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REDLG Program

The Rural Economic Development Loans and Grants Program (REDLG) is a funding program administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).  The REDLG program makes direct zero-interest loans and grants to electric and telecommunication utilities.

The utilities use the funds to provide low interest financing for business and community development projects that create jobs in rural communities.  The loans are used to finance a broad range of projects and the funds are typically used for new construction or renovation.  The grants are provided to establish revolving loan funds to finance purposes such as medical care and business incubators.

The goal of the program is to promote projects that result in sustainable increase in the productivity of economic resources.  This program has had a tremendous impact in rural North Dakota.  Our rural electric cooperatives have been helping communities secure loans and grants for community development with the help of the RE&T Development staff of NDAREC.  

Since 1990, nineteen cooperatives have secured 71 awards from this program, totaling $15.6 million. These funds were used to leverage an additional $117.4 million and created 1,316 jobs in rural North Dakota communities.  This program has had a great economic impact on the State of North Dakota, and the RE&T Development staff of NDAREC will continue to work with our electrical cooperatives and telephone cooperatives to take advantage of the opportunities this program has to offer. 

Second cousins Ed and Art Wanner of Dickinson wanted to retire from farming and business, so they could start a part-time sausage business. They talked to the Dakota Resource Council, and applied for and received a small business loan.

With that money, they rented a small facility and started “The Wurst Shop,” a business that makes and sells ethnic sausage and meats. In an area with strong German heritage, local residents bought sausage and meat trays for weddings and funerals. Word of mouth spread, and soon customers were shipping sausage to friends and relatives across the state and nation. The Wanners’ part-time business quickly grew to “time-and-a-half.”

“We started this business too late in life. We’re too old and work so many hours at our age,” Ed says with a laugh.

They couldn’t fulfill the needs of their customers in the small building, so they contacted Consolidated Telcom, a telephone cooperative also located in Dickinson, for assistance.

As a telephone co-op, Consolidated qualified to apply through the Rural Economic Development Loans and Grants (REDLG) program to provide The Wurst Shop with funding in the form of a zero-interest loan, says Rhonda Dukart, public relations and marketing manager for Consolidated. The Wanners received the loan and used the money to buy a larger building.

“I don’t think we could have made it on any other loan. That’s how tight the books are,” Ed says. “We deal with older clientele who are strapped and on a fixed income. We try to keep prices down.”

“Extremely low interest is the key,” Dukart says. “We knew The Wurst Shop would be a successful business because they produce a product that people in this area just love. And the REDLG program is excellent for rural entrepreneurs like the Wanners. They knew they could make their monthly payments but they needed capital to buy the building and equipment. In this instance, REDLG was a perfect fit.”

Dakota Valley also has an interesting success story because of the REDLG program.  Dakota Valley received a $280,000 grant which they re-loaned to the city of Oakes.  The local hospital was very run down and there was a need for a new facility.  The money was used to provide water and a sewer system to the new hospital.  The hospital serves people from the counties of Dickey, Sargent, LaMoure, Richland, Ransom, and Cass.  100 jobs were saved due to the construction of the new hospital.