Rural development gets a boost – $750,000 for the Missoula-based Montana Community Development Corp.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has invested $750,000 in the Missoula-based Montana Community Development Corp. as part of a nationwide $5.5 million investment in jobs for rural America.

"What’s really neat is getting this much at once. It lets us go out and really work with banks to deploy it in our rural areas," said Rosalie Cates, head of MCDC.

The bulk of the money went to Southern states, including Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee. All of the money went to community development groups similar to MCDC, a private, nonprofit organization that helps small business in Missoula, Ravalli, Sanders and Mineral counties, as well as a part of Lake County.

MCDC serves as a local financing partner with the goal of building western Montana’s economy by assisting new and expanding businesses.

By ROBERT STRUCKMAN of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2005/04/16/news/mtregional/news06.txt