by Matt Dunne, Founder and Executive Director, CORI Today is one of the most significant days of the year for communities across our Rural Innovation Network.
The exact date changes from one year to the next, but the impact never wavers: It’s deadline day for communities applying for a 2023 EDA Build to Scale Venture Challenge grant.
Months and months of work — or more, in some cases — will have gone into the moment they click the “submit” button in the federal application portal. That’s because applying for Build to Scale, unlike other funding opportunities, involves so much more than checking off boxes, writing a quick narrative explaining the need of the region, and pushing a grant over the finish line.
Our Rural Innovation Initiative team has spent the past six months supporting five Network communities through this demanding process, which requires local leaders to take their vision for a tech economy in their community and put it into a clear action plan. Ideas must become tangible — programs and initiatives attached to outputs, roles and resources defined for new personnel. Frequently, this is the first time these economic development organizations have been able to consider hiring staff dedicated to this work rather than just trying to squeeze it in with the rest of their obligations to keep their rural economy afloat.
Giving themselves the permission to believe this could happen is sometimes the biggest challenge.
But that optimism is crucial to bring partner organizations on board and secure sources for hundreds of thousands of dollars of required match funding. The numbers have to add up in the ways that are unique to this application. Every detail needs to be in place to ensure the months of work are not thrown out due to a technical error. And all of it must be in the shape of a compelling, 10-page narrative that explains the need as well as why this project, in this location, with these partners, at this time, can be possible. The planning, fundraising, and execution of this process could amount to a full-time job on top of a rural community leader’s already-full plate.
The communities we’ve worked with this year also exemplify a spectrum of possibility, as well as the growth and evolution of the Build to Scale program itself. One is an established, increasingly dynamic ecosystem seeking a Scale-level grant worth $4 million that would allow it to continue the work it started with a Build-level award. Multiple communities, including one in Vermont, are applying with match funding coming directly from their state governments — an exciting sign that political leaders around the country believe in the potential of this work. Another community is looking to take advantage of the newly created Ignite level, which features the lowest match requirement and can provide a boost to places just starting on their tech-based economic development journey.
In many cases, our work helping communities prepare to apply for Build to Scale grants has equipped them with what they need to succeed with other regional and federal grants. The latest of these opportunities, and one that figures to be incredibly powerful for persistent poverty rural regions, is EDA’s new Recompete Pilot Program. Authorized by the CHIPS Act, this pilot will deploy the first $200 million of the $1 billion program to spur economic activity in geographically diverse and distressed communities across the U.S. With no match requirements and flexibility to build the capacity regions need to strengthen their economies for the long term, this funding opportunity could be transformational.
Yet, the work necessary to put together this kind of application is substantial and regional collaboration will be critical. With the deadline to apply for those resources on the horizon this fall, now is the time for our Network to dream big — and fast — so that our team can help unlock the funds needed to reimagine the landscape of the 21st-century tech economy.
And the opportunity to support this kind of planning capacity is here: The Economic Recovery Corps, set to launch in early 2024, will provide a valuable complement to the funding opportunities I mentioned earlier. The Corps is focused on building the next generation of economic development leaders with an eye toward tech economies. The program will fund 30-month fellowships for more than 60 mid-career professionals, including in eight of our Network communities.
Indeed, with federal resources available like never before, these are heady times for building capacity and momentum for rural communities looking to create tech economies of the future. The excitement is growing, and a new sense of possibility with it. Whether serving as a mentor, a funder or joining the Economic Recovery Corps, we hope you will join us in supporting these efforts at this important moment.
Center on Rural Innovation, 2 Quechee Road, Hartland, Vermont 05048