2006 Archive
"Rural Business Enterprise Grant" (RBEG) in Oregon
Through the RBEG program, USDA Rural Development provides grant funds for precisely-targeted technical assistance, training, feasibility studies, and other activities that support the development of small business enterprises in rural areas. Eligible applicants are nonprofits, public bodies, and tribes. The following RBEG information describes the program in detail.
If you are indeed interested, please review the following guidance and submit a proposal as outlined below by January 19, 2007.
Funds Available:
USDA's FY2007 budget has not yet been finalized, but last year (FY2006), Oregon received a State RBEG allocation of $356,000. It is likely that Oregon's RBEG program will be authorized and funded at a similar level in FY2007. Although the RBEG program is relatively small, it can still be an invaluable tool in rural business development.
Last year the USDA office received 54 Oregon proposals seeking $944,724, out of which 31 grants were awarded totaling $356,000, with sizes ranging from $3,000-$25,000.
Types of Proposals We are Seeking:
In order to distribute the limited RBEG funds over as many worthy proposals as possible, the USDA is encouraging proposals of $15,000-$20,000 or less, and not more than $25,000. Smaller proposals in the $2,000-$10,000 range are greatly preferred.
Technical assistance/problem-solving proposals are encouraged over real estate and revolving loan fund projects.
In developing your proposal, please pay particular attention to the priority scoring system described in the RBEG information sheet. It is used by USDA to select among RBEG applicants. Design your project to maximize your project's priority score and thereby improve your prospects of success.
Note that in order to be competitive, a minimum 1:1 match with nonfederal funds is advised.
In FY2007, USDA's State Director discretionary points will be awarded to projects emphasizing:
- Downtown and historic-district revitalization
- Value-added agriculture
- Telecommunications
- Minority business development
- Rural health care
- Helping small business & farmers apply for USDA's §9006 Energy Efficiency grants
- Helping farmers, rancher, fishermen, & foresters apply for USDA's Value-Added Producer Grants
- New and creative approaches to rural business development
In all cases, RBEG is looking for projects that will have an immediate jobs benefit for rural Oregon.
A Concept Paper is Requested:
Since it is expected that there will be more RBEG proposals than can be funded, instead of seeking full, detailed applications, the USDA is only seeking a brief "concept paper" from prospective applicants. This will save everyone time and effort while still allowing the USDA to survey the field of candidate projects.
The RBEG "Concept Paper" which is now requested is linked here for your use. Please be succinct and clear in completing it. When finished, a "Concept Paper" should not need to be more than 2 pages, and no advantage will be given to longer proposals. Remember, the USDA is soliciting concepts, not full RBEG application packages.
Deadline for Concept Papers:
If you wish to be considered for RBEG funding in Oregon in FY2007, your RBEG "Concept Paper" should be submitted to the Oregon Rural Development State Office - preferably by e-mail to jeff.deiss@or.usda.gov - by not later than January 19, 2007. If you wish to send it by regular mail, the address is: USDA Rural Development, Attn: Business & Cooperative Programs, 1201 NE Lloyd Blvd., Ste. 801, Portland, OR 97232.
The Review & Selection Process:
Feedback will be provided to all Concept Paper proposers. Proposals that appear to be most competitive will be especially encouraged to submit full applications, though of course everyone will be welcome to apply formally.
Tentatively, the USDA is asking for full applications by around February 9 (assuming the Federal budget has been enacted and the FY2007 Oregon State RBEG allocation is in place by then). The USDA is hoping to make RBEG award announcements by late March 2007.
Additional Funding Opportunity
Historically, once State allocations are expended, it has been common for USDA to consider additional RBEG applications for funding from a national competition process. It is still too soon to know any details about this, but we will work with the RBEG applicant community on this opportunity once Oregon's State RBEG funds have been awarded.
Attention Native American & Tribal Proposers!
You too are encouraged to submit RBEG "Concept Papers", but because there is expected to be a large Native American RBEG earmark administered by the USDA Rural Development National Office, you may be encouraged to bypass the smaller Oregon State RBEG process and focus on the national RBEG earmark. Additional guidance on this opportunity will be provided as it becomes available.
Questions?
If you have questions or concerns, please contact anyone on Oregon's Business & Cooperative Programs staff. The contact information is on-line at: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/or/contact.htm
One Sky Center to Issue American Indian/Alaska Native Suicide Prevention Guide
The One Sky Center, the first National Resource Center for American Indians and Alaska Natives dedicated to improving prevention and treatment of substance abuse and mental health, will issue a Suicide Prevention Guide specifically targeted for the American Indian and Alaska Native adolescents.
