Strategic Entrepreneurial Economic Development, or SEED program targets rural Minnesota counties

SEED targets rural Minnesota counties such as Lincoln County, Yellow Medicine County, Murray County and Redwood County. Counties that have lost population or have unemployment rates higher than the state average qualify for all of the roughly 20 SEED http://www.deed.state.mn.us/Community/assistance/seed/index.htm programs.

There is also room in SEED programs for counties such as Lyon County, that haven’t lost population but still needs some support from the state, McElroy said.

“There is a need for entrepreneurship and small business development,” McElroy said.

Rural counties that are struggling with declining population like Lincoln County, or those like Lyon County with a low unemployment rate, need to have ways to spur economic development or find ways to make work more efficient and competitive to retain existing jobs, McElroy said.

The nearly $70 million that will be requested from the 2008 Legislature will support ideas from entrepreneurs in rural Minnesota and encourage growth from within rural counties, McElroy said.

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