Small, rural businesses in Richmond County may soon be able to expand into a more sophisticated infrastructure. The Rural Center is seeking funding from the USDA to grow ‘green’ economic opportunities. Advancement Regional Business Lenders, Inc. has submitted an application to the USDA for a Rural Business Opportunities Grant that addresses planning and infrastructure needs of Tier 1 counties like Richmond.

Last December Reps. Mike McIntyre and Larry Kissel held a federal resource summit at the Laurinburg-Maxton Airbase. Judy Canales of the USDA keynoted by specifying the emphasis was to be placed on regional business development rather than at the community level.

Small businesses have to band together to eliminate costs, and together they can enter the regional market, explained Jim McCaskill, former member of USDA Rural Development and Richmond County resident.

A briefing for the proposal was held recently at the Lumber River Council of Governments in Pembroke. The point of the grant briefing is to examine the possibilities the grant could open up for the development of the southeastern counties. Elected officials from southeastern counties were invited to meet with the groups and agencies to collaborate on and discuss what the funding can provide. Mayor Gene McLaurin and McCaskill attended the briefing.

The working group examining these possibilities is comprised of North Carolina’s Southeast, Advancement Regional Business Lenders, Inc., UNC Pembroke, the Rural Center’s Institute for Rural Entrepreneurship and the Lumber River Council of Governments. Area elected officials were briefed on the part they could play by serving as an advisory committee to the project, if it is funded by the USDA.

“The Rural Center is really driving the project,” said McLaurin. “They have a good understanding of what’s going on in the communities.”

If approved, this grant will help determine what small entrepreneurial businesses in rural areas will need to be able to integrate into a larger framework that includes Broadband and water/sewage access. Community meetings will be held where small business owners and entrepreneurs can exchange innovative and inexpensive ideas about emerging into the market and creating jobs within the community.

The grant will also initiate planning to move Richmond County toward being able to support green and renewable energy for future businesses and clean up existing industries so they comply with environmental and safety regulations.

“We know renewable energy is coming, and we want to be ready and able to attract businesses that use them to the area,” said Mayor Gene McLaurin. Both he and McCaskill were invited to serve on the advisory committee because of their knowledge of and connections within Richmond and neighboring counties.

McLaurin believes that making water and sewer lines available in rural areas of the county will make the area attractive to manufacturing industries, which will in turn create jobs for Richmond County. Expanding infrastructure along highway corridors will allow for business and industrial access, as well as tourism influx.

Steve Yost of NC’s Southeast says the region needs to be prepped to invite foreign companies that manufacture parts for renewable energy equipment, such as wind turbines and solar panels to bring their manufacturing plants to Richmond County.

By stabilizing waste water lines between municipalities, residential and commercial businesses may take a closer look at Richmond County, explained Jim Perry of the Lumber River Council of Governments. He says training people in green technology such as solar panels will allow contractors and housing developers invested in building with green materials to come to the area. More development could mean more job opportunities, and more sustainable growth for Richmond County.

The North Carolina-based working group is competing with other states and regions for this federal grant. The application must be reviewed by the USDA before it is recommended to Washington, D.C. The working group will know by September if the funding will be granted, and plans to be initiated could take up to two years to draft and finalize.

Dawn Kurry can be reached at dkurry@yourdailyjournal.com or by calling 997-3111 ext. 15.