1997 Annual Report of the Secretary of Agriculture
A Change for the Better
The mission of USDA Rural Development is to enhance the ability of rural communities to develop, to grow, and to improve their quality of life by targeting financial and technical resources in areas of greatest need through activities of greatest potential.
By working in partnership with the many public and private organizations involved in rural development, USDA Rural Development is increasing its focus on community development while continuing to fund development projects aimed at creating quality jobs, housing, and services in rural areas.
These facts illustrate the condition of rural America:
To sustain the economic viability of rural areas, jobs lost due to more efficient farming methods need to be replaced with jobs in new businesses or industries. Utilities and services similar to those found in urban areas must be available to attract and support new businesses. Safe and sanitary housing is a minimum requirement for a family to have a reasonable standard of living.
USDA's Rural Development mission area includes these agencies: The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) addresses rural America's need for such basic services as clean water, sewers, waste disposal, electricity, and telecommunications. The Rural Housing Service (RHS) addresses rural America's need for single-family and multi-family housing for its low-income families, and also helps rural communities build or improve essential community facilities such as health clinics, fire and police stations, schools, and day care centers. The Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS) helps meet the need for new economic opportunities in rural America, and helps rural businesses and cooperatives remain viable in a changing economy.
In addition, the Office of Community Development (OCD) administers the rural Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities program--a Presidential initiative designed to provide economically depressed rural areas and communities with real opportunities for growth and revitalization.
Year at a Glance |
Accomplishment Highlights
USDA Helps More People Own Their Own Home
The Department provided financing to help 40,000 rural residents buy
single-family homes, including the construction of 14,000 homes under the
Self-Help Housing program, in which people with low incomes gain sweat
equity by participating in the construction of their own homes. USDA
also financed the building of 7,900 units of multiple-family housing. In
total, USDAs Rural Housing Service invested more than $2.6 billion
either as loans, guaranteed loans, or grants in rural housing last year.
More than 58,000 jobs were created as a result of housing construction
generated by USDA programs.
Roundup of USDA Boosts
for Rural America in 1997
The legacy of USDA Rural Programs in 1997 includes 150,000 jobs and 40,000 new homeowners. These programs help to break the cycle of poverty in some of the Nations most economically depressed rural areas. The program also provided $540 million in rental assistance to help nearly 40,000 rural, low-income households obtain safe, well-built rental housing; extended about $936 million as loans, guaranteed loans, or grants to finance the startup or expansion of 1,183 rural businesses or cooperatives, creating or preserving more than 53,000 jobs; and provided $8.6 million in grants and $1.6 million in loans for distance learning and telemedicine projects that serve more than 1.5 million rural people. USDA invested over $60 million in the Nations 3 rural Empowerment Zones and 33 rural Enterprise Communities in 1997. |
USDA Loans, Grants Help With New Facilities, Rental Assistance,
Business Expansion
USDA helped build new or improved community facilities--such as day
care centers, health care clinics, schools, fire stations, and
libraries--in 568 rural communities by providing more than $226 million in
loans, guaranteed loans, or grants. These facilities serve a rural
population of more than 9 million.
The Department provided $540 million in rental assistance to help nearly 40,000 rural, low- income households obtain well-built, safe housing. Half of the rental program beneficiaries were elderly, with an average annual income of less than $7,300.
The Department financed the start-up or expansion of 1,183 rural businesses or cooperatives, creating or preserving more than 53,000 jobs in the process. USDAs Rural Business- Cooperative Service (RBS) extended about $936 million in the form of loans, guaranteed loans, or grants to rural businesses and cooperatives. USDA also provided technical services to 100 cooperatives.
Loans and Grants Help Ensure Safe Water and Create New Jobs
USDA provided more than $1.3 billion in loans and grants for 1,125
rural water or wastewater projects that serve 8.5 million people, creating
30,000 jobs.
