Funding Sources for County Economic Development
- 1). Read through the grant opportunities available from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. Grants include those that support public works as well as local planning. Counties can apply for these grants through Grants.gov, where more information about the Administration's grants is listed. Hard copies of grant applications are also accepted at regional U.S. Economic Development Administration offices, but electronic applications are encouraged.
- 2). Contact individual state agencies and government departments for information about state grants or loans made to counties. For example, the Colorado State Historic Fund awarded grants to promote rural economic development in 2010.
- 3). Apply for grants from your state's business finance corporation. These entities provide grants to municipalities and counties in order to bring companies that will increase the areas' economic development. The Minnesota Business Finance Corporation, for example, makes grants to counties that are "not-for-profit or governmental entities or economic development agencies which provide financial, managerial or technical assistance to small business." Note that such grants are likely to have stipulations about the number of jobs that must be created and may require collateral, like the Opportunity Grant Program of the Pennsylvania Business Finance Grant Program.
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