BANGOR — USDA is seeking applications from organizations that will provide technical assistance to rural businesses.

Funding will be provided through USDA Rural Development’s Rural Business Opportunity Grant program. Up to $2.6 million is available. The maximum grant is $100,000.

Grants may be used for feasibility studies, strategic planning, leadership training and other types of business development activities. Eligible applicants include public bodies, nonprofit corporations, institutions of higher education, Indian tribes and rural cooperatives.

USDA Rural Development is further interested in RBOG applications to support a new Obama administration initiative called Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership. This initiative is intended to stimulate an environment for developing manufacturing jobs.

RBOG applicants, for example, could seek grants to help rural communities develop long-term strategic plans for their manufacturing sectors or to provide training to entrepreneurs who want to create manufacturing businesses in rural areas. Applicants who receive RBOG funding complementing the IMCP initiative may later be eligible for much larger grants directly through the initiative.

Some of the funding available under this RBOG notice will be made available for projects benefitting federally recognized Indian tribes and projects benefitting Rural Economic Area Partnerships. The remaining funds are open for national competition.

The application deadlines are June 30 for partnership funds and June 28 for all other requests. For additional information on how to apply, see the May 14 Federal Register, page 28184, or visit www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-05-14/html/2013-11451.htm.