Economic Development News
Community Development Block Grant Program for Non-Entitlement Jurisdictions – Notice of Funding Availability Amendment
*Provided by the California Department of Housing and Community Development The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has released an Amendment to the federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). The following updates were also made to the application workbooks: CDBG Application Summary Workbook: The Request for Waiver, Colonia Request for Waiver, Jurisdiction and Leg Info, and the Threshold tabs. CDBG Self-Score Workbook: On the State Objectives tab: The Applicant/Jurisdiction name field was unlocked and the Clarification of the State Objective Scoring Criterion was added. Application due date has been extended from February 5, 2019 to February 26, 2019. The NOFA applies [...]
Don’t Leave Money on the Table! State Offering Tax Credits to CA Businesses through California Competes
*Provided by Caifornia Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development The California Competes Tax Credit is an income tax credit available to businesses that want to come to California or stay and grow in California. Tax credit agreements are negotiated by GO-Biz and approved by a statutorily created “California Competes Tax Credit Committee,” consisting of the State Treasurer, the Director of the Department of Finance, the Director of GO-Biz, and one appointee each by the Speaker of the Assembly and Senate Committee on Rules. For fiscal year 2018-19, GO-Biz will accept applications for the California Competes Tax Credit during the [...]
HCD has Announced the Finalized SB 2 Planning Grants Program Guidelines
*Provided by California Housing and Community Development Read guidelines here
USDA Offering Millions in Loans & Grants to help Build Broadband Infrastructure in Rural USA
*Provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is offering up to $600 million in loans and grants to help build broadband infrastructure in rural America. Telecommunications companies, rural elec-tric cooperatives and utilities, internet service providers and municipalities may apply for funding through USDA’s new ReConnect Program to connect rural areas that currently have insufficient broadband service. Answering the Administration’s call to action for rural prosperity, Congress appropriat-ed funds in the fiscal year 2018 budget for this broadband pilot program. USDA Rural Development is the primary agency delivering the program, with assistance from [...]
Check Out this great Resource from USDA Rural Development
*Provided by USDA Rural Development USDA Rural Development is committed to future of rural communities. Through our programs, we help to improve the economy and quality of life for rural Americans. Rural Development contacts and funding notices are at www.rd.usda.gov. The Contact Us menu tab has office addresses and phone numbers, or use our toll-free number at 1 (800) 670-6553 to be connected. For more information, click here
U.S. Dept. of Commerce International Trade Administration Offers Companies Full Range of Expertise in International Trade
The U.S. Commercial Service (CS), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, offers companies a full range of expertise in international trade. Companies can find assistance locally in more than 100 U.S. Commercial Service offices nationwide and in more than 70 international offices. For more information, click here
HCD & Strategic Growth Council Announced that $395M for the Affordable Housing Sustainable Communities (AHSC) Program
*Provided by The Housing and Community Development Department The California Department of Housing and Community Development (Department) is pleased to announce the availability of approximately $395 million in funding for the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) Program. The AHSC Program furthers the purposes of AB 32(Chapter 488, Statues of 2006) and SB 375(Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008). The purpose of the AHSC Program is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through projects implementing land-use, housing, transportation, and agricultural land preservation practices to support infill and compact development, and supporting related and coordinated public policy objectives. Funding for the AHSC [...]
