State Community Development Grants

The Idaho GEM Grant Program (IGG) provides assistance to rural communities for the planning and implementation of economic development projects. The program is open to any rural community with a population of 10,000 persons or less. Applications must be submitted by a city, county or tribal government. As of 2005, a community is no longer required to be a designated “Gem Community” to be eligible for an Idaho Gem Grant. Idaho Gem Grants are focused on job creation and retention. Awards are limited to the hard implementation costs of economic development projects. Examples of eligible projects include water and sewer infrastructure for new a business, remediation of slum and blight conditions blocking business development, and matching funds for the creation of assets with a high certainty of aiding future economic development efforts.

Monetary resources dedicated to assisting communities across the state develop and train entrepreneurs and small business owners in three broad and diverse categories. Combines Previous Microenterprise and Main Street Entrepreneur Grants into one program. Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development encourages entrepreneurship development and adaptive reuse of commercial buildings in accredited Tennessee Main Street communities with a Main Street Entrepreneur Incubator grant program to assist in funding activities that put vacant and/or underutilized buildings into productive service and serve as economic drivers for downtowns. Matching funds are not required but the scoring system rewards projects that include other partners or agencies or additional funding commitments.

Statewide downtown revitalization program for communities that seek designation as Main Street communities. The Main Street movement has been transforming the way communities think about the revitalization and management of their downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts for decades. Specifically, Main Street is three things: a proven strategy for revitalization, a powerful network of linked communities, and a national support program that leads the field. The National Main Street Center is a subsidiary or the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Designed to offset the capital expenses in the deployment of broadband in unserved areas. The goal of this program is to facilitate broadband access to all Tennesseans while promoting practices that increase deployment and encourage adoption. The goal of this program is to facilitate broadband access to all Tennesseans while promoting practices that increase deployment and encourage adoption. Funds will be targeted to areas that are unlikely to receive broadband service without grant funding.

As part of the Tennessee Broadband Accessibility Act of 2017, the State of Tennessee established the Broadband Ready Communities Program to foster county engagement in securing broadband infrastructure and access to their communities. Through TNECD, the program, which is funded by the American Rescue Plan State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, utilizes a portion of the Tennessee Emergency Broadband Fund – American Rescue Plan to provide $10 million in assistance. A non-competitive grant opportunity is available for county and local governments to secure up to $100,000 dollars for broadband adoption activities. Application window is from October 2 - November 15, 2023.