The Department extended more than $824 million in loans and loan guarantees to help 136 rural electric cooperatives construct electric facilities serving rural areas in 32 States. These projects, funded by USDAs Rural Utilities Service (RUS), provided new service to 151,000 rural families and businesses and created 19,000 new jobs. These funds leveraged an additional $2.1 billion in private investments in electric systems.
Extending Telecommunications Capability
USDA loaned $380 million for 79 rural telecommunications projects
that provided improved service to more than 211,000 rural households and
businesses, including more than 43,000 new customers. Improvements
included installation of new digital switching technology and nearly
50,000 miles of fiber and copper cable. These and other system
enhancements are making advanced telecommunications services available to
more rural Americans than ever before. These investments created 8,711 new
jobs.
Ex-Homeless Georgia Man
Buys House
Lorenza Johnson, a previously homeless man, moved into his own $51,300, three-bedroom house in March 1997, thanks to USDAs Rural Development office in Southwest Georgia. Johnson, who had been homeless 11 years before, was determined to earn his own way and held down two jobs. He qualified for a mortgage under a USDA loan program in which people with low and moderate incomes can buy homes if they have established credit. Deborah Pennington, of USDAs Rural Development office in Southwest Georgia, reported that about 26,000 Georgians have gotten such loans since the program began in the 1960's. |
USDA Supports Distance Learning and Telemedicine
The Department provided $8.6 million in grants and $1.6 million in
loans for distance learning and telemedicine projects that serve more than
1.5 million rural people. In addition, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman
used $6.5 million from the Fund for Rural America to finance additional
distance learning and telemedicine projects.
Fund for Rural America Helps Rural Development
Secretary Glickman announced his FY 1997 priorities for the
Administrations Fund for Rural America, providing $300 million over
3 years for various rural development programs. About $6.5 million will
provide rural business grants, while another $6.5 million will fund
distance learning or telemedicine projects to serve 175,000 students and
allow health care access for 400,000 rural residents. The fund will
provide $20 million for single-family housing, part of the Homeownership
initiative, and will provide $9.1 million for the Water 2000 initiative to
help provide clean water for rural America
USDA Improves Its Home Loan Servicing Operations
The Department automated the system it uses to originate and service
$18 billion in home loans held by 565,000 rural Americans. This project
will reduce operating costs for USDAs Rural Housing Service by $250
million over a 5-year period, and by $100 million per year thereafter. By
centralizing the loan-servicing system, USDA was able to reduce staff by
about 600 positions and to consolidate its network of rural housing
offices from over 1,200 to about 800 nationwide.
USDA Grant Allows
Elderly Woman To Remain in Own Home
USDAS Rural Housing Service gave an elderly woman in West Virginia a grant to install an oil- fired furnace and air-conditioning unit. Her home lacked air-conditioning and her original coal- and wood-fired furnace was located in the basement and could be reached only from the outside. In the spring of 1997, the woman began experiencing problems breathing and had difficulty being outside. Her doctor told her to get a new heating system and to install an air-conditioning system as soon as possible, but the woman lacked the financial resources to purchase these new systems. Thanks to the work of the local USDA staff, the womans respiratory problems have subsided and she is able to remain in the home she has occupied for 40 years. |
Cooperative Development
During FY 1997, USDA funded 18 projects with $1.7 million to promote
cooperatives and also funded 17 projects targeted at value-added
cooperative development. The National Commission on Small Farms
recommended increased funding and assistance for cooperative development.
Quality Telecommunications and Telemedicine Service Reaches
Southwest Louisiana
Cameron Parish, Louisiana, a very rural and isolated area, is only
several feet above sea level and its location on the Gulf Coast leaves it
subject to frequent flooding and hurricanes. The 9,000 residents of
Cameron Parishs six communities now have good telecommunications and
health care services, thanks to funding from RUS and advanced
telecommunications services provided by Cameron Telephone Company. Cameron
is using RUS funds to improve its telecommunications services by
constructing a redundant fiber-optic ring through its service area. This
state-of-the-art equipment assures that in the event of an emergency,
telecommunications services will remain uninterrupted by redirecting the
transmission through other parts of the network. The improved
telecommunications service also provides the first telemedicine hook-up in
the entire State. Residents of Cameron Parish can now be treated through electronic
house calls by medical personnel in Lake Charles and New Orleans who
evaluate transmitted CAT scans, radiography, ultrasound, and nuclear
images.
