Business Council Makes Changes to BRC Application Timeline

Cheyenne, Wyo. (For Immediate Release) – The Wyoming Business Council (WBC) is making two simple changes to the Business Ready Community (BRC) grant and loan program focused on application deadlines. These updates do not require statute or rule changes.

“Over the past couple of years, our WBC team and Board of Directors have been working hard to focus on projects that will create great jobs, have a positive economic impact, and build capacity at a local level,” said Josh Dorrell, Business Council CEO. “We are serious about making changes and funding projects that match our mission. We must be laser-focused on job creation and positive returns on investment in order to have a lasting impact on our state.”

In order to maintain that focus, the WBC team is adjusting the schedule of when, and how frequently, they see the various types of BRC projects. There are five different types of projects with varying levels of direct impact and requiring differences in evaluation and board considerations.

The five project types are:

Planning – Creates or further develops community economic development strategies and outlines an implementation plan.
Community Projects – Assists communities that want to improve their aesthetic character or quality of life to make the area more attractive for business development or workforce attraction and/or retention under a specific strategy or plan of action.
Community Readiness – Allows communities to build infrastructure for potential new business development under a specific strategy or plan of action.
Business Committed – Assists communities with businesses committed to start-up, expand, locate or retain jobs in the community.
Managed Data Center – Allows local governments working with a data center business funds to help buy down the cost of broadband and electricity.

In order to maximize focus and use agency resources efficiently, the WBC developed the calendar at the top of the page for project evaluation of Planning, Community Projects (Enhancements), and Community Readiness (Infrastructure). The WBC will evaluate and consider Business Committed and Data Center projects anytime throughout the year.

Planning and Community Project applications will be received, evaluated, and considered by the Board of Directors once annually and Community Readiness applications will be considered twice a year, aligning with typical construction planning and execution timeframes. Business Committed and Managed Data Center applications will continue to be accepted and evaluated on an as-needed rolling basis to meet the needs of communities and businesses.

Identified benefits of this new schedule include

Creating operational processing efficiencies without any changes to BRC statute or rules;
Consolidating similar projects to enrich discussion and better provide beneficial comparisons and contrasts;
Communicating current BRC priorities based on the frequency of review without changing the limits of project type per community per year limits;
Optimizing project types based on contract execution dates and Wyoming’s most optimal construction season; and
Educating the public on the economic development purpose of each project type to build local capacity.

This new application schedule goes into effect immediately. The WBC team has been communicating with communities and partners that may have a project to submit for the next deadline. We will be flexible on the first application timeline of Nov. 1; however, we will only review Community Readiness and any Business Committed projects during that window.

These updates were presented and discussed at the Oct. 20 Wyoming Economic Development Association (WEDA)-hosted Prosperity Call and a recording is available to view on the WBC’s YouTube channel.

For questions or comments, please contact WBC Investments Director Bert Adam at [email protected].