1.There is hereby created in the state treasury a revolving fund to be administered by the department of economic development to be known as the "Business Extension Service Team Fund". The fund shall consist of all moneys which may be appropriated to it by the general assembly, gifts, contributions, grants or bequests received from federal, private or other sources. A percentage of the moneys in such fund shall be used by the department for grants or loans for qualified community development projects in order to create or retain jobs in any city not within a county, any city with a population of three hundred fifty thousand or more inhabitants which is located in more than one county, any fourth class city with a population of at least three thousand five hundred inhabitants but not mo
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1. There is hereby created in the state treasury a revolving fund to be administered by the department of economic development to be known as the "Business Extension Service Team Fund". The fund shall consist of all moneys which may be appropriated to it by the general assembly, gifts, contributions, grants or bequests received from federal, private or other sources. A percentage of the moneys in such fund shall be used by the department for grants or loans for qualified community development projects in order to create or retain jobs in any city not within a county, any city with a population of three hundred fifty thousand or more inhabitants which is located in more than one county, any fourth class city with a population of at least three thousand five hundred inhabitants but not more than five thousand five hundred inhabitants which is located in a county of the first classification with a charter form of government with a population of at least nine hundred thousand inhabitants, and any third class city with a population of at least three thousand inhabitants but not more than five thousand five hundred inhabitants which is located in a county of the first classification with a charter form of government with a population of at least nine hundred thousand inhabitants, and shall be targeted toward economically blighted urban districts for new businesses, expansion of existing businesses and for employee training and housing. The department may require such grants or loans to be made on a matching fund basis. Any city that receives funding from the business extension service team fund may use up to ten percent of such grant or loan for administrative costs. As used in this subdivision , "economically blighted urban districts" means areas which meet all of the following criteria:
(1) The area is one of pervasive poverty, unemployment, and general distress;
(2) The area is located wholly within an area which meets the requirements for federal assistance under Section 119 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended;
(3) At least sixty-five percent of the residents living in the area have incomes below eighty percent of the median income of all residents within the state of Missouri according to the United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey, based on the most recent of five-year period estimate data in which the final year of the estimate ends in either zero or five or other appropriate source as approved by the director of the department of economic development;
(4) The resident population of the area is at least four thousand at the time of designation as an economically blighted urban district. If the population of the jurisdiction of the governing authority does not meet the minimum population requirements set forth in this subdivision, the population of the area must be at least fifty percent of the population of the jurisdiction; and
(5) The level of unemployment of persons, according to the most recent data available from the division of employment security or from the United States Bureau of Census and approved by the director of the department of economic development, within the area exceeds one and one-half times the average rate of unemployment for the state of Missouri over the previous twelve months, or the percentage of area residents employed on a full-time basis is less than fifty percent of the statewide percentage of residents employed on a full-time basis.
2. The department of economic development may use a percentage of the moneys in the fund established in subsection 1 of this section to directly contract with community development corporations established pursuant to section 135.400 for the provision of job training or for creating or retaining jobs in any area meeting the criteria outlined in subsection 1 of this section.
3. All moneys remaining in the business extension service team fund at the end of the fiscal year shall not lapse to the general revenue fund, as provided in section 33.080 , but shall remain in the business extension service team fund.