Preamble

The purpose of these investments is to revitalize and sustain family farms and farming communities in the tobacco regions of the United States.

A significant amount of money should be allocated so that tobacco growing states and communities have options and opportunities to ensure their economic viability into the 21st century. Funds for these community development/agricultural development activities shall not jeopardize or compete with funds intended to directly compensate farmers for loss of income due to changes in the tobacco program. Farmers, as a majority, with meaningful local community input, must govern decision making. Agricultural based development shall guide as a priority. Delivery structures shall be designed to most directly deliver the funds to the farming communities, and there shall be a limit on funds for administration.

Contents 

I. Operation and Delivery of Services
    A. Farming Community Councils
    B. Regional Farming Community Foundations
    C. Federal oversight and administration
    D. USDA Rural Development Administration
II. Purposes
    A. Loans and grants for agricultural development
    B. Community economic development
III. Implementation Schedule

I. Operation and Delivery of Services

A. Farming Community Councils

Tobacco counties, or networks among counties, shall have the opportunity to develop Farming Community Councils to develop initiatives for funding by Regional Farming Community Foundations. The Farming Community Councils shall include a minimum of 51% farmers, with additional stakeholder interests represented, including: public health; consumers; government; research and education; financial; labor; farm organizations; and community service. Councils shall have a minimum membership of eleven persons, and Council members shall be selected at open annual meetings involving diverse stakeholders.

Community Councils shall develop plans for agricultural and complementary development and submit these plans for funding to the Regional Foundations.

B. Regional Farming Community Foundations

Two Regional Farming Community Foundations shall allocate funds and coordinate services in order to fulfill the purposes of this Act. The Regional Foundations shall represent tobacco communities for all program types of tobacco, and one shall be headquartered in the Burley region and one in the Flue-Cured region. Each Regional Foundation shall be governed by a board that is composed of the following: representatives from each tobacco state governor, a sufficient number of delegates from Community Councils to include representatives from each tobacco state while also balancing representation in relation to tobacco dependence; representatives from the public health community, business and financial institutions, and other appropriate agencies. All board members must have demonstrable experience with community development and/or agricultural enterprise development. The composition of this board is intended to include a majority of Community Council delegates and farmers.

Regional Foundations shall make policy for the distribution of grants, loans, and/or cost-share support of development initiatives.

Regional Foundations shall hire and/or contract for services to Community Councils, as requested. Such services might include needs assessment, feasibility studies for new enterprises, training, and facilitation.

Each Regional Foundation may endow a Trust Fund with five percent of total funding in years 1-10 and ten percent of funds in years 11-25. This Trust Fund will fund programs in years 26 and beyond.

C. Federal oversight and administration

A Federal Commission shall provide coordination, monitor and evaluate program performance, and report to Congress. The Federal Commission shall include 3 delegates from each Regional Foundation and designees of the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the White House, and the National Governors' Association.

D. USDA Rural Development Administration

At the discretion of regional foundations, up to fifteen percent of total allocated Fund revenues may be allocated, on a fifty percent match basis, to USDA programs that serve the purposes of the Fund within tobacco dependent counties.
 

A. Loans and grants for agricultural development

1. Grants for the development of value-added enterprises Grants would support the development of value-added enterprises, including the support of feasibility studies, market analysis, and business plan development.

2. Cost-share grants for new enterprises Matching grants would assist the start-up phase of value-added enterprises, including hiring, facilities, research and development.

3. Reduced interest loans for value-added enterprises Revolving linked-deposit and guaranteed loan programs would provide capital for value-added and supplementary enterprises.

4. Research and education programs

Expansion of Cooperative Extension programs: grants would be available for special projects that serve the purposes of this Fund, provided that producers significantly participate in the design and implementation of these projects.

Leadership development: grants to public and private agencies would support the development of leadership that is entrepreneurial, community based, and capable of developing collaborative teams to implement the purposes of the Fund.

Cooperatives, networks and alliances: grants would be available to assist farmers in creating and building business relationships that give them market advantage and economies of scale.
 

B. Community economic development

Agriculture-related enterprises are the priority for these programs, with complementary enterprises receiving the second priority.

1. Integrated Enterprise Incubation Systems

Regional Foundations and/or Community Councils will establish integrated incubation systems for enterprise development to provide a single point of contact for entrepreneurs for a wide range of enterprise development assistance. Services will be available to agriculture-related and other locally owned businesses. This integrated incubation system will link public and private agencies and will include the following elements:

• State and/or regional coordinators and a network of enterprise development mentors;
• Classification of entrepreneurs according to their level of skill and preparedness to build a business;
• Linking entrepreneurs to the appropriate resource or specialist for problem definition and solution delivery;
• A comprehensive tool kit of practices to address the needs of entrepreneurs, including training, information dissemination, coaching or mentoring, and peer group interaction;
• "Co-learning teams" of entrepreneurs and agency professionals to ensure coordinated support of enterprises and shared learning among resource providers;
• Analysis of the gaps in the provision of services in order to make recommendations about future allocations of public resources to enterprise incubation.

2. Revolving loan funds

Grants to community development corporations and other eligible entities would establish revolving loan funds and technical assistance for business creation and expansion.

3. Enhancing community capacity

Grants to community development corporations and other eligible entities would support the enhancement of capacity for entrepreneurship and sustainable development.
 

The intent of the Tobacco Community Investment Fund is for funds to be allocated by Regional Foundations that are governed by a majority of farmer and Community Council representatives. During the early phases of Fund implementation, however, funding will be needed to support the following:

1. Organizing broad tobacco county participation in Community Councils and subsequent planning and feasibility analysis; and
2. Locally owned value-added enterprises already at the take-off stage.
 

Therefore, Regional Foundations will need to begin with interim governance and interim staff. Nevertheless, the intent of this Fund is for major funding and long-term staffing decisions to await the installation of sufficient farmer and Community Council representatives on Foundation boards to constitute a majority.