Source: USDA, 12/19/19

USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Donald “DJ” LaVoy today highlighted major accomplishments and investments that are building prosperity and strengthening the nation’s rural businesses and communities.

“Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, USDA continues to make great strides in building prosperity in our rural America,” LaVoy said. “In 2019, the Department collaborated with many partners and invested $28.6 billion to spark business development and create jobs in all 50 states and all U.S. territories. We worked to bring high-speed internet capacity, modern community facilities, and upgraded water and wastewater infrastructure to rural areas. We helped provide homeownership opportunities and reliable electricity. We invested in businesses and family-supporting jobs, because when rural America thrives, all of America thrives.”

Below is a summary of USDA’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 accomplishments in specific areas:

Expanding E-Connectivity
• Committed $600 million in 2019 to support rural broadband expansion through the ReConnect Pilot Program. The ReConnect Program offers unique federal loans, grants and grant/loan combinations to facilitate broadband deployment in rural areas that do not have sufficient access to broadband. This program generates private-sector investment to deploy broadband infrastructure to as many rural places as possible, including homes, community facilities, health care institutions, public safety departments, schools, libraries, farms, ranches and businesses.
• Made available a total of $550 million in grants, low-interest loans, and 50/50 grant/loan combinations. The application window for this round of funding will open Jan. 31, 2020. Applications for all funding products will be accepted in the same application window, which will close no later than March 16, 2020. 

Infrastructure
• Invested $5.8 billion to upgrade or build electric and Smart Grid infrastructure that will benefit 7.7 million consumers by improving electric service reliability across 32 states.
• Invested $1.8 billion to expand access to safe drinking water or improve wastewater management systems. These investments will benefit more than 2.3 million rural Americans.
• Invested $21 million in essential projects such as bridges, roads and transportation improvements. 

Quality of Life
• Invested $788 million in loans and grants that funded 783 essential community facilities such as rural hospitals, educational institutions and public safety facilities. These investments will benefit more than 11 million rural residents. 
• Invested $42.5 million in 133 distance learning and telemedicine projects. These investments will benefit 5.4 million rural residents. They will make it easier for thousands of rural residents to take advantage of economic, health care and educational opportunities without having to travel long distances. More than one-third of these distance learning projects, 51, totaling $14.7 million in grants, will provide access to opioid prevention, treatment and recovery services for 2 million rural residents.
• Provided more than 99,000 homeownership loan guarantees to low- and moderate-income families in rural areas in all 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. 

Economic Development
• Invested $1.3 billion in Business and Industry (B&I) Program loan guarantees that assisted 378 rural businesses. These investments created or saved nearly 11,000 jobs.
• Invested $249 million in 1,381 in energy efficiency, renewable energy and energy development assistance projects in the Rural

Energy for America Program (REAP).
• Supported and advanced the joint Memorandum of Understanding with the Small Business Administration to promote purposeful, strategic and focused economic development and leveraged this partnership to support innovation and entrepreneurship through the regional innovation cluster model.
• Developed a joint Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Department of Energy to promote rural energy and the development of technologies that will support energy-related infrastructure in rural and agricultural communities.
• Partnered with 48 rural communities and regions that will receive planning assistance from capacity building organizations in the Rural Economic Development Innovation (REDI) initiative.