Office of Rural Development

U.C.A. 63N-4-101

The Office of Rural Development (ORD) is dedicated to facilitating business growth and economic vitality in Utah’s rural communities . We accomplish this by providing grants and incentives to rural businesses and by partnering with local governments and other organizations to support economic growth activities .

FY 2016 Summary

“BEAR Blitz.” ORD visited all 25 rural counties in one month, including counties not currently participating in the Business Expansion and Retention (BEAR) program . The purpose of these face-to-face meetings is to gain insight into each county’s economic development goals and objectives and to discuss how to best utilize the available ORD programs .

Train the Trainer. In FY 2016, ORD hosted six regional training events designed to teach rural economic development directors, BEAR outreach specialists and local elected officials about the resources available to small businesses in Utah . More than 200 attended these events .

Rural Legislative Day. This annual event was co-sponsored by the Utah Association of Counties . It allowed rural Utah residents to mingle with legislators and other state officials, hear updates on current legislation, and interact with other rural leaders .

Familiarization Tours. ORD organized five rural familiarization tours in FY 2016 . ORD, GOED management and other state department directors joined the lieutenant governor in meeting with local elected officials, business leaders and community members to discuss projects and challenges around economic development .

Economic Development Planning. In an effort to encourage all rural communities to have an updated economic development plan, ORD is partnering with EDCUtah, Western Rural Development and the Rural Planning Group to provide affordable planning options . EDCUtah and ORD developed a “building blocks of economic development” readiness tool which has been introduced in six counties .

Dagget Ambassadors in Training

Outcomes

Targeted marketing of BEAR and Rural Fast Track (RFT) programs, along with face-to-face ORD outreach, has supported increased RFT and BEAR program usage levels over the last three years . • BEAR outreach specialists in 20 rural counties made 2,294 visits to small businesses, resulting in 1,221 unique business resource refferals . • Due to the BEAR Blitz and Train the Trainer events, applications for

FY 2017 BEAR funding requests increased in all 25 rural counties . • 31 Rural Fast Track Grants were awarded to small businesses to the amount of $1,360,388 . This public funding was matched by $4,468,810 in private capital investment . Businesses in 12 counties received awards in 11 unique industry sectors . It is estimated that these investments will create up to 122 jobs that pay at least 110% of the county average wage .

Moving Forward

ORD will continue stressing high-quality rural outreach service and stewardship of business growth programs and tax incentives . ORD will encourage increased industry diversity, especially in energy and extraction-based economies, in order to create healthy economies in all 25 rural counties .

In order to accomplish these goals, ORD will: • Provide more group and individual training to each rural county and tribe by restructuring rural staff duties . • Work with Utah Aerospace States Association to promote rural aerospace supply chain education and opportunities .

For additional information about Rural Development visit www .business .utah .gov or contact Linda Gillmor, Director, at lgillmor@utah .gov or 801-538-8804