Main Street Revitalization Grant Program Guidelines

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) is overseeing the Main Street Revitalization Program approved by the Minnesota Legislature in 2021. The Initiative Foundation (IF) was awarded $4.5 million for Main Street Revitalization efforts throughout the region. The IF has allocated $765,600 to Brainerd to be used in the River to Rail Corridor (see attached map) and has asked the Brainerd Economic Development Authority (EDA) to decide on funding requests in Brainerd. Grant awards can cover up to 30% of a project’s cost, while the remaining funds (70%) must be secured through other sources by the applicant.

This is a competitive grant program and a sub-committee appointed by the EDA will review the applications and submit recommendations for approval.

The EDA identified targeted priorities for this funding:

• Housing
• Landscaping/Lighting/Greenspace/Parking
• Small Business
• Child Care

The eligible uses for the funds per MN DEED are:

• Repair or renovation of real property
• Building construction
• Landscaping and streetscaping
• Demolition and site preparation
• Project pre-design and design
• Engineering
• Non-municipal infrastructure

Requirements:

• Physical location of the proposed project must be located within the River to Rail Corridor. (See map)
• All funded projects must be completed by December 31, 2026.
• Must have Federal and State Tax ID numbers.
• There is a funding match requirement. Applicant is required to secure other sources of funding to “match” any funds given by the grant program. The grant award can cover up to 30% of the project cost; the remaining 70% must come from other funding sources.

Application Deadline:

Applications are submitted online and must be completed by Monday, September 5th, 2022 by 4pm.

Application Tips:

• Download or print the application questions and supporting documents to ensure you have all required information and documents needed to complete the online application.
• Make sure your documents are saved as your project title before uploading them into your application.
• If you have multiple documents you’d like to upload into your application under the “Project Information” section, combining these documents into one may help with ease of uploading. This can be done by scanning documents into a PDF prior to uploading into the application.

For any questions regarding this application or if you need technical assistance, call 218-828-0096 or email tyler@growbrainerdlakes.org.