Tag Archives: Rural Development

USDA Streamlines Process for Investing in Rural America, Including Telecom Investments

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture is accepting applications in four loan guarantee programs under the OneRD Guarantee Loan Initiative. USDA cites regulatory reforms with this process in the hopes of encouraging rural investment.

One of the four programs – the USDA Community Facilities Loan Program – allows borrowers to use the funds borrowed for telecommunications end-user equipment when related to public safety, medical, or educational telecommunication links, provided that the project is not eligible for Rural Utilities Service financing.

The Community Facilities program provides loan guarantees for development of essential community facilities in rural areas. These are defined as “a public improvement, operated on a non-profit basis, needed for the orderly development of a rural community where the rural community is a city or town, or its equivalent county or multi-county area.”

Facility is defined as the physical structure and the service provided to residents or businesses.

Applicants may include lenders that “have the legal authority, financial strength and sufficient experience to operate a successful lending program, according to the USDA. This includes lenders that are subject to supervision and credit examination by the applicable agency of the United States or a State, such as federal and state chartered banks, farm credit banks with direct lending authority, bank for cooperatives, savings and loan associations, savings banks, mortgage companies that are part of a bank-holding company, The National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation, credit unions and state bond banks or state bond pools. Others may be considered.

Possible borrowers could be public bodies, Indiana tribes on federal and state reservations, federally-recognized tribes and non-profit organizations. Eligible areas include those with populations of 50,000 or fewer pursuant to 7 U.S.C. 1991(a)(13)(H) – excluding incarcerated populations — based on the latest decennial census. Eligible areas must be outside of urbanized areas contiguous and adjacent to that city or town.

The USDA has adopted a common loan guarantee application for the four programs The other three programs are the Water and Waste Disposal Loan Guaranteed Program, the Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program and the Rural Energy for America Guaranteed Load Program.

Rural Economic Development Best Practices Featured on New USDA Rural Development Website

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Innovation Center has introduced an interactive webpage designed to help identify best practices for building rural prosperity. The USDA rural development web page was introduced by Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development Anne Hazlett.

“Rural communities need forward-thinking strategies to build strong, resilient futures,” Hazlett said in a press release. “USDA’s Rural Development Innovation Center is focused on identifying unique opportunities; pioneering new, creative solutions to tough challenges, and making Rural Development’s programs easier to understand, use and access.”

USDA Rural Development Web Page

The webpage offers strategies that have proven effective for creating jobs, building infrastructure, strengthening partnerships and promoting economic growth across the country. A feature of the initiative enables visitors to submit comments. Those comments are reviewed and Rural Development Innovation Center personnel direct people to resources, services and expertise. The webpage points to the USDA Distance Learning & Telemedicine Grant Program, Community Connect Grant Program and the Community Facilities Program.

The Rural Development Innovation Center aims to streamline, modernize and strengthen delivery of Rural Development Programs, a press release explains.

In April, 2017, President Trump established the Interagency Task Force on Agricultural and Rural Prosperity. The goal is to identify legislative, regulatory and policy changes aimed at promoting agriculture and prosperity in rural communities. In January, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue presented the findings to the president. Findings included 31 recommendations to align federal, state, local and tribal governments to take better advantage of opportunities that exist in rural America. The interactive web page was a product of this initiative.

USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to expand economic opportunities and generate jobs in rural areas. It supports infrastructure improvements, business development, housing and community services such as schools, public safety, health care and high speed Internet access in rural areas.