The Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council is in line for a $75,000 grant from the federal government to foster economic development.

The COIC receives the grant annually from the Economic Development Authority of the U.S. Department of Commerce, said Scott Aycock, community and economic development manager at COIC. It’s one of the few federal grants left that benefit economic development in rural communities, he said Friday.

A portion of the grant will go to support the proposed Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs at Oregon State University — Cascades, Aycock said. The grant pays COIC to provide support, like grant writing, to other organizations to develop projects like community centers, for example.

“It’s the closest thing we have to a general fund,” Aycock said.

The grant was one of several announced Friday by U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, to 13 counties in Central and Eastern Oregon, including the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The grants are intended to assist in job creation, according to Walden’s office.