Rural Engagement & Investment (RE&I)

Rural Engagement & Investment (RE&I) offers grant resources and technical assistance to local governments that help communities acquire critical resources, advance project implementation, and build local capacity. Grants to local governments support community and economic development projects that include building renovations, public infrastructure, demolition and remediation, as well as downtown revitalization projects.

Rural Engagement and Investment (RE&I) a section within the Rural Economic Development Division has several state-funded grant programs:

Rural Reuse & Development Programs 

Rural Reuse & Development Programs (RDP) offer building reuse, infrastructure, and demolition grants in support of economic development projects that lead to job creation.

• Rural Building Reuse
• Rural Infrastructure
• Rural Demolition

Rural Downtown Economic Development Grant Program 

The Rural Downtown Economic Development Grant Program (RDEDG) is managed by the NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center. This program administers grants in support of downtown revitalization and economic development initiatives that are intended to help local governments grow and leverage downtown districts as assets for economic growth, development, and prosperity by providing public improvements to help retain businesses and leverage Main Street assets for community-wide use.  

• Rural Downtown Economic Development 

Rural Transformation Grant Fund

The Rural Transformation Grant Fund Programs administers grants and training services in support of innovative approaches to innovative approaches to increasing local capacity, COVID-19 recovery, building partnerships that help small businesses, leveraging the downtown district as an asset, and developing and implementing transformative local projects that will address critical community and economic development needs. Grant categories include Downtown Revitalization, Resilient Neighborhoods, Rural Community Capacity, and Community Enhancements for Economic Growth.

• Rural Transformation Grant Fund 

Small Business Infrastructure Grant Program

The Small Business Infrastructure Grant program (SmBIZ) will assist small businesses and local governments impacted by Hurricane Helene rebuild and repair critical infrastructure, restore and resume functions and operations, and support economic recovery and sustainability.

The program will offer grants to local governments, and the related infrastructure projects will target and support small businesses that employ 150 or fewer employees. Funding will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.

Grants awarded under this program must be used by local governments to address qualifying infrastructure needs that the Department, in consultation with applicant local governments and small businesses, determines are the result of Hurricane Helene's impact and have adversely affected access to, or operations of, the identified small businesses.

• Small Business Infrastructure Grant Program

Legislatively Directed Grants

The NC General Assembly passes legislation that authorizes the Department of Commerce to oversee directed grants to identified local governments. The RE&I Program administers these state appropriated grant funds in support of Rural Housing Infrastructure, Broadband, Disaster Recovery, or other appropriated projects as specified by legislation. 

Our team accepts applications and announces awards for the Building Reuse, Infrastructure, and Demolition programs according to the schedule below. Applications are accepted and announcements are made for the Downtown Economic Development program according to the dates in bold below. Acceptance of applications and the award of grants are subject to funding availability.

Application Materials for State Rural Grants

All applications should be submitted via e-mail to REIreports@commerce.nc.gov.

• Building Reuse and Infrastructure Application - UPDATED 7/1/2024
• Demolition Application
• Rural Downtown Economic Development Application Guidelines
  • Environmental Review Form
  • Jobs Justification Form
  • Project Budget and Cost Estimate Form

Forms for State Rural Grants

All progress reports, payment requests, and supporting documentation should be submitted via e-mail to REIreports@commerce.nc.gov. 

Payment Requests

• Payment Request Form - UPDATED 7/1/2024
• Grantee Electronic Payment Form - NOTE: This form does not come back to RE&I.  Submission instructions are included on the form.

Progress Reporting and Job Certification

• Progress and Final Report Form - UPDATED 7/1/2024
• Job Certification Form - UPDATED 6/14/2024
• Job Certification and Close Out Instructions

Sample Contracts

• Building Reuse Sample Contract - UPDATED 7/1/2024
• Economic Infrastructure Sample Contract - UPDATED 7/1/2024

Helpful Links 

• Tier 3 Rural Census Tract Map
• County Tier Designations and Average Wages

Staff

Hazel Edmond, Director
hazel.edmond@commerce.nc.gov

Nichole Gross, Senior Program Manager
nichole.gross@commerce.nc.gov

Chris Cannady, Information Reporting Manager
christopher.cannady@commerce.nc.gov

Bethany Davenport, Fiscal and Compliance Manager
bethany.davenport@commerce.nc.gov

Note: State funds are appropriated annually for these grants by the North Carolina General Assembly under G.S. 143B-472.127.