Rbdg rural business coop rural enterprise grant

Southeast Kentucky Economic Development received a $100,000 Rural Business Development Grant (CFDA 10.351) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Business Cooperative Services, awarded on September 29, 2025, with a completion date of September 29, 2027. This Project Grant supports the organization's mission to promote sustainable economic development and job creation in rural southeastern Kentucky communities by providing technical assistance and capital support to small and emerging private businesses that meet program eligibility criteria (50 or fewer new employees and less than $1 million in projected gross revenue).

Through this funding, Southeast Kentucky Economic Development will deliver comprehensive business development services to entrepreneurs and small business owners in underserved areas, with particular emphasis on women, minority, and low-income-owned enterprises. The grant enables the organization, operating as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), to expand its capacity to provide microloans, financial counseling, business training, recruitment and expansion support, and capacity-building services to startup, newly established, and growing small businesses in economically distressed rural Kentucky communities.