Approximately $30M in Available Funding for CDBG
*Provided by Department of Housing and Community Development California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) is pleased to announce the availability of approximately $29.6 million in federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding allocated for funding year 2018 to the state from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), pursuant to the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended. For more information, click here
Check out this Fact Sheet About the New USCMA
*Provided by USTR.gov The United States, Mexico, and Canada have reached an agreement to rebalance and modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement into a 21st century, high-standard trade deal. The new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will better serve the interests of American workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses and support mutually beneficial trade leading to freer markets, fairer trade, and robust economic growth in North America. Check out this Fact Sheet
Check out from Smart Incentives 3 Steps to Effective Incentive Cost-Benefit Analysis
*Provided by Smart Incentives Figuring out if an incentives package is a good deal for your community is not always easy. This post summarizes the three steps economic development organizations should take when conducting a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether an incentive deal is likely to generate net benefits for their community. Read full article here
From CAMEO-Check Out the MicroTracker Census & In-depth Analysis of Past Small Business Census Data
*Provided by CAMEO CAMEO partners with FIELD at the Aspen Institute to conduct a census of California’s microbusiness programs using the microTracker platform. CAMEO members that fill out the Census by the end of October will receive $100 toward lunch for their staff. Accion San Diego took their entire staff to lunch. Email Andrew when you’ve completed your survey for your ‘free lunch’ as well as help on filling out the Census. Andrew can also help you and your organization complete the survey. To get an idea of what information we glean from the microTracker census, download our in-depth analysis [...]
Business Facilities’ 2018 Econ Dev Deal of the Year Award Now Accepting Applications until Nov 9
*Provided by Business Facilities "Business Facilities is accepting applications for the 2018 Economic Development Deal of the Year Award until Nov 9! Awards will be announced in Jan 2019, and the winners will be featured in the Jan/Feb 2019 issue of Business Facilities! An Economic Development Deal is defined for this purpose as any one of the following: -A project or effort that resulted in the relocation/expansion of a company to a location served by the entering organization; -A project or effort that resulted in the expansion of a company already within the territory served by the entering organization; -A [...]
Vote No On Proposition 6 and Save Transportation Projects in CA
Proposition 6 would eliminate funding for more than $5 billion annually in existing transportation funds that fund more than 6,500 bridge and road safety and road safety, transportation and public transit improvement projects currently underway throughout California. Fact sheet here To learn more, go to the No on Prop 6 Website: https://noprop6.com/
Check Out the ARP Network Notes & Know the Agriculture Research that has been Conducted
*Provided by the Agricultural Research Partnership Network The ARP Network enlists the help of partners to spark economic development, entrepreneurship and community development. USDA ARS founded the ARP Network to expand the impact of ARS research and provide resources to help companies grow. By combining ARS research expertise with complementary capabilities and talents of partnering organizations, the ARP Network helps stimulate economic growth through technological advancements. The ARP Network matches business needs with ARS innovations and research capabilities and provides business assistant services to help companies and startups solve agricultural problems, develop products and create new jobs. Read more here [...]
5 Valley industries to add 137K jobs by 2024
*Posted by Reggie Ellis from the SunGazette on September 12, 2018 "California is now in the midst of the second-longest employment expansion on record – gaining more than twice as many jobs over the past eight years than it lost during the Great Recession. According to the Employment Development Department’s (EDD), job gains are spread across industry sectors with the largest number of new jobs expected in the educational services (private), health care, social assistance sector, and the construction sector. The EDD also projected California’s economy will generate a total of 4.7 million job openings between the second quarters of [...]
JP Morgan Chase Launches AdvancingCities Challenge to Invest More in Cities
*Provided by JP Morgan Chase & Co. The AdvancingCities Challenge will make investments of up to $3 million in cities to support creative, collaborative and sustainable solutions that address cross-cutting challenges to help more people benefit from a growing economy. Informational Calls are on 9/17 and 9/25. Sign up for one of them here Competition closes November 30, 2018 More information here
EIFD’s Expanded to Cover Maintenance
On Wednesday, September 19, 2018, Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 1145, a sponsored bill with CALED. This bill aimed to protect local economic development investments by allowing Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts (EIFDs) finance ongoing maintenance costs for public projects in their districts. In 2014, Senate Bill 628 (Beall) was enacted to have local agencies create EIFDs to finance key infrastructure projects and facilities. EIFDs become an important economic development tool that allow jurisdictions to move projects forward that might otherwise be shelved, given the absence of redevelopment. However, eligible costs for EIFDs were limited. Financing only included construction, acquisition and rehabilitation, as [...]
