Farm Bill Supports Rural Entrepreneurship, But Faces Likely Veto

The good news coming out of the nearly $300 billion farm bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this week is that it made available “$15 million in mandatory funding for the establishment of a rural entrepreneurship and microenterprise grant and loan program.”

The bad news is that President Bush has vowed to veto the bill that he calls overly expensive.

Aside from the blurb above, I have little idea about the details of this program. If we were blogging for the whole world to see this would be a good time to call on Rep. Ben Chandler and Rep. Geoff Davis to get their take on this particular line item. It’s possible that it will come back in, in a subsequent revision if the President vetoes and the House and Senate can’t override him.

As for who’d be eligible for the grant: Grants may be made to qualified organizations to provide training, operations support or rural capacity-building services to qualified organizations to assist them in developing microenterprise training, technical assistance, market development assistance, and other related services.

Qualified orgs… like KECI? Is it time for KECI to set up a 501C3 and avoid the red tape inherent in a University system. Maybe this could be our opportunity to move into Eastern Kentucky?

Al Cross Plugs KECI Among E.KY Political Heavyweights

I attended the recent East Kentucky Leadership conference (see here and here) at which there was quite a bit of discussion about economic development. On one panel a group of Eastern KY political and business heavyweights including the Gov's Chief of Staff- Jim Cauley, Bill Weinburg, Jerry Johnson, Ron Eller (as much a heavyweight as a policy wonk and academic can be) and others waxed about the ways E. KY could grow it's economy.

At one point Al Cross, another panelist and the Dean Emeritus of the state's political journos, stepped in to really plug KECI. He suggested that E. KY Leadership Foundation look into expanding the club into far Eastern Kentucky.

At another point Jim Cauley stepped in to smack down a conversation that seemed to be tipping its hat to industrial recruitment. I can't remember the exact quote, but he essentially said the Governor rejected the strenght of that strategy and wanted to invest in KY companies instead. Several folks clapped loudly and awkwardly... me included.

I think there's an opening to expand KECI into the mountains with the right strategy. Wonder if an EDA grant would support that? Ron, Katie, Mel... you out there? Thoughts?