The Suicide Prevention Booklet titled, A Guide to Suicide Prevention for American Indian/Alaska Native Communities, is a first of its kind resource directory for Indian Country in the United States. The booklet contains background information on suicide, protective and risk factors, prevention strategies, a list of promising programs being used in tribal communities, a directory of mental health consultants working in native communities, and a community suicide assessment tool.
The One Sky Center will distribute the guide to native communities and schools across the United States in early 2007, and will also make the booklet electronically available via the One Sky Center website.
In the last two years, the One Sky Center has served as a key resource to both the public and private sectors, including intergovernmental entities. The Center serves in an advisory capacity to key leaders, and has been invited to testify as an expert witness on Capitol Hill as part of a series of Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearings on the topic of teen suicide in Indian Country.
The One Sky Center is helping to lead a cultural movement toward identification, acceptance, and implementation of culturally appropriate substance abuse and mental health services that work in the American Indian and Alaska Native world. This activity spans awareness raising, coalition building, motivation enhancement, resource development (such as inventories of best practice), broad dissemination, training, and technical assistance.
The One Sky Center located at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon was created in 2003. R. Dale Walker, MD, is the Center’s Director and is a Cherokee psychiatrist with qualifications and 30 years’ experience in the addictions field.
For more information about the One Sky Center, the Suicide Prevention Guide, Congressional testimonies, please visit the One Sky Center website at www.oneskycenter.org or call (503) 494-3703.
Middle School Essay Contest
The Northwest Association for Biomedical Research (www.nwabr.org), a partner of OHSU, is pleased to announce the return of their popular middle school essay contest for students in Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho. This contest is open to all 7th and 8th grade students, whether entering as part of a class or individually. Over $2,500 total will be awarded for regional and overall winners.
NRHA Committed to Making Rural the Nation's Leader in Quality Health Care Programs
A new paper released by the Flex Monitoring Team compiled an in-depth description of the proposed 2005 Flex Program grant applications on quality and performance improvement activities. The National Rural Health Association (NRHA) commends the Flex Team on the usefulness of this paper and encourages all CAH facilities to review it for ideas on how to further quality improvement in their own facilities and communities.
New PBS Series: Remaking American Medicine
Remaking American Medicine is a four-part television series for PBS that follows pioneering individuals struggling to fix our broken health care system.
Program 1 - Silent Killer profiles individuals who are committed to fixing a health care system that is estimated to kill up to 98,000 people a year.
Program 2 - First Do No Harm focuses on efforts to eliminate hospital-acquired infections and medication errors.
Program 3 - The Stealth Epidemic looks at groundbreaking efforts to create effective chronic disease management programs.
Program 4 - Hand In Hand shows how a unique partnership between patients, families and providers is transforming a teaching hospital.
Wanted: Rural health providers
The Bend Bulletin reports on the issues pertaining to recruiting rural health care providers in Oregon.
The National Rural Health Association Joins House Representatives' Pomery and Walden - Health Care Access and Rural Equity Act of 2006 Unveiled
Today, the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) joined the Honorable Greg Walden (R-OR) and the Honorable Earl Pomeroy (D-ND), and many of their colleagues from the House Rural Health Coalition, to unveil a new rural health care bill designed to increase equity and improve access to high quality care in rural America.
"Medicaid is too Important to Fail"
National Rural Health Association Provides Comment to the Medicaid Commission
"Medicaid is an essential lifeline for the most vulnerable Americans in rural communities and too important to fail," said Alan Morgan, CEO of the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). Morgan provided comments to the Medicaid Commission today on the important role that Medicaid plays as a safety net for millions of low-income working families, disabled and elderly, - particularly those residing in rural areas. The NRHA is a member of the Partnership for Medicaid, a non-partisan, nationwide effort led by safety net providers and other key organizations to preserve and improve the Medicaid program, the largest single source of funding for long-term care in the United States.
Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant Program
The purpose of the Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant Program is to provide support to entities that need assistance to plan, organize and develop a health care network because they do not have a significant history of collaboration and are not sufficiently evolved to apply for a three year Rural Health Network Development Grant. This support may be sufficient to jumpstart a network into becoming operational and developing strategies for becoming sustainable. The grant program supports one year of planning to develop and operationalize health care networks, consisting of at least three health care providers, in rural areas.
