Articles2022-03-12T19:21:00+00:00

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2401, 2023

Grant Opportunity: High-Wage Jobs and New Businesses in Underserved Rural Communities

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development is now accepting applications for $500,000 to $2,000,000 through its Rural Innovation Stronger Economy (RISE) program. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas. The program was unveiled in ...

1301, 2023

Conservatives Say Bring the Renewable Energy, Leave the Climate Talk

Conservative states are getting attention for embracing renewable energy while avoiding the language of climate change this week after The Economist profiled several Texas wind ranchers as to point out "lessons for liberals." The ranchers say it's simple economics: cattle returns $8 per acre, deer hunting bumps up to $15 per acre, and wind ...

1101, 2023

Rural Missouri Rolls Out Electric School Buses

A federal rebate program is bringing environmental action and cost savings to El Dorado Springs R-ii, a rural school district in Missouri, in the form of dozens of electric school buses slated to roll out this fall. With more miles to cover, rural school districts often have large budgets to fuel their school buses, ...

601, 2023

Hayden, Colorado, Poised to Successfully Transition Away from Coal

Four tenants have committed to fill spots in an 11-vacancy industrial park under construction in Hayden, Colorado, creating anticipation of 55 new jobs and a welcome transition plan away from coal. Hayden, Colorado, at just under 2,000 people, depends on coal for most of its tax base, but as Colorado has committed to closing ...

301, 2023

Omnibus Spending Bill Stands to Support Rural Communities

On December 3o, 2022, President Biden signed a $1.7 trillion spending bill into law, $200 million of which will go toward the RECOMPETE Pilot Program with the Economic Development Administration (EDA). This pilot program targets areas of low employment across the country, which overlap heavily with rural communities, to invest in economic development planning ...

2312, 2022

New Mexico School Has Unlocked Key Winning 15 State USDA Rural Development Awards

The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) has been awarded 15 funding packages through USDA Rural Development since 2001 - more than any other entity in the state. Key to success? Having a dedicated grant writer to research what is required for each individual funding package. The school, which serves over 600 Tribal and ...

1912, 2022

Coal Transition Success in Appalachia: ARC POWER Initiative

The Appalachian Regional Comission's Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization (POWER) Initiative, is celebrating successes highlighted in a recent evaluation - over 3,400 students have been supported in finding employment in high-demand, upstream occupations. The evaluation showed that POWER’s stakeholders appear to be working toward economic transformation by striving for change at ...

1512, 2022

Critical Infrastructure for Combatting Climate Change in Kansas – USDA Invests

The US Department of Agriculture's Rural Development agency announced today 11 projects across the state of Kansas to shore up critical infrastructure in the fight against climate change through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). Each of the funded projects are housed with rural employers, and most invest in solar arrays or wind ...

512, 2022

Six Iowa Counties to Improve Water Infrastructure with ARPA Funds

Carroll, Harrison, Ida, Humboldt, Plymouth, Pottawattamie & Shelby counties in Iowa are receiving $17.2 Million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars to improve reliable access to clean water and sanitary wastewater systems into the future. US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development will administer the funding. The funding is coming in the form ...

212, 2022

Affordable Internet Investments Continue with $1 Billion More from ARPA

Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Utah will use the next infusion of funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to connect over 180,000 new homes to affordable high-speed internet service. Coming through the Capital Projects Fund, a component of ARPA dedicated to enabling work, education, and health monitoring in response to the ...

2911, 2022

Rural Water Infrastructure Gets $45 Million Investment from USDA Rural Development

Missouri State Director of Rural Development, Kyle Wilkens, announced $45 million in loans and grants for water and waste disposal infrastructure in the state. The US Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Agency administers the  Water & Waste Disposal Loan & Grant Program, which aims to ensure access to clean, reliable drinking water, sanitary sewage ...

1611, 2022

Rural Partners Network Facilitates $160,000 Investment in Rural Kentucky eConnectivity

Partners for Rural Impact, Inc. received a $160,000 cooperative agreement from USDA Rural Development's Rural Placemaking Innovation Challege, announced November 16th. The project will  increase eConnectivity rates in Appalachian Kentucky with a focus on the eight counties that are part of the Rural Partners Network – the Kentucky Highlands Community Network. Working with rural ...

1111, 2022

ARPA Continues to Pay Dividends for Rural Communities in Kansas with More Broadband

In the first of three rounds of funding seven service providers are being awarded nearly $16 million to will bring broadband service to underserved, economically distressed, and low-population areas of Kansas, announced Governor Laura Kelly this week. This phase of funding will connect more than 1,900 homes, businesses, schools, healthcare facilities, and other public ...

711, 2022

$35 Million in ARPA Funds Go to 911 Services for Navajo Nation

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez announced $35 Million dollars from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) dollars will be used to the rural addressing initiative and improvements to the 911 services. The American Rescue Plan infused emergency funds into local communities to respond to urgent and long-running public health needs. Rural addressing is a critical ...

411, 2022

Rural Partners Network Expands to Five More States and Puerto Rico

Seventeen new communities in Alaska, Nevada, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, West Virgina, and Wisconsin are the next locations to be included in the Biden-Harris administration's Rural Partners Network, a 2022 initiative to ensure rural communities can benefit from federal resources. The Rural Partners Network was launched in April of this year and began with ...

311, 2022

Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe Tribe Will be its Own Internet Provider Thanks to IIJA

A $25 million Infrastructure, Investments, and Jobs Act (IIJA) grant through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce will enable the lac du Flambeau Ojibwe Tribe to become its own broadband internet provider. The $25 million grant and broadband plans were announced in late October. Service should be available ...

211, 2022

Recognizing Child Care as a Public Good, Nevada Taps More ARP Dollars for Subsidies

Nevada is expanding the recognition of the necessity of child care as a public good by bringing $50 million more in American Rescue Plan (ARP) dollars to increase the income threshold for child care subsidies, permanently. The American Rescue Plan (ARP)'s $24 billion  Child Care Stabilization Program prevented the US economy from collapsing under ...

2510, 2022

ARPA Sends $3 Million for the Workforce of Clifton Forge, Virginia

Clifton Forge, a town of 3,555 people in Alleghany County, Virginia, is receiving a $3 million investment from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to boost workforce development in this coal community. The funds will go to renovate the building that used to be the Courtesy Ford dealership into a workforce development center in ...

2410, 2022

Environmental Benefits Flowing to Louisiana from the IIJA

In Louisiana, the Infrastructure, Investments, and Jobs Act (IIJA) money is being used to cap orphaned oil wells that are polluting critical wildlife habitats and wildlands. Over 4,600 orphaned wells have been mapped around the state of Louisiana, covering virtually the entire state, and more are expected as the industry is shifting. Capping and ...

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