UPDATES
Daycare Relief in Lake Crystal Thanks to USDA Rural Development Community Facilities Program
After a year of operation, Little Lakers, a nonprofit child care center is booming with a waiting list nearly a year long. It is filling a critical need for working parents in this rural part of Minnesota. The center opened with the support of $725,000 from the USDA Rural Development Community Facilities Program and ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
$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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...