Section 540.150  Application Review Process

a)         Department staff shall screen applications to determine that all minimum requirements of the application package have been addressed. Applications will be reviewed in accordance with Department review criteria noted in subsection (b) of this Section.

b)         A request for a grant to set up and operate a Revolving Loan Fund shall be evaluated in accordance with the requirements of this subsection. The application evaluation process consists of a review by staff selected from various divisions of the Department.  This staff reviews the applications using the Likert Ranking System in a competitive individual case by case study. Elements are of general equal weight.  (All evaluation personnel then rerank the highest rated applications for a final rank order, with the highest selected for funding.)  The review of applications submitted by the due date shall be completed no more than 45 working days after the application due date, with grant awards being announced at the end of that period. Applications will be comparatively evaluated on the basis of:

1)         The geographic area to be served, the extent of economic distress and unemployment in the area to be served, and the nature of financial needs of the area.  Economic distress and financial needs may be documented by providing data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics or Illinois Department of Employment Security reflecting area specific unemployment rates, hours and earnings of production workers, help wanted indexes, bankruptcy filings, personal income, new business incorporations, interest rates, deposit to loan ratios of lending institutions, etc.;

2)         The necessity, sufficiency, and consistency (merits) of the proposed work plan and proposed activities with requirements of Sections 540.140 and 540.160;

3)         The demonstrated capability and past experience of the applicant in managing the work activities similar to those proposed;

4)         The amount of matching funds, as authorized pursuant to Section 540.180, shall be provided, at a minimum, at an amount of at least 50 percent of the Department's share, and preferably 100 percent of the Department's share;

5)         Letters of cooperation between the proposed program and a self-employment training course;

6)         The level of economic development results expected including but not limited to new businesses started, jobs created, and private funds leveraged; and

7)         The extent to which those organizations have not previously been assisted with a Department grant (which could be or is being used as a Revolving Loan Fund).

c)         Applications which best meet the evaluation standards of subsection (b) of this Section will be selected for funding. Priority shall be given to programs which serve high poverty areas, enterprise zones or both.

d)         Upon selection, the Department shall notify applicants of the amount of grant, if any, which may be used to set up and operate the local Revolving Loan Fund. The Department shall issue a grant agreement for signature by the local Project Operator.

(Source:  Added at 15 Ill. Reg. 973, effective January 11, 1991)