A Win for Small Manufacturers
On Friday, September 21, 2018, Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill 1547. Authored by Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, AB 1547 eliminates the California Industrial Development Financing Advisory Commission (CIDFAC) and, as a result, removes a barrier for small-to-medium sized manufacturers trying to access low-cost financing. Throughout CIDFAC’s existence, manufacturers and economic developers have expressed that CIDFAC subjected manufacturers to an expensive duplicative review process to access Industrial Development Bonds (IDB). Originally, CIDFAC was created at a time when there was a high volume of IDB projects and oversight over local industrial development authorities was deemed to be necessary to effectuate the state’s goals. [...]
Don’t Forget to Check out California’s Opportunity Zone Resources
The State of California created an Opportunity Zone (OZ) resource page for communities seeking guidance and support for this new community development program. Since the U.S. Treasury confirmed 879 designated Opportunity Zones in California, many of these communities have been actively seeking OZ resources and investors, step-by-step ways on how to implement the Zones, and direction on how to fully utilize this opportunity. For more information and to answer some of these questions, check out these resources below: California's Opportunity Zone Portal CALED's Investment Checklist for Communities CALED's Economic Development Checklist
Learn More about what Resources SBA Offers Businesses Looking to Export
*From the U.S. Small Business Administration Fee relief to end for small loans but will be instituted for rural areas and HUBZones On August 14, 2018, SBA issued Information Notice 5000-180010, announcing the SBA 7a fee structure that will be used in FY2019, i.e. beginning October 1, 2018. SBA lenders will want to take note of the impending fee structure changes and plan accordingly. Highlights of the new fee structure are: SBA’s longstanding waiver of the SBA Guaranty Fee on smaller 7(a) loans – loans of $125,000 or less in FY2018 – will end. The standard 2% fee will resume beginning [...]
Need help Attracting Grocery Stores? Check out Buxton’s Article on How to do so
*From Buxton Attracting grocery stores to historically underserved areas is a challenge; however, grocery store operators are integrating new location strategies that literally bring the store closer to the consumer. These changing strategies mean that there are opportunities for communities to engage with grocers who may have passed on their markets in the past. Successfully recruiting a grocery store requires an aggressive marketing strategy that first proves the economic viability of a new store by: Illustrating that the community’s trade area captures the grocer’s core customers Expressing the category dollar demand for grocery generated by the consumers within the trade [...]
Read Camoin Associates Opportunity Zone Update
*From Camoin Associates One of the most exciting early aspects of the Opportunity Zone program is that it can be layered with local incentives, such as tax increment financing, to enhance the appeal of districts already targeted for redevelopment. Camoin Associates is working with development organizations, attorneys, and local economic development professionals to identify how the Opportunity Zone tax incentives can be used at the local level to accelerate private investment. At the same time, Camoin Associates is gathering educational and informational resources to share. In this update, Camoin Associates has posted links to two maps identifying communities and census tracts [...]
How can Your Community Benefit from the Opportunity Zones?
*Provided by E21 “An important milestone in America’s economic recovery was reached last month when the Treasury Department approved the last round of Opportunity Zone designations. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 created a new financial product called “Opportunity Funds,” which allow investors to defer and reduce their capital gains tax bills in exchange for investing in projects located in economically distressed areas referred to as Opportunity Zones. An initial review of the 8,700 designated Opportunity Zones reveals just how far removed these communities are from the national economic recovery. The average unemployment rate is a stubbornly high [...]
Read Article from LA Times about the Split Roll Tax Initiative and how it will impact California
*Provided by the Los Angeles Times “A big battle over property taxes in California is shaping up for the 2020 ballot. Supporters of a bid to increase taxes on commercial land announced Tuesday they’ve collected more than 860,000 signatures to force a vote on the issue in two years. ‘This is a defining moment for California,' Fred Blackwell, CEO of the San Francisco Foundation, said in a statement. 'Closing the commercial property tax loopholes is important to our state.’ Backers, including the California Federation of Teachers, the League of Women Voters and community organization California Calls held news conferences Tuesday [...]