The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) announces the availability of funding for local governments of rural counties and municipalities through the Rural Infrastructure Fund (RIF) grant program.
Donor Name: Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO)
State: Florida
County: Selected Counties
City: Selected Cities
Town: Dundee and Jay
Village: Indiantown
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 08/31/2022
Size of the Grant: $30 million
Details:
The RIF program is intended to facilitate access of rural communities to infrastructure funding programs, such as those offered by the Small Cities Community Development Block Grant, United States Department of Agriculture – Rural Development, and the United States Department of Commerce – Economic Development Administration.
This program provides reimbursement grants to facilitate the planning, preparing, and financing of infrastructure projects in rural communities, which will encourage job creation, capital investment, and the strengthening and diversification of rural economies. This program is also intended to facilitate access to other state and federal infrastructure funding programs.
A total of $30 million in funding is available through RIF for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-2023. Funding in the amount of $25 million is available for eligible rural communities statewide. Additionally, $5 million is available through the Florida Panhandle Specific Appropriation.
Eligibility Criteria
- RIF funds are available to units of local government within an area designated as a Rural Area of Opportunity or a rural county or community as defined by section 288.0656, Florida Statutes.
- “Rural area of opportunity” means a rural community, or a region composed of rural communities, designated by the Governor, which has been adversely affected by an extraordinary economic event, severe or chronic distress, or a natural disaster or that presents a unique economic development opportunity of regional impact.
- “Rural community” means:
- A county with a population of 75,000 or fewer.
- A county with a population of 125,000 or fewer which is contiguous to a county with a population of 75,000 or fewer.
- A municipality within a county described in the two bullets above.
- An unincorporated federal enterprise community or an incorporated rural city with a population of 25,000 or fewer and an employment base focused on traditional agricultural or resourcebased industries, located in a county not defined as rural, which has at least three or more of the economic distress factors identified in Section 288.0656(1)(c) and verified by the DEO.
For more information, visit FDEO.
