The Wisconsin Office of Rural Prosperity is offering an opportunity for rural and Tribal communities to join Thrive Rural Wisconsin.
Thrive Rural Wisconsin is offered at no cost and provides project management support, technical assistance, and an opportunity to apply for a WEDC Capacity Building Grant. The program helps advance community-based economic development, small business initiatives, regional collaboration, and rural capacity building.
The Office of Rural Prosperity will host a webinar to share more information and answer questions Oct. 14 from 11 a.m. to noon. Register now.
Program benefits include:
- Community assessments
- Work plan development for priority projects and project management support
- Fundraising mapping and funding identification
- Grant-writing consulting (process guidance, review, etc.)
- Creation of customized toolkits and resources to build capacity in grant-writing, grant compliance, or Thrive Rural focus areas
- Referrals to consultants, state agencies, and federal programs that help advance the projects identified in the work plan
- Exclusive invitation to apply for pre-development grants (~$25,000 per year) to advance a project and prepare for state and federal grant applications (e.g., feasibility study, architectural renderings, engineering studies, mapping, business plan, or curriculum design)
Eligible partners are limited to: county economic development organizations, nonprofits and tribal organizations.
Partners should be based in communities of 10,000 people or less that do not contain a metropolitan statistical area. A metropolitan statistical area is defined by having at least one urban area of 50,000 or more inhabitants.
