Last week, released the Main Street Economic Revitalization Program request for proposals (RFP), and we invite you to join our information session this Thursday to get questions answered and any additional clarification.

We invite Minnesota foundations, nonprofits and communities to join us on Thursday, the details are below.

• Thursday, August 12th at 11:00 am. You can join here.

We have held three information sessions on this new program, and encourage you to see if they might be helpful in answering any questions you have.

• First Informational Webinar which also includes additional new legislative programs.
• Second Informational Webinar
• Third Informational Webinar held last week after the application was launched.

The Main Street Economic Revitalization Program is an $80 million statewide economic redevelopment program that will award grants to partner organizations to establish programs within specific communities to provide grants and guaranteed loans for economic development and redevelopment projects. These projects will address the greatest needs that have arisen in our communities since March 15, 2020 and spur economic revitalization across Minnesota.

Eligible partners include foundations, community development financial institutions and community development organizations. While eligible recipients for grants and loans include businesses, nonprofit organizations and developers – and can be used for demolition, repairing, renovating and constructing of eligible projects.

Proposals submitted by partner organizations will be awarded based on the greatest need of the surrounding community and economic impact of the proposed program.

Once partnership organizations are selected and programs established eligible recipients will have the opportunity to seek assistance through partner organizations serving their community.

It's important to note that eligible recipients do not apply directly to DEED for grants or loans. Once selected, the list of partner organizations will be publicly available along with their contact information and instructions on how to request assistance for a specific eligible project.

There will be two rounds of funding for this program. The first round, which will award no more than $40 million, will open on August 3rd and close on August 31st. Dates for the second round have not yet been identified but will be before March 1, 2022.