Water Loan and Grant Program Helps Mississippians
The Taylor Water Association in Mississippi will upgrade its existing
system, extending service to 135 families who now haul water or use
shallow, untreated wells that are subject to contamination. This project,
which includes a new well and an elevated storage tank, will also benefit
172 existing customers. The current system is overloaded, and many of the
distribution lines are leaking due to aging and deteriorating pipe joints.
Due to health hazards and low median household income, this project will
qualify for the poverty line interest rate and will be funded as part of
USDA's Water 2000 initiative. Funding for the $1.445 million project will
be provided by a $650,000 USDA Rural Development loan and a $650,000
grant. Additional funding will be provided by the State of Mississippi
through a $145,000 Community Development Block Grant.
Rural Water System Replaced in California
The water system in Cache Creek, a small, low-income community in the
Mojave Desert in California, has inadequate storage (20,000 gal.) and an
inadequate distribution system (undersized metal lines that are severely
corroded and leaking profusely); it has been shut down 37 times in the
last 4 years to repair leaks. Some of these lines are so shallow they
freeze in the winter. In 1997 USDA provided this Water 2000 project with a
RUS loan of $34,600 and a grant of $400,000 to replace the water
distribution system, add storage capacity, and tie in to the Mojave Public
Utility District's existing water main. With the completion of this
project, the 96 residents of the community will have a safe, reliable
water supply.
USDA Volunteers Use
AARC-Developed Cleaning Products
About 30 USDA employees volunteered to give Washington, DCs Van Ness Elementary School a facelift while using environmentally safe products developed with support from the Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization (AARC) Corporation. They removed graffiti, cleaned bathrooms, painted, and did landscaping work using a soy-based graffiti remover and a citrus-based cleaner. AARC invests mainly in rural-based companies to help commercialize industrial (nonfood, nonfeed) products made from agricultural materials. |
New Sanitation System Improves Health in Kotlik, Alaska
Kotlik, Alaska, is an Eskimo village where 97 percent of the 543
residents live on fishing and trapping. It has a sub-arctic climate and no
roads into the community (passengers, mail, and cargo arrive by air and by
barge during the short summer season). This community uses surface water;
95 percent of the residents haul water by hand and have never had
household plumbing. Human waste is collected in 5-gallon "honey
buckets" in each home and the city provides the collection service.
Negative health effects, such as outbreaks of hepatitis, have resulted
from these sanitation facilities and lack of treated water. In 1997, RUS
announced a $533,000 Alaska Village Grant that will be matched by a
similar $533,000 Alaska Village Safe Water Grant. This project will
provide a 4,000-foot utilidor containing a vacuum sewer main and a
circulating water main to serve 190 people in 45 homes.
Water 2000
About a million residents of rural America lack safe, clean drinking
water in their homes. USDA has been spearheading the Water 2000 initiative
to provide this basic resource that most Americans take for granted. RUS
conducted a State-by-State needs assessment and determined that 25 million
rural residents experience water-related health problems, are forced to
haul water, or are under orders to boil water. In the first 2 years of
this program, RUS invested more than $580 million in loans and grants to
the Nations highest priority Water 2000 projects.
Empowerment Zones/Enterprise Communities
During 1997, USDA invested more than $60 million in the Nations
3 rural Empowerment Zones and 33 rural Enterprise Communities (areas of
persistently high poverty designated for special assistance under a
Presidential initiative). This was a historic step in USDAs effort
to eliminate rural poverty. As a result of these efforts, over 7,000 jobs
have been created or saved, 1,100 public service facilities have been
built or renovated, and more than 700,000 rural citizens are now receiving
additional services in rural Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities.
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