Successful applicants can use one-year Planning Grants for laying the foundation of a rural health network to:
(1) Identify potential collaborating network partners in the community/region; (2) Convene potential collaborating network partners; (3) Conduct planning activities, which could include: (a) Undertaking a community health needs assessment, (b) Identifying the most critical need of potential network partners to ensure their viability, (c) Identifying factors that will lead to the networks sustainability, i.e. enumerating the benefits that will accrue to network participants if their network is successful, (d) Developing a business, operation or strategic plan, (e) Developing a plan for the networks sustainability, (f) Carrying out organization development activities, e.g. creating a formal MOA/MOU establishing a network board establishing bylaws; applying for 501(c)3 status, etc or, (g) Begin carrying out network activities, including activities to promote the networks sustainability.
Governor wins fed approval for plan to strengthen rural health care
Health and Human Services approves Oregon-specific definitions for Rural Health Clinics - Salem, Or.
Governor Ted Kulongoski announced today that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has approved his request for an Oregon-specific definition of health care shortages that will strengthen access to health care for residents in remote areas of Oregon.
“I am working to expand access to health care for all Oregonians, including rural communities struggling to meet the needs of residents,” the Governor said. “With approval of this request, more rural Oregonians will have access to quality care.”
The Governor submitted a proposal in June to HHS that outlined specific certification criteria for designation of an “Oregon Governor’s Health Care Shortage Area.” The new designation expands eligibility for Rural Health Clinic certification in rural areas such as Lakeview and Enterprise. Certified Rural Health Clinics receive cost-based reimbursement for care provided to Medicaid and Medicare patients, who are disproportionately represented in rural communities.
“This new designation will help strengthen the health care infrastructure in rural and frontier counties,” said Scott Ekblad, director of the Oregon Office of Rural Health. “Economically fragile clinics will now be able to qualify for federal assistance that makes caring for their Medicare and Medicaid patients affordable.”
With the 10th largest land mass in the country, Oregon’s geography creates challenges in access to health care for many rural Oregonians, including time-consuming, long-distance travel to receive care. A 2005 Office of Rural Health report, “Oregon Federally Certified Rural Health Clinics,” identified areas of the state where no federal shortage area designations previously existed, but where health clinics are economically fragile. A closer look at those economically fragile health clinics revealed that they are primarily located in Oregon’s remote counties that did not qualify for existing federal shortage designations.
The new state-based certification process will allow the state to identify areas where health care systems are fragile but do not meet the current federal designation criteria. Under the new state criteria, 10 counties in Oregon that qualify as “frontier” counties—Baker, Wallowa, Grant, Wheeler, Sherman, Gilliam, Morrow, Harney, Malheur and Lake—will automatically qualify for the shortage designation. The average population in Oregon’s frontier counties is 2.1 persons per square mile. Out of the ten counties in Oregon that qualify as frontier, seven have populations with fewer than three persons per square mile; five have populations fewer than two persons per square mile, and three have fewer than one person per square mile. Oregon frontier counties have 2.6 percent of the population in the state and only 1.3 percent of physicians.
The proposal submitted to Health and Human Services was a collaborative effort of the Governor’s Office, the Oregon Department of Human Services, and the Oregon Office of Rural Health at Oregon Health and Science University. The Oregonian (Linked article is subscription only.)
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Seeks Proposals for "Aligning Forces for Quality" Program
In an effort to help communities dramatically improve the quality of care for people with chronic illnesses, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is seeking applicants for a new program designed to use market forces to drive quality improvements.
The three-year, $10 million program, Aligning Forces for Quality: The Regional Market Project, will help communities advance and align three key drivers of quality improvement: performance measurement and public reporting; capacity to help providers improve the quality of ambulatory chronic illness care; and consumer demand.
Aligning Forces for Quality will select up to six communities in a national competition. The program will accept only one proposal per community, and that proposal must represent a broad set of stakeholders. Selected communities will each receive grants of up to $600,000 to use over three years, beginning in February 2007, for planning, convening, coordination, and infrastructure development. In addition to grant awards, the community grantees will also have access to a substantial pool of technical assistance support.
The deadline for applicant registration is July 14, 2006, with full proposals due September 7, 2006. The Aligning Forces for Quality Call for Proposals is available online at the RWJF Web site.
The Oregon Office of Rural Health is pleased to announce the availability of grant funds for rural Oregon EMS providers. The purpose of this grant program is to enhance the ability of rural EMS agencies to respond to bioterrorism incidents and other public health emergencies that would require a surge in response capacity. These funds were made available by Oregon's Department of Human Services (DHS), through the National Bioterrorism Hospital Preparedness Program. Requests must be received by June 30, 2006 to be considered for funding. Packet:
Free CME course offering!
"Bioterrorism - What you need to know"
