Bank Brings Together Experts to Discuss Funding for Rural Projects

credit: rotwnews

"Too often, small towns and rural communities do not receive economic investments that are needed to bring good ideas to reality," says Jason Smith, a senior community development advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond in Virginia.

That's why the bank is creating a Rural Investment Collaborative to help those communities get the money they need, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.

"On the demand side, rural regions have less people who can develop strong project proposals with a business case to attract investment," Smith says in a press release.

"On the supply side, different sources of capital are not well aligned to finance strong rural proposals."

That's especially true in small towns and rural areas, where "a deal requires money from 10 different places, with different hoops to jump through and the need for matching funds to make a project work," according to the press release.

The Rural Investment Collaborative will work with a steering group of rural hubs across the Fifth District to provide training that can help more communities develop strong project proposals.

"Current systems make it hard for small communities to access capital," Smith says.

"For example, sometimes a deal requires money from 10 different places, with different hoops to jump through and the need for matching funds to make a project work."

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