Tag Archives: USDA

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

Posted on by

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.

USDA Taking Applications for Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grants

Posted on by

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is now accepting applications for the Distance Learning and Telemedicine grants program. Grants would be used to help rural communities increase access to education, training and health care.

Nearly $72 million in grant money will be available through the USDA’s Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant program, designed to help rural communities use telecommunications-based audio and video equipment to connect teachers, students, medical providers and rural residents with each other across the globe.

USDA Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grants

To be eligible, applicants must be in rural areas of 20,000 people or less and provide education or health care services through telecommunications facilities. The applications will be reviewed and scored on a competitive basis. To improve the chance of selection, the USDA recommends that applicants base their submissions on recommendations made in the Report to the President of the United States from the Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity to help improve the quality of life in rural America.

The USDA further recommended that applicants consider projects that provide measurable results in helping rural communities build robust and sustainable economies through strategic investments in infrastructure, partnerships and innovation, particularly projects in rural Opportunity Zones.

Some potential areas for applicants to consider:

  • Achieving e-connectivity for rural America
  • Developing the rural economy
  • Harnessing technological innovation
  • Supporting a rural workforce
  • Improving quality of life 

Additionally, USDA encouraged applications that will support the Administration’s goal to combat substance use disorder, including opioid misuse, in high-risk rural communities by strengthening the capacity to address prevention, treatment and/or recovery.

All applications must be submitted to the applicant’s nearest USDA office or electronically via grants.gov by April 10.

USDA Providing $150M in Disaster Recovery Funding for Rural Areas

Posted on by

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, through its Community Facilities Program, is providing $150 million in grants to help rural communities recover from natural disasters. The USDA disaster recovery funding is in the Additional Supplemental Appropriation for Disaster Relief Act that was signed into law by President Trump on June 6.

“When rural America thrives, all of America thrives,” Bruce Lammers, the USDA’s Housing Service Administrator, said in a press release.

The USDA disaster recovery funding can be used for relief from hurricanes Michael and Florence, the 2018 wildfires and other disasters for which the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has provided a notice declaring a Major Disaster Declaration and assigned a FEMA disaster recovery (DR) number, according to the press release.

Applications are being accepted by USDA state offices and will continue to be accepted until funds run out. Assistance will be provided in higher proportion to smaller communities with the lowest median incomes. The FEMA website can be checked for updates and the names of communities that are given grants.

Community Facilities funding is available to more than 100 types of projects aimed at rural Americans. Eligible entities include municipalities, public bodies, nonprofit organizations and federal recognized Native American tribes. The projects must be in areas with populations of 20,000 or fewer people.

Loans and grants from the USDA supporting rural development and job creation can be used for infrastructure improvements, business development, high speed Internet access, housing and to support community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care.

The effort to help rural communities is the product of an Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity that generated 31 recommendations to align the federal government with state, local and tribal governments.

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

Posted on by

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.