Stakeholder Announcements

(January 10, 2017) – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Under Secretary Lisa Mensah today announced that USDA is accepting applications for the Community Connect Grant Program for FY 2017. | Stakeholder Announcement

(January 9, 2017) – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Under Secretary Lisa Mensah announced today that USDA is inviting applications for the Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee program (the Broadband Program). There will be two application windows for FY 2017. | Stakeholder Announcement

(December 8, 2016) – U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Under Secretary for Rural Development Lisa Mensah is inviting applications for grants under the Household Water Well System (HWWS) program and the Revolving Fund Program (RFP) for fiscal year 2017.  | Stakeholder Announcement

(December 1, 2016) – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Rural Development Lisa Mensah is inviting applications for Solid Waste Management (SWM) and Technical Assistance and Training (TAT) grants. The grants help rural areas reduce or eliminate water pollution, and improve planning and management of solid waste sites in rural areas.  | Stakeholder Announcement

(November 28, 2016) – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Rural Development Lisa Mensah today announced that USDA is inviting Community Development Financial Institutions to apply for the position of National Fund Manager for the Healthy Food Financing Initiative. | Stakeholder Announcement

(November 21, 2016) – United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Under Secretary Lisa Mensah today announced that the department is seeking applications from eligible applicants to undertake economic development and job creation projects and activities in rural areas. | Stakeholder Announcement

(November 18, 2016) – United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Development Under Secretary Lisa Mensah today announced that USDA is seeking applications for investment companies to become new Rural Business Investment Companies (RBIC) under the department’s non-leveraged Rural Business Investment Program (RBIP). | Stakeholder Announcement

(November 9, 2016) - United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Development Under Secretary Lisa Mensah announced today that USDA is seeking public comments on the current rules governing the Rural Business Investment Program. The Department would like to identify additional ways to streamline the program’s regulations and expand access to capital for small rural businesses. | Stakeholder Announcement

(October 28, 2016) – USDA Rural Housing Service Administrator Tony Hernandez today unveiled a set of five dashboards designed to provide key data about and preserve the affordability of USDA’s Multi-Family Housing (MFH) properties. The publicly accessible, user-friendly set - currently available in beta - is designed to help policymakers and industry leaders collect, track and analyze the timeframe for when the USDA mortgage will be paid off, and the property exits USDA’s MFH program. | Stakeholder Announcement

(October 24, 2016) – USDA Rural Housing Service Administrator Tony Hernandez today announced new incentives to encourage non-profit organizations to acquire and rehabilitate USDA multi-family housing properties. Eligible non-profit organizations can take advantage of these changes on March 1, 2017. | Stakeholder Announcement

(September 22, 2016) – Rural Development Under Secretary Lisa Mensah today announced that USDA’s Rural Housing Service (RHS) will be able to finance more than 400 additional direct home loans to very-low- and low-income rural residents in FY 2016. USDA is making an additional $58.4 million available by transferring unused money from other RHS programs to the Single Family Housing Direct Home Loan Program. | Stakeholder Announcement

(August 16, 2016) – USDA Rural Development programs are covered by guidance that recommends assistance be offered to those with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) to ensure they understand services and resources available to them. Rural Development is offering LEP webinars to provide information for Federally Assisted Programs that offer loans. The webinars are open to anyone interested in attending and each webinar will cover the same content and is scheduled for approximately two hours. | Stakeholder Announcement

(August 3, 2016) – Rural Development Under Secretary Lisa Mensah today released a report that outlines the costs to maintain and upgrade USDA’s inventory of multi-family housing units. | Stakeholder Announcement | Report

(July 22, 2016) USDA Rural Development Deputy Under Secretary Lillian Salerno today announced that the Rural Housing Service (RHS) is releasing a suite of investment data to increase transparency and better educate stakeholders and appropriators about RHS program investments. The data suite includes information about loans, loan guarantees, and grants invested through RHS Single Family Housing, Multi-family Housing, and Community Facilities programs. | Stakeholder Announcement

(June 30, 2016)  – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development is making funds available to community lending institutions that qualify as eligible lenders through a new program called