Rural Collaborative Investment Program – Cluster Development in Rural America

Congressional approval of an adequately funded clusters effort is critical because the nation’s economic recovery and longer-term revitalization hinge on restoring the economic health of its regions, metropolitan and rural.

Full Story: http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-avenue/innovation%E2%80%99s-conference-committee-hurdle

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RURAL COLLABORATIVE INVESTMENT PROGRAM

The purpose of this subchapter is to establish a regional rural collaborative investment program—

(1) to provide rural regions with a flexible investment vehicle, allowing for local control with Federal oversight, assistance, and accountability;

(2) to provide rural regions with incentives and resources to develop and implement comprehensive strategies for achieving regional competitiveness, innovation, and prosperity;

(3) to foster multisector community and economic development collaborations that will optimize the asset-based competitive advantages of rural regions with particular emphasis on innovation, entrepreneurship, and the creation of quality jobs;

(4) to foster collaborations necessary to provide the professional technical expertise, institutional capacity, and economies of scale that are essential for the long-term competitiveness of rural regions; and

(5) to better use Department of Agriculture and other Federal, State, and local governmental resources, and to leverage those resources with private, nonprofit, and philanthropic investments, in order to achieve measurable community and economic prosperity, growth, and sustainability.

Full Program Information: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/7/usc_sup_01_7_10_50_20_IX.html

(Many thanks to Rod Brown’s "Cockatoo" http://www.investmentinnovation.wordpress.com for bringing this to our attention.)