General

PURPOSE: The Department of Economic Development has the responsibility to approve or disapprove proposals for Neighborhood Assistance Programs. This rule establishes guidelines to assist business firms and neighborhood organizations in the implementation of Neighborhood Assistance Programs. (1) Neighborhood Assistance Programs (NAPs) are those programs designed to give assistance to endangered neighborhoods and their residents in the improvement of the quality of life. Assistance can be granted if the neighborhood does not have the ability within its own resources to deal with the factors which are endangering its existence as a viable and stable neighborhood. An NAP is any type of community development project which improves the neighborhood by community services, crime prevention, education, job training, physical revitalization, or economic development, as named in section 32.105, RSMo. (2) The Department of Economic Development shall administer the NAP with the cooperation of the Department of Revenue. The department shall provide necessary assistance to neighborhood organizations and business firms wishing to take advantage of the Neighborhood Assistance Act. (3) As used in the implementation of the Neighborhood Assistance Act, the following terms mean: (A) Community services may include, but are not limited to: individual, group, and family counseling; mental health services; primary care and community medical health centers; child day care services; senior citizen service centers; recreation programs; nutrition programs; emergency shelters for persons suffering from physical abuse or rape; services for the handicapped; sheltered workshops, vocational counseling; substance abuse counseling; and referral services; (B) Crime prevention programs include activities such as services to ex-offenders, local civilian organizations to help prevent crime or aid to victims of crime, or both, mediation services aimed at resolving disputes and conflicts before they become criminal incidents or services to juveniles who have had contact with the court or police; (C) Education programs include literacy programs, adult basic education and General Educational Development (GED) certificate programs, and training for physically or mentally challenged; and education for person(s) disenfranchised by public primary or secondary school systems; (D) Job training may include those activities which provide specific vocational skills including special apprenticeship or on-the-job training programs not otherwise available; (E) Physical revitalization programs are those aimed at the physical improvement of any part or all of a neighborhood area. These activities may include such programs as commercial area revitalization; housing construction or rehabilitation; improvements to, acquisition, or construction of facilities used by nonprofit organizations for community purposes or related planning and promotional activities designed to aid in those programs; (F) Business firm, person, firm, a partner in a firm, corporation or a shareholder in an S corporation doing business in Missouri and subject to the state income tax imposed by the provisions of Chapter 143, RSMo, or a corporation subject to the annual corporation franchise tax imposed by the provisions of Chapter 147, RSMo, or an insurance company paying an annual tax on its gross premium receipts in this state, or other financial institution paying taxes to Missouri, or any political subdivision of this state under the provisions of Chapter 148, RSMo, or an express company which pays an annual tax on its gross receipts in this state; (G) Neighborhood organization, any organization incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation under the provisions of Chapter 355, RSMo; designated as a community development corporation under the provisions of Title VII of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964; or holding a ruling from the Internal Revenue Service of the United States Department of Treasury that the organization is exempt from federal income tax. The sole ruling which shall be considered as appropriate is section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; (H) Contribution may consist of cash, material or supplies, real estate, labor, professional services, technical assistance, or equipment. Financial institutions and insurance companies are prohibited from earning tax credits for investments which are part of their normal course of business; (I) Neighborhood, a specific geographic area certified by the Division of Community and Economic Development of the Department of Economic Development which has a readily identifiable residential population. Ordinarily in urban and suburban areas and cities with over ten thousand (10,000) in population, a neighborhood is smaller than a city. Small cities with under ten thousand (10,000) in population and regions within a rural area have many of the characteristics of urban neighborhoods. Whenever the word neighborhood is used, it should be read as applying to these areas as well. Some of the factors which could be demonstrated in defining a neighborhood include: 1. A sense of belonging or identity that ties residents to a given area: 2. Social, cultural, political or economic activities around which people organize themselves; 3. The existence of cohesive organizations formed by residents; and 4. A history of acting or being treated as a distinct or cohesive unit; (J) Problems endangering the area’s existence as a viable and stable neighborhood, a neighborhood will be considered to have these problems when some or all of the following factors, or similar factors, are present: declining population, high percentage of people dependent on public assistance, persistent or substantial unemployment or underemployment, lower than average family incomes, financial disinvestment, insurance and financial redlining, general weakened market conditions on the neighborhood commercial strip as indicated by declining rents or vacant stores, excessive abandonment, a significant percentage of neighborhood residents on fixed incomes, unsanitary or inadequate housing, overcrowding, property speculation, high rates of crime and delinquency, high degrees of drug or alcohol abuse, increasing cases of mental health problems, significant numbers of single parent households, high degree of infant mortality and disease, disabilities, general unsanitary conditions in the area, or poor city and public utility services; (K) Doing business, among other methods of doing business in Missouri, individuals operating a sole proprietorship or having rental, royalty, or farm income, as well as a partner in a firm or a shareholder in an S corporation if this firm or S corporation is doing business in Missouri; and (L) S corporation, a corporation described in Section 1361(a)(1) of the United States Internal Revenue Code and not subject to the taxes imposed by section 143.071, RSMo, by reason of section 143.471, RSMo. AUTHORITY: section 32.110, RSMo 2016.* Original rule filed Jan. 10, 1978, effective April 13, 1978. Rescinded and readopted: Filed Sept. 7, 1980, effective Feb. 10, 1981. Amended: Filed Sept. 14, 1982, effective Dec. 11, 1982. Amended: Filed Jan. 3, 1992, effective Aug. 6, 1992. Amended: Filed Dec. 10, 1993, effective July 10, 1994. Amended: Filed Sept. 28, 2018, effective May 30, 2019. *Original authority: 32.110, RSMo 1977, amended 1980, 1989, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004.