The BL3 Regional Investment Board has slightly over $866,000 to commit to projects over the 2005-2007 biennium. This amount could be reduced during the biennium due to adverse State budgetary conditions, but such an event is not anticipated.

2) What types of projects does the RIB seek to fund?

The BL3 RIB’s Investment Strategy focuses on job creation / retention, leveraging matching fund, and readiness to proceed. The BL3 RIB has set a target for the performance outcomes in the Investment Strategy of 1 job per $3000 invested (289 jobs) and $5 of matching funds for every $1 of RIB funding ($4,335,000 in matching funds ).

3) What are the primary criteria the RIB will use to evaluate applications for funding?

There are three basic Evaluation Criteria applicable to both the Regional and Rural Investment Funds.

• Job Creation/Retention-The project creates or retains one job for every $3,000 of Regional/Rural Investment Funds committed.
• Leverage-The project leverages $5 in matching funds for every $1 of Regional/Rural Investment Funds committed.
• Readiness to Proceed-The project will have all matching fund resources in place within six (6) months of commitment of Regional/Rural Investment Funds from the BL3 Region. All other funding for the total project must be in place before RIB funds would be released.

4) Are there other factors that the BL3 RIB will consider in selecting projects to be funded?

In addition to the criteria and limitations listed in the previous question, the following factors will be considered during the selection of projects to be funded:

• Wage level of jobs created or retained, taking into consideration:
  • the County Average Wage;
  • the Amount above Minimum Wage; and
  • the Benefits Package
• Growth potential of business and industry
• Diversification of local economy
• Project start and completion dates
• Other funding sources contacted and their response
• Funding gap which the Regional/Rural Investment Funds will address
• Partnerships and/or collaborations that support the project
• Extent to which this project serves the needs of minorities and the disadvantaged
• Capability of organization (ability of the organization to undertake a project of this type and administer the grant)
• Geographic dispersion of Regional/Rural Investment funding; location of the project and its sphere of influence

These considerations are not meant to act as a limitation to project proponents. A project does not have to meet all these considerations. These considerations are all reviewed equally and as a whole, no weight is given to any particular consideration.

Generally, only proposals of up to $100,000 will be considered for funding. Proposals over $100,000 may be considered if the project offers a significant return on investment and a positive impact to the regional economy.

5) Who can apply?

Any business, government, or organization with a project that will create or retain jobs may apply for funding.  The RIB's economic development partners, cities, counties, other local governments and non profit agencies may apply. The RIB directs potential applicants to contact one of the RIB's economic development partners for sponsorship of an application. The RIB's economic development partners include the Counties, the two regional COGs, the regional Economic Development Partnerships, the SBDCs, and the port districts.

The BL3 Strategy permits both loans and grants to private businesses meeting specific terms and conditions. Any private business receiving a grant or loan would have to agree to a first-source hiring agreement.

Interested applicants may contact any of these partners. If you do not know who to contact, the following is a partial list:

Economic Development Partnerships:
     • Benton County - Corvallis-Benton Co. Economic Development Partnership - Mysty Rusk
      • Lane County - Lane Metro Partnership - Glenda Poling
      • Lincoln County - Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County - Chris Chandler-DiTorrice
      • Albany-Millersburg Economic Development Corporation - John Pascone
   • COGs:
      • Cascades West COG
      • Lane COG

6) What areas of economic and community development does the Regional Investment Plan support?

The BL3 RIB will consider four categories of activities for funding in the 2005-2007 biennium.

• Business Development-opportunities that encourage business growth and investment such as business marketing, retention and expansion, and support for start-up and attraction of businesses;
• Site Development-opportunities that include industrial/business parks, speculative buildings, and public/private partnerships that have a direct role in helping create jobs;
• Workforce Development-opportunities that build the skills of local workforce through partnerships between business, education and government; and
• Capacity Development-opportunities that address the economic development needs of a community. This would include technical assistance to various partners who can demonstrate specific and definable needs.

7) What other information might be helpful?

The Board will review projects based on the following limitations, criteria, and considerations.
No project may fund ineligible activities (ORS 285B.260(3)). Those ineligible activities include:

• Retire any debt;
• Reimburse any person or municipality for expenditures or expenses incurred prior to the approval of this plan by the Oregon Economic and Community Development Commission;
• Substitution for available budgeted resources supporting ongoing public services or infrastructure that already exist;
• Maintain existing staff of public or private entities, except to administer this Strategy, or for new or augmented efforts consistent with this Strategy;
• Assist in the relocation of a business from one labor market area to another within the state;
• Award a grant or loan to a private business, unless the award is consistent with an activity specified in this Strategy.

The Benton-Lane-Lincoln-Linn RIB may support loan programs to private businesses. Any and all loan programs would have to meet the following parameters (ORS 285B.264(4)):

• Job creation or retention;
• Private sector participation;
• Correlation between the nature of the project and the collateral required and the terms of the loan (length of loan and interest rate);
• Collateral is required for all loans (except for a venture capital/equity purchase loan program).
  Any grants or loans made to a private business will include a first-source hiring agreement. The first-source hiring agreement requires “a good faith effort to hire and retain as employees low-income individuals who have received job training assistance from publicly funded job training providers. (OAR 461.740(1))

The Benton-Lane-Lincoln-Linn RIB may support tourism and industrial marketing programs. If any tourism or industrial marketing projects are funded, they will compliment and will not conflict with statewide marketing campaigns and efforts aimed at traveler/tourists or at industrial investors as they exist at the time the project is funded.

8) Can Regional or Rural Investment Funds that a project sponsor previously received be used as match for other rounds of funding?

No Regional or Rural Investment Funds from a prior round can be used as match for this round.

9) Can projects count matching funds already committed? How far back can they count these matching funds?

The budget sections of the application should focus only on the project from this point forward. The application should include only matching funds to be spent from this point forward. This is how matching funds have been allowed historically.

In the project description, the project proponent should describe the work that has been completed on the project and the commitment of matching funds on the efforts already undertaken that are directly connected to this project. An exact time frame cannot be specified, but could include work directly related to completing the present project. This allows the Regional Investment Board to understand the long-term efforts put into a project.

If you have any questions, please contact local staff: