Funding Opportunities Supporting Rural e-Connectivity

Telecommunications Programs
USDA Rural Development’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) is committed to ensuring that rural areas have access to affordable and reliable telecommunications services. General Field Representatives (GFRs) serve as the local information conduit for the borrowers and headquarters staff. RUS programs include:   

• ReConnect Loan and Grant Program: Funds for construction, improvement or acquisition of facilities and equipment needed to provide broadband service in eligible rural areas. Recorded Webinar materials (Round 4) now available. Application Window: Opening Soon. Prepare now!
• Telecommunications Infrastructure Loans and Loan Guarantees: Financing for the construction, maintenance, improvement and expansion of telephone service and broadband in rural areas. Application Deadline: Open
• Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grants: Helps rural communities use the unique capabilities of telecommunications to connect to each other and to the world, overcoming the effects of remoteness and low population density. Application Window: Closed/Projected Winter Opening. Prepare early!
• Community Connect Grants: Provides, on a “community-oriented connectivity” basis, broadband service that fosters economic growth and delivers enhanced educational, health care and public safety benefits. Application Window: Closed/Projected Spring Opening. Prepare early!

Community Grant Program
Foundation for Rural Services 
This funding supports business and community development, education and telecommunications to sustain and enhance the quality of life in rural America. Application Deadline: 8/31/2022

Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program
U.S. Department of Commerce 
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) program to expand middle mile broadband infrastructure and reduce the cost of connecting unserved and underserved areas. Application Deadline: 9/30/2022

Digital Equity Act Programs
U.S. Department of Commerce 
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) offers programs that promote digital inclusion and advance equity for all to ensure all communities have affordable access and can use the internet to improve their lives. Application Deadlines: Various. Plan now!

Capital Projects Fund
U.S. Department of Treasury
This fund offers payments to eligible governments to carry out critical capital projects that directly enable work, education, and health monitoring, including remote options, in response to the public health emergency. Application Deadline: Various

Affordable Connectivity Program
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
This FCC program helps low-income households pay for broadband service and internet connected devices. Application Deadline: Open

Virtual Living Room
The Foundation for Rural Service
This grant combines rural technology, VA resources and local support to improve healthcare access for veterans in rural areas. Application Deadline: Ongoing

Funding Opportunities for Community and Economic Development

SPOTLIGHT: Rural Placemaking Innovation Challenge (RPIC)
U.S. Department of Agriculture
USDA Rural Development offers placemaking funding to provide technical assistance and planning to communities to enhance capacity for high-speed internet access; preserve cultural and historic structures; and support development in transportation, housing and recreational spaces. Stakeholder Announcement. Federal Register. Toolkit. Application Deadline: 8/15/2022

Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program
U.S. Department of Agriculture
USDA Rural Development program for intermediaries to use funding to establish a revolving loan fund to finance a variety of activities related to meat and poultry processing. Application Deadline: 7/25/2022

Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
HUD program for public housing agencies, governments, tribal entities and nonprofits that support the development of comprehensive plans to revitalize severely distressed public housing and/or HUD-assisted housing and the surrounding neighborhood. Application Deadline: 7/28/2022

Rural Decentralized Water Systems Grant Program
U.S. Department of Agriculture
This program helps qualified nonprofits and tribes create a revolving loan fund to increase access to clean, reliable water and septic systems for households in eligible rural areas. Application Deadline: 7/31/2022

Brownfields Job Training Grants
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EDA)
EDA offers funding to deliver training programs that recruit, train, and retain a local, skilled workforce by prioritizing unemployed and under-employed residents to obtain the skills and credentials needed for pathways into full-time employment in the environmental field. Application Deadline: 8/2/2022

Economic Recovery Corps and Equity Impact Investments
U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA)
EDA is seeking an organization/coalition to build, launch and operate the Economic Recovery Corps program. Additionally, the Equity Impact Investments program seeks to build a coalition of organizations to enhance economic development engagement to better serve underserved populations. Application Deadlines: 8/5/2022

Underrepresented Community Grants
National Park Service (NPS)
NPS’s Historic Preservation Fund offers this grant program which supports the survey, inventory, and designation of historic properties that are associated with communities currently underrepresented in the National Register of Historic Places and among National Historic Landmarks. Application Deadline: 8/10/2022

EPA Training/Technical Assistance for Rural Wastewater Treatment
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
EPA provides training and technical assistance for rural, small, and tribal municipalities, publicly owned wastewater treatment works, and decentralized wastewater treatment systems for the prevention, reduction, and elimination of pollution. Application Deadline: 8/22/2022

CDFI Equitable Recovery Program
The U.S. Department of the Treasury
Community Development Financial Institutions Fund to 1) expand lending, grant making and investment activities and 2) to build organizational capacity and acquire technology, staff and other tools necessary to accomplish the activities. Application Deadline: 8/23/2022