbanized areas.

For forms and instructions about determining LMI Eligibility for your area See Attachment 1- Determining and Documenting Benefit to Low and Moderate Income Families which has been extracted from the Arkansas Community and Economic Development Program (ACEDP) Guidelines administered by the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.

Project Eligibility:

In keeping with the Arkansas Department of Economic Development’s 5-Year Consolidated Plan, applications for Rural Services Block Grant Program (RSBGP) grant funds will be accepted for the following type projects (please contact the RSBGP Grants Coordinator to ensure that your project is eligible):

• New construction or renovation of community centers or multi-purpose use buildings for the
betterment of the community
• New construction or renovation of fire stations
• Purchase of fire trucks, specialized life-saving equipment such as “jaws of life” and protective clothing worn by fire fighters

Question about project eligibility please contact the RSBGP Coordinator at 1-888-787-2527.

Funding Avaliable:

A total of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) is available for distribution under the Rural Services Block Grant Program (RSBGP).

Eligible projects may submit application for up to $30,000 (excluding possible administrative fees). It is possible that the ARDC will accept requests up to $50,000 (including possible administrative fees) if the project is deemed extraordinary. Before any requests above $30,000 are submitted, you must send a request letter explaining your need to:

Butch Calhoun, Director
Department of Rural Services
101 East Capitol, Suite 202
Little Rock, AR 72201

Matching Requirements:

The RSBGP is a nine to one matching program. This requires that the applicant must be able to match its grant award with cash, in-kind labor, in-kind materials, or land at a rate of one dollar to every nine grant dollars (10%). Land used for matching purposes must be owned by the city or county applying.

How to Apply:

The RSBGP application process requires that communities hold a public hearing and submit an application to be considered for grant funds. The process is as follows:

Public Hearing Requirement
Prior to application submission, applicants will need to hold a public hearing to document the need for the project. All public hearings should be publicized in the appropriate local media at least 7 calendar days before they are to be held, and the hearing should be conducted no later than 2 weeks prior to the application deadline.

Application Submission
Applicants must submit an original application and 1 complete copy of the application to the Department of Rural Services by the application deadline. Applications will be reviewed by the Department of Rural Services for completeness and the RSBGP Grant Review Committee will review eligibility and all complete and eligible applications. The grant review committee will formulate funding recommendations, which will be reviewed and approved by the full ARDC and the Governor’s Grant Review Committee.

Selected Applications
Applications recommended for funding by the Department of Rural Services will be notified in writing and will work with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission throughout the remainder of the project. It is imperative that selected communities wait for instructions from AEDC before beginning any part of their project.

Deadline:

December 11, 2009

Proposal Guidelines and Application

Organization Information:
Organization: Arkansas Department of Rural Services
Website: http://www.arkansas.gov/drs/index.html

Contact Information:
Contact Name: Department of Rural Services
Contact Email: Rural.Arkansas@arkansas.gov
Contact Phone: 1-888-787-2527

More Information:
http://www.arkansas.gov/drs/forms/documents/RuralServicesBlockGrantApplication.doc