Rural Community Development Initiative grants focus on housing, community facilities, or community and economic development, but they require two organizations to work together to benefit the community. One applies for the grant and is the "intermediary." The other organization receives training or assistance from the grantee and is the "recipient." The recipient uses what they learn at this training or assistance to better serve the people of the community. Make sense?
It's a ‘‘train the trainer’’ type grant. But... at the end, I'll tell you how you can use it to get some engineering work done, too.
For example, the County economic development group might apply for funds to help train local entrepreneurs. They cooperate with the local City (or Town) governments to train the City economic developers to better support entrepreneurs.
![]() |
| Use these grants to train your people to better serve the community. |
- The intermediary hires a staff person to provide technical assistance to the recipient. (In our example above, the County hires a person to train the City economic development staff.)
- Or the recipient hires a staff person, under the supervision of the intermediary, to carry out the technical assistance provided by the intermediary. (So, this would be the City hiring a trainer, under the County's supervision, and then training the City staff people.)
Complicated enough for you? The simple goal is just to make your city better able to serve your people, whether it's in housing, community facilities, or economic development.
The USDA says grants may be used for but are not limited to:
- training recipients how to conduct a program on home-ownership education;
- training recipients how to conduct a program for entrepreneurs or programs that support micro-enterprise and sustainable development;
- providing technical assistance to recipients on how to effectively prepare a strategic plan;
- provide technical assistance to recipients on how to access alternative funding sources;
- building organizational capacity through board training on developing strategic plans, board operations, management, financial systems, and information technology;
- developing training tools, such as videos, workbooks, and reference guides to be used by the sub-grantee;
- providing technical assistance and training on how to develop successful child care facilities; and
- providing training on effective fundraising techniques.
Digging a little further, I found this bit:
- Assist recipients in completing pre-development requirements for housing, community facilities, or community and economic development projects by providing resources for professional services, e.g., architectural, engineering, or legal.
- Purchase of computers, software, and printers, limited to $10,000 per award, at the recipient level when directly related to the technical assistance program being undertaken by the intermediary.
- Provide funds to recipients for training-related travel costs and training expenses related to RCDI.
There are bonus points for working regionally, for smaller communities under 5,000 in population, for lower income and for addressing renewable energy and energy efficiency.



