Dear friends and rural developers,

Spring is a time of new beginnings, warm days and frost free weather that lets us put in a crop, dig a basement and pour cement. It's a perfect time to think about housing in North Dakota and how some of our Rural Development loans and loan guarantees can make the dream of affordable home ownership a reality for families.

We're announcing new lower interest rates on our single family direct program loans of just 3 percent. You can read about new outreach we are doing with upcoming homebuyer fairs and housing workshops in this newsletter. We're also hitting the road to meet directly with lending partners in our state who can use our guarantee program to help make affordable housing loans more available.

We had an excellent response to our Green Economics energy efficiency conference on St. Patrick's Day. Now let's enjoy the new green of spring and help keep our affordable housing affordable with some of those new advances in energy efficiency!

With a spring in our step,

Ryan

IN THIS ISSUE...

CALENDAR...

March 30: Rural Business Development Grant deadline for Native American Projects.

April 5, 7, 14: Annual Financing Resource Tour, multiple locations.

April 12-14: Fair Housing and Public Housing Conference, Jamestown.

April 27 - 28: Igniting Legendary Leaders Conference, Bismarck.

Saving Money by Saving Energy

With a full room, participants gathered for the Green Economics conference to hear from industry leaders about new energy efficiency technology and how it can be put into practice. WDAY News covered some of the event. Play the TV story.

Homeownership Education

Spring is upon us, which means that more people will be thinking about finding and purchasing a home. Rural Development would like to be part of this journey. Thus, we are hosting Housing Stakeholder Workshops and Homebuyer Fairs in Williston, Minot and Grand Forks. The events were happen on April 5, 6, and 7. For more information, please call (701) 530-2037 or email info@nd.usda.gov.

HOUSING SHAREHOLDER WORKSHOP

The Housing Shareholder Workshop is designed for realtors, lenders, developers, builders and others who interact with potential homebuyers. The ND Board of Realtors approved the workshop to provide four hours of continuing education credits.

HOMEBUYER FAIR

The Homebuyer Fair is designed for prospective homeowners. The two-hour fair will have 10 minute presentations from USDA, Lenders, and other partners. Attendees may spend the remainder of the time visiting informational tables and asking questions.

Seeking Applications

USDA is seeking applications for loans and grants to help support the start-up or expansion of rural businesses.

The funding is being provided through the Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant (REDLG) program. Under this program, USDA provides zero-interest loans and grants to local utilities, which use the funding to create revolving funds for projects that will create or retain jobs in rural areas. USDA is making $37 million in loans and $11 million in grants available. A recipient may receive a loan of up to $1 million, or a grant of up to $300,000.

For information on how to apply for REDLG loans or grants, see page 14415 of the March 17 Federal Register. The first round of applications is due March 31, 2016, and the second round of applications is due June 30, 2016.

Technology Workshop for Small Businesses

On March 30th, take a course to learn about Virtual IT, Cloud Usage and electronic payments. The hands-on training has limited space. Learn more and register at: http://trainingnd.com/

Other Events

The annual NDSU Agribusiness Spring scholarship banquet will be held Friday, April 1st. USDA Rural Development state director, Ryan Taylor will be the guest speaker at the NDSU Alumni Center. The ag economics alum met some of the current agribusiness students recently at the annual Bloomquist Lecture. The North Dakotans are: Molly Collette (Grafton); Megan Klosterman (Mooreton); Carlie Meehan (New Rockford) and Seth Bisbee (Leeds).

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To file a complaint of discrimination, write to: USDA, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Stop 9410, Washington, DC 20250-9410 Or call toll-free at (866) 632-9992 (English) or (800) 877-8339 (TDD) or (866) 377-8642 (English Federal-relay) or (800) 845-6136 (Spanish Federal-relay). "USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer."