Menu
Menu
Menu
At the Green Bank for Rural America, we’re committed to strengthening rural communities through strategic investments that spark increased economic resilience. Initially funded by a $500 million award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, our goal is to empower rural communities with the financial resources and tools to build sustainable, locally-driven solutions.
Through a focused investment strategy, we partner with community lenders to deliver financial support, technical assistance, workforce development, and community engagement to rural communities. We ensure that rural areas not only adapt to, but also benefit from, the new energy economy.
Our investment strategy is structured around four pillars to support lenders and communities to build long-term capacity to fund new energy projects:
We provide capitalization awards to participating Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) certified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Economic Development Administration Revolving Loan Funds, U.S. Department of Agriculture Intermediary Relending Program lenders, and other public and nonprofit loan and investment funds.
We provide technical assistance (TA) awards that accompany our capitalization awards and offer services in green finance to community lenders and development support to communities and businesses for green energy projects. TA services target buildings (including residential, commercial and industrial, and community facilities), distributed energy generation and storage, zero-emission transportation projects, and business financing.
We provide resources to help community lenders and funded projects work with local partners to cultivate a skilled workforce capable of supporting and sustaining the long-term goals of new energy projects. These resources include training programs, apprenticeships, and partnerships with local educational institutions and unions.
We provide resources to help community lenders and community leaders ensure active participation and buy-in from the local community in order to enhance the acceptance and success of projects. These resources include stakeholder consultations, public awareness campaigns, and inclusive planning processes.
We disburse capitalization and technical assistance awards to CDFIs and other public and nonprofit loan funds, bringing new investment to target communities, creating quality jobs and businesses that support sustainable growth.
U.S. Treasury certified Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), including Native CDFIs.
Public sector lenders, including state, municipal, and Tribal governments, and federal agency affiliated lenders, such as U.S. Economic Development Agency Revolving Loan Funds and U.S. Department of Agriculture Intermediary Lending Fund Program lenders.
Not-for-Profit Entities that are legally eligible to make loans.
Most of our capitalization awards will range from $1 million to $10 million, except for a small number of awards of up to $35 million. We anticipate originating a total of $400 million in capitalization funds to approximately 60 financing partners serving rural communities.
We accept applications for awards on a rolling basis and announce the award recipients quarterly. We anticipate announcing the first awards in January 2025 and awarding all funding by January 2027. Applicants that are not selected for awards may revise their applications and reapply at any time, as long as funding remains available.
For more information, visit the Awards for Community Lenders page.
Participating Community Lenders will underwrite projects and businesses that are eligible to be financed with EPA GGRF support. These include:
The redevelopment and renovation of buildings that reduce emissions, and the construction of new Net Zero Emissions buildings including:
» Commercial, Industrial, Community Facilities, and other buildings
» Residential – single family and multi-family, both rental and for sale.
Including community solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal; energy storage and battery backup systems.
Including commercial fleet electrification for trucks or cars, school buses, public or share-ride services, and charging infrastructure for all EVs.
Energy efficient and renewable energy products and services supporting the above.
All financed projects must meet Low Income Disadvantaged Community (LIDAC) requirements.
For more information on project eligibility and LIDAC mapping, please visit our Resource Hub.
We offer Technical Assistance Hubs that provide specialized services to lenders, financed projects and businesses, and participating communities, helping to increase the demand for—and accelerate the impact of—Green Bank financings. These hubs provide specialized services for priority transaction types, as well as workforce development programs to meet the demand for new energy economy jobs in local communities and community engagement activities to ensure financed projects address local priorities.
Each participating lender will receive a technical assistance award of 10% of their capitalization funding to support these activities. We will provide a total of $50 million in technical assistance awards to participating lenders.
Technical Assistance partners will be contracted to provide support in their respective target market, which may be defined by geography or the type of assistance requested. We anticipate that we will contract more than 100 technical assistance partners to provide services.
We work closely with community engagement and workforce development partners to ensure that the projects financed address community priorities, and that new job opportunities are prioritized for local residents.
Our community engagement partners include local community-based organizations, regional development organizations, local government leaders, and others to ensure that financed projects support a community’s vision and advance community strategies. Our workforce development partners will include community and technical colleges, workforce boards, unions, and industry training and certification partners, ensuring that rural residents have an on-ramp to high quality employment opportunities.
© 2024 Green Bank for Appalachia, Energy Communities, and Underserved Rural America