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USDA Accepting Proposals Expanding Rural Internet Access

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The USDA Rural Development is still accepting applications from “state or town governments, cooperatives, incorporated organizations, Indian Tribes and Tribal Organizations for Community Connect Grants” needing to finance the expansion of broadband internet access in rural communities.

Last October, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $190.5 million in grants and loans to make broadband and other advanced communications infrastructure improvements in rural areas. One of the first recipients of the USDA Rural Development Community Connect Broadband Grant is Lafayette, Tennessee’s North Central Telephone Cooperative (NCTC), which was awarded $1.77 million to increase connectivity for the areas residents.

The desired outcome of the grant is detailed on the USDA’s blog.

Upon completion, NCTC service area residents will have access to internet speeds ranging from 5 Megabits per second (Mbps) to a full 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps). This means businesses will be able to capitalize off of e-commerce business strategies and offer teleworking options to their employees; community members will have more efficient and reliable access to commercial and emergency services.

USDA Blog | World Accessibility in Rural America

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Rural Oregon Struggles to Keep Up with Urban Portland

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Last week at the Oregon Leadership Summit in Portland, local leaders in both the private and public sector discussed how to address the state’s slow recovery in rural areas. In a piece by The Oregonian, local leaders considered a range of strategies “from unlocking timber to expanding the growing market for drones.” Presently, Oregon’s economic recovery is dependent on urban Portland, which has not only regained its job base, but has also expanded it. As a result, young people are leaving Oregon’s rural areas for urban centers like Portland.

According to the Oregonian:

Rural incomes also are on a dismal trend line. Per capita income in rural Oregon was above the U.S. average in the 1970s, but now only comes to to three-fourths of the national figure, said John Carter, chairman of Schnitzer Steel and the Oregon Business Plan, which backed Tuesday’s summit.

Also on discussed was the development of industrial land and helping already existing rural businesses as ways of jump-starting Oregon’s rural economy.

Oregon Live – The Oregonian | Rural Oregon economic struggles gain increasing attention statewide