Tennessee Community Development Grants

The Community Foundation of Rutherford County awards grants to promote the betterment of Rutherford and Cannon Counties and provides a way to make lasting gifts for the benefit of nonprofits in the community. Donor Name: Community Foundation of Rutherford County State: Tennessee County: Cannon County (TN), Rutherford County (TN) Type of Grant: Grant Deadline: (mm/dd/yyyy) 08/31/2024 Size of the Grant: $1000 to $10,000 Grant Duration: 1 Year Details: Organizations located in Rutherford and Cannon Counties are welcome to apply for consideration of funding from the Community Foundation of Rutherford County. Funding Information  Nonprofits may request grants up to a maximum of $5,000. Grant Period December 1, 2024 – November 30, 2025. Eligibility Criteria  Organizations must be 501(c)(3) public charities or must be entities of government (i.e., libraries, departments, etc.). For more information, visit CFMT.

Downtown revitalization projects following at least one of the 4 points of the Main Street program. Awarded to approximately 6 recipients at $15,000 each. Tennessee Downtowns is an affiliated program of Tennessee Main Street designed to help communities embark on a comprehensive revitalization effort for their downtown. Using the proven National Main Street Center’s Four-Point Approach® to downtown revitalization, this 24-month program coaches selected downtowns and their steering committees through the steps of launching an effective revitalization effort. Space in this program is limited and highly competitive. Program activities include training, site visits, regional workshops, webinars, technical assistance and an innovation project grant.

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.