Rural America Grant Commemorates Kellogg Foundation Anniversary

To commemorate its 75th Anniversary, the Kellogg Foundation along with the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) is funding a project to foster entrepreneurship across rural regions of the country. The project, Entrepreneurship Development Systems for Rural America, will provide grants to support traditional areas of interest including health, food systems and rural development, youth and education, philanthropy and volunteerism, as well as new opportunities that build on existing programs.

Under the initiative, four projects will be selected for funding of up to $2 million each to conduct research on the state of rural entrepreneurship development and to assist in identifying statewide and regional collaboratives that show potential for creating Rural Entrepreneurship Development Systems. According to CFED, these collaboratives will provide effective practices in building development systems that integrate policy, education, training, technical assistance, financing, networks, culture and social entrepreneurship strategies.

To be eligible, applicants must be a private or governmental public agency; community-based, tribal or nonprofit organization; or educational institution. Proposals should demonstrate how projects will serve distressed communities in rural or disadvantaged regions.

The submission deadline for proposals is Aug. 13, 2004. Finalists will be selected in December and final awards will be announced in March 2005. For more information and guidelines on how to apply, visit CFED at: http://www.eshipsystems.org/index.html