Rbdg rural business coop rural enterprise grant

The Department of Agriculture Rural Business Cooperative Services awarded $125,000 to Brighton Community Forum Inc. (doing business as Island Pond Renewal Committee) on March 20, 2026, under the Rural Business Development Grant program (CFDA 10.351). The award carries a period of performance through March 20, 2028, and covers work in Vermont. Brighton Community Forum Inc. is a non-profit community development corporation that delivers technical assistance, business counseling, market research, workforce development, and lending programs to support establishment and expansion of small enterprises in rural Vermont communities. The Rural Business Development Grant program funds initiatives that promote sustainable economic development and facilitate development of small and emerging private businesses in rural communities, with eligible beneficiaries being rural communities and small and emerging private business enterprises that will employ 50 or fewer new employees and have less than $1 million in projected gross revenue. Grants flow to government entities, private nonprofit corporations, and Federally recognized Indian tribes that assist businesses, not directly to business enterprises.