Appalachia Economic Development Initiative

The Appalachia Economic Development Initiative (AEDI) is a collaborative effort among three federal agencies - the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of the Treasury - Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund), and the Department of Agriculture - Rural Development (USDA-RD). The AEDI's goal is to increase access to capital for business lending and economic development in the chronically underserved and undercapitalized Appalachia Region. Specifically, it will provide investment and technical assistance to State community and economic development agencies that apply on behalf of local rural nonprofit organizations or community development corporations that focus on small business development to benefit the residents of the Appalachia Region.

Innovative economic development uses, including but not limited to loan or investment cpital, loan loss reseres, program staff costs, information systems, market studies, portfolio analyses, business planning, and other activities supporting the program goals. Award must be used to support the eligible activities.

Applicants that are eligible to participate in this initiative are State community or economic development agencies that apply on behalf of local rural nonprofit organizations in the Appalachia Region. Applicants may serve markets other than Appalachia residents and communities, using other sources of financing. Goals: Funds may be used to support eligible activities that serve the following goals: •Expanding services in eligible Appalachia Region target markets (as defined below) by established lenders and investors in business development •Securing new public or private capital sources for lending or investing in existing or new eligible target markets

Assistance may be used for Innovative economic development uses, including but not limited to loan or investment capital, loan loss reserves, program staff costs, information systems, market studies, portfolio analyses, business planning, and other activities supporting the program goals.

Geographic areas include the 420 counties in 13 states that make up the Appalachia Region, as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission. Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is a federal-state partnership working to stimulate economic development. The ARC is composed of the governors of the 13 Appalachian states and a federal co-chair, who is appointed by the president. Local participation is provided through multi-county local development districts. The thirteen states that are included in the region are: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia. A full list of all 420 eligible counties can be found on the ARC website.

Pre-application coordination is not applicable. Environmental impactg information is not requried for this program. This program is exculded from coverage under E.o. 12372.

The AEDI Competition has been completed according to application procedures and instructions included in the FY2014 AEDI NOFA and the FY2014 General Section.

HUD will review eligible submitted applications and determine application scores. Once rating scores are assigned, rated applicaions will be listed in ranked order. HUD will send written notifications to both successful and unccessful applicants. After award, grantees will submit their action plan and budget into HUD's web based system prior to approval to draw down. Applicants will be given the opportunity to admend their budget according to the grant award, in the event HUD awards less than the requested amount prior to entering into the grant approval.