BRATTLEBORO — The Windham County Economic Development Program (WCEDP) has released the 2016 Request for Proposals (RFP) for competitive grant funds.
The WCEDP is meant to promote economic development in Windham County by providing funds to stimulate job creation through business start-up, expansion, or relocation, encourage entrepreneurial activity, and strengthen the economic development infrastructure to ensure a strong foundation for transformational economic activity.
The primary focus of the program is private sector job creation and retention and direct support of entrepreneurial activities, followed by support of systems and activities that encourage an entrepreneurial, innovation and business start-up environment and culture.
Funds are made available through a revolving loan program administered by the Vermont Economic Development Agency (VEDA), incentive packages negotiated by the Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) and regional partners, non-competitive grants made by ACCD, and the competitive grants that are the focus of this RFP.
The grants that may be awarded to respondents to this RFP are made through a competitive selection process and applicants are advised that there is a limited amount of funds available for each round.
It is likely that the scoring, selection, prioritization and allocation process will result in some projects not being funded at all and others being funded at less than the level requested.
The application process occurs in two steps: first, a letter of intent to apply (LOI) and, if an LOI is approved, a full grant application.
“One focus of this year's RFP is on workforce recruitment,” said R.T. Brown, the WCEDP's Project Manager, in a news release. “The region's employers echo a consistent sentiment that solutions are needed to help attract and retain workers across the region. By providing this focus, we hope to see some great proposals that can help address this issue.”
“The region needs to provide efficient and consistent workforce solutions so that businesses have the confidence their growth plans can be realized.” added Adam Grinold, Brattleboro Development Credit Corp.'s Executive Director. “By focusing on our existing businesses we win by ensuring their vibrancy, health, and ability to position themselves for the next stage which is growth and new jobs.”