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ExpectMore.govExpectMore.gov home pageEXPECT FEDERAL PROGRAMS TO PERFORM WELL, AND BETTER EVERY YEAR.
 
Program Assessment

Program

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Rural Business Enterprise Grant Program

USDA's Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS) provides grants to public and private non-profits to finance and facilitate development of rural small and emerging private business enterprises. Examples include technical assistance, purchasing/leasing machinery/equipment, or creating revolving loan funds.

Rating

What This Rating Means

PERFORMING
Adequate

This rating describes a program that needs to set more ambitious goals, achieve better results, improve accountability or strengthen its management practices.
  • Though the program is well designed, it is not unique. The program targets businesses both by size and geography. However, the Economic Development Administration, Appalachian Regional Commission, and Small Business Administration all provide similar economic development grant programs or technical assistance to small businesses in urban and rural areas
  • The program has ambitious targets and measures to improve program performance and direct the future program activities. The measures will be used to decrease administrative costs of administering the program, as well as improving the selection criteria to target small businesses that have long term staying power.
  • Though the program has increased the number and types of independent evaluations, they still have not completed an extensive review of the program that includes administration activities. The new performance measures will help improve administrative efficiencies, but a detailed independent evaluation would provide greater insight into the program's strenghts and weaknesses.

Improvement Plan

About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

  • Creating long term performance measures that will incorporate long term business or job stability.
  • Improving efficiencies within Rural Development administration, decreasing the amount of time it takes to get Notice of Funding Avalability documents out and grants awarded
  • Increasing the number of RBEG awards to communities that have high rates of poverty or unemployment.

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