The overall goal for the Tuskegee University RBEDP in 2007/2008 is to strengthen entrepreneurial and business development activities primarily in Alabama Black Belt Counties.  Specific objectives are to:

(1) provide business and economic development education and technical assistance for startup micro-enterprises and small businesses in the Sumter-Greene Enterprise Community, Macon County, and selectively in Marengo, Perry, Dallas, Wilcox, Montgomery and Lowndes Counties, with the Cherokee Tribe on Northeast Alabama (CTNEAL) and the Echota Tribe of Northeast Alabama

(2) provide personal finance education and credit repair management and technical assistance;

(3) assist in the development and access to loan financing and other resources for select start-up and value-adding entrepreneurs; and

(4) assist in promoting USDA rural business/cooperative services and programs, including development of cooperatives for small farm enterprises.