For purposes of the Community Development Assistance Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) Area of chronic economic distress means an area of the state which meets any of the following conditions:

(a) An unemployment rate which exceeds the statewide average unemployment rate;

(b) A per capita income below the statewide average per capita income; or

(c) A population loss between the two most recent federal decennial censuses;

(2) Business firm means any business entity, including a corporation, a fiduciary, a sole proprietorship, a partnership, a limited liability company, a corporation having an election in effect under Chapter 1, subchapter S, of the Internal Revenue Code, subject to the state income tax imposed by section 77-2715 or 77-2734.02, an insurance company paying premium or related retaliatory taxes in this state pursuant to section 44-150 or 77-908, or a financial institution paying the tax imposed pursuant to sections 77-3801 to 77-3807;

(3) Community assistance means furnishing financial assistance, labor, material, or technical advice to aid in the physical improvement of any part or all of a community development area;

(4) Community betterment organization means (a) any organization performing community services or offering community assistance in a community development area and to which contributions are tax deductible under the provisions of the Internal Revenue Service of the United States Department of the Treasury and (b) a county, city, or village performing community services or offering community assistance in a community development area;

(5) Community development area means any village, city, county, unincorporated area of a county, or census tract which has been designated by the department as an area of chronic economic distress;

(6) Community services means any type of the following in a community development area: (a) Employment training; (b) human services; (c) medical services; (d) physical facility and neighborhood development services; (e) recreational services or activities; (f) educational services; or (g) crime prevention activities, including, but not limited to, (i) the instruction of any individual in the community development area that enables him or her to acquire vocational skills, (ii) counseling and advice, (iii) emergency services, (iv) community, youth, day care, and senior citizen centers, (v) in-home services, (vi) home improvement services and programs, and (vii) any legal enterprise which aids in the prevention or reduction of crime;

(7) Department means the Department of Economic Development; and

(8) Director means the Director of Economic Development.