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By Melody Jameson
mj@observernews.net
RUSKIN – Aiming for multi-pronged re-invigoration of the downtown district here, the community’s non-profit development foundation has reached out for the first in a probable series of federal programs promising local value.
The first grant application by the Ruskin Community Development Foundation (RCDF) – for funds to underwrite an $84,000 small business incubator feasibility study -- has been delivered to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rural communities assistance managers, according to Jim Hosler, a consultant engaged by RCDF. This initial grant request focuses on monies for technical assistance and planning from the USDA’s Rural Business Enterprise Grant program (RBEG), he added.
Hosler, a widely-experienced economic development and demographics expert familiar with South Hillsborough County, said the USDA usually allows itself 90 days to review such applications. Consequently, the agency’s response is expected no later than September 1, he added.
The first grant request, as well as others beginning to take shape, is the result of a “visioning day” conducted in April when 10 of the USDA’s rural communities assistance managers from around the state toured Ruskin and brainstormed with local leaders over a luncheon featuring area produce about fitting area needs with agency programs. The many-faceted federal department fields dozens of grant and low interest loan programs designed to improve and assist rural communities.
Both Hosler and Fred Jacobsen, current RCDF president, indicated this week they believe the outlook for receiving the grant now in the works is favorable. Jacobsen called the grant chances “worth pinning hopes on.”
The feasibility study grant is the first step toward creation of Ruskin’s business incubator, a concept in which perhaps 10 to 20 small business entrepreneurs at a time can take space in a single location at a radically reduced cost to establish themselves and to access professional help with various aspects of getting a commercial enterprise off the ground. Once the small business “has taken root” or “been hatched and nurtured to a stand-alone status” in the incubator, Hosler noted, it then can transfer to permanent headquarters and continue to grow. In this manner, he added, new businesses to serve a community’s needs are created, new jobs within the community are generated and increased consumer traffic is encouraged which also benefits older, already-established commercial ventures.
If USDA funding of the study is forthcoming, RCDF has proposed a 10-section exploration of varied feasibility issues conducted over about a six-month period, Hosler said. Using such methods as surveys and public meetings, community opinions about matters like the types of new businesses most desired and marketing analysis pertinent to such types and the most suitable physical location of Ruskin’s incubator would be sampled, he said. “It would be an entirely open process”, the development specialist added.
The completed study would help support a USDA low-interest loan application for funding to make the business incubator a reality, Hosler indicated. The USDA program designed to underwrite such business-related efforts in rural communities makes long term loans at the $200,000 level and up, he added, and this request might be ready for USDA consideration during the 2010 cycle.
In the meantime, RCDF leaders and their consultant have opened discussions with Hillsborough County’s Small Business Information Center (SBIC), an agency that offers numerous workshops and seminars to help the beginning business entrepreneur. SBIC, which also partners with numerous other agencies including the U.S. government’s Small Business Administration (SBA), The Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) and the Small Business Development Center at USF (SBDC), provides multiple informational or training sessions on commercial topics ranging from creating a business plan to marketing to bookkeeping to networking, most free of charge or for a small fee and at various locations.
The assistance to a young business that SBIC can offer is part of the incubator planning, Hosler said. It is expected that SBIC personnel would be onsite in the Ruskin incubator to guide new business operators through their initial growing pains, he added.
In addition, other efforts are underway in connection with downtown redevelopment. Within the next month, representatives of the Florida Rural Water Association (FRWA) are expected to visit Ruskin, Hosler said, specifically to gain a working knowledge of the community’s existing sewage disposal and water provision systems. “We need to know what is required to upgrade this vital infrastructure in order to support a revitalized downtown district”, he asserted.
The FRWA is expected ultimately to be able to provide an “engineer’s letter” that would technically address the water and sewage system needs, Hosler added. The first step to upgrading is getting a good grasp of what is needed, he indicated. The link between the association and the foundation also was initiated as part of the April “visioning”.
And, yet another grant process is taking shape as word from the USDA on the business incubator study grant is awaited. This effort is aimed at funding for enhanced ”organizational capacity” , the consultant said, or, in other words, for monies that allow not-for-profit organizations such as RCDF to expand their outreach and offer more services on behalf of the community.
© 2009 Melody Jameson
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