Alabama - Apply for Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program (RMAP)

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Procedure

Apply In-Person:

1. The applicant has to reach out to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development for the application. Contact details are mentioned in “Office Locations & Contacts” of this page. Or use the following given Contact Link
2. An application form is also available at the following SF-424, SF-424A and SF-424B Form
3. The applicant should make sure to carry all the documents that are mentioned under the “Required Documents” section of this page (Both photocopies and originals).
4. Applicant has to fill in all the necessary details in the form and attach the photocopies of the documents that are needed along with the application form before submitting.
5. The fee of this process is mentioned under the “Fees” section of this page.
6. Once the application is determined to be complete, USDA will conduct a further review of the management team and business plan.
7. The Agency will make direct loans to micro lenders for the purpose of providing fixed interest rate microloans to rural micro entrepreneurs for start-up and growing microenterprises.
8. Eligible micro lenders will also be automatically eligible to receive micro lender technical assistance grants (TA) to provide technical assistance and training to micro entrepreneurs that have received or are seeking a microloan under this program.
9. A commitment letter must be issued to the applicant within 30 days following CSIDA's acceptance of a loan and/or grant under this section.

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Required Documents

• Application SF-424, SF-424A and SF-424B Form
• If a non-profit entity, evidence that the applicant organization meets the
• citizenship requirements (at least 51% of persons who control the
• MDO must be US citizens).
• If a non-profit entity, a copy of the applicant’s bylaws and articles of incorporation, which include evidence that the applicant is legally considered a non-profit organization.
• If an Indian tribe, evidence that the applicant is a Federally-recognized Indian tribe, and that the tribe neither operates nor is served by an existing MDO.
• If a public institution of higher education, evidence that the applicant is a public institution of higher education.
• For non-profit applicants only, a Certificate of Good Standing, not more than 6 months old, from the Office of the Secretary of State in the State in which the applicant is located. If the applicant has offices in more than one state, then the state in which the applicant is organized and licensed will be considered the loan location.
• Certification by the applicant that it cannot obtain sufficient credit elsewhere to fund the activities called for under this program with similar rates and terms.
• There are no other additional requirements at the national level.If there are additional state-specific requirements they will be listed in the following link under ”Other Requirement” Link

Office Locations & Contacts

Location: Washington D.C
Address:USDA Rural Development
Rural Housing Service
1400 Independence Ave., SW, Rm 5014, STOP 0701
Washington, DC 20250-0701

Application assistant Phone:
(202) 690-0433
Contact Link

State Office:
Contact Link

Eligibility

• The following are eligible to be a Micro-enterprise Development Organization:
  • Nonprofits.
  • Federally-recognized tribes.
  • Institutions of higher education.
• The following are eligible to apply for a loan from the MDO as an ultimate recipient:
  • Businesses located in an eligible area with 10 or fewer full-time employees.

Fees

• Application fee $250.00 may shall be paid at the time of submission of an application.
• Contact your local office for more information.

Validity

• The maximum term is twenty years. Payment deferral for two years.

Documents to Use

• An application form is available at the following SF-424, SF-424A and SF-424B Form

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

• A commitment letter must be issued to the applicant within 30 days following CSIDA's acceptance of a loan and/or grant under this section.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&>
from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the emptags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.gIn the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• Please contact Application assistance before submitting the application.
• Please always refer to the programme instructions stated in the section above headed "What law regulates this programme?" because citations and other material are subject to change.
• You can also seek assistance from your local office.

Required Information

The information needed to be filled in the application form are listed below:

• Narrative work plan.
• The date that it began business as an MDO.
• Microenterprise development training.
• Number of employees.
• Caseload.
• Training organizations.
• Continuing training relationships.
• Internal benchmarking system.
• Administrative expenses.
• History of provision of microloans.
• Portfolio management.
• History of Provision of technical assistance.
• Ability to provide technical assistance.
• Proposed administrative expenses to be spent from TA grant funds.

Need for the Document

• It offers Microenterprise Development Organizations (MDOs) loans and grants to help them:
  • A Rural Microloan Revolving Fund will be established to assist microenterprises with their starting and expansion.
  • Microloan borrowers and micro enterprises should receive training and technical help.

Information which might help

• Checklist Link
• For more state view information select the state for “For state specific information drop down” at top right corner: Link

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

• This programme is being implemented by Rural Development in order to assist rural micro entrepreneurs and microenterprises in their development and continued success.
• The application may also used for:
  •  Apply for Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant (REDLG)

External Links

Place some external links which might help.

Others

More information which might help people.