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January 22, 2010 – Today, Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson welcomed an announcement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that Nebraska will receive $325,000 to create jobs by providing capital for rural Nebraska businesses. The funds are made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
“This infusion of capital from the stimulus will help create locally controlled funding for start-up and expanding businesses in the rural areas of our state,” said Senator Nelson. “A fund in Wahoo will help to create jobs to replace some that were lost when a local manufacturing plant was forced to make layoffs. The Invest Nebraska fund will help support innovative Nebraska entrepreneurs. The stimulus is about creating jobs, and new businesses are key to long-term job growth.”
The Greater Wahoo Development Foundation will receive $125,000 to create a revolving loan fund which would give financial assistance to new and expanding businesses within a five mile area of the city. The fund would provide low-interest loans to local businesses or start-ups deemed important to the economic growth of the city. The criteria for any loans would be job creation or saved jobs as a result of the project.
The Nebraska Venture Capital Forum dba Invest Nebraska Corporation will receive $200,000 to establish a revolving fund in a 35 county area of Nebraska. The fund will assist businesses that are established through the business plan competitions held by Invest Nebraska, which seeks to improve the quality of life in rural areas by helping new start-up projects that create job opportunities for rural residents and that import new dollars into the local community, often through the use of advanced telecommunications services.
The funding announced today is being provided by ARRA through USDA Rural Development’s Rural Business Enterprise Grant Program (RBEG), which helps finance new and existing businesses as well as employment-related adult education programs. RBEG funds can be used for start-up and working capital loans, building and plant renovations, transportation improvements, project planning and other business needs. The funding for Nebraska was part of $4 million in grants to 44 projects in 28 states and territories announced today by USDA. In addition to the grants, fund recipients have raised an additional $6.9 million from other sources to dedicate to the projects.
Senator Nelson played a key role in the passage of the $787 billion stimulus bill. He worked with a bipartisan group of nearly 20 Senators to better focus The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on tax cuts for the middle class and job creation for millions of Americans. Senator Nelson led the group through the initial bill line by line, dollar by dollar, to reduce spending and cut out $108 billion of inefficient or less-stimulative spending. The bipartisan group helped the improved bill win congressional approval. President Obama signed it into law February 17, 2009.
Senator Nelson is posting information about the release of stimulus finds on his website as it becomes available. Visit http://bennelson.senate.gov/feature_4.cfm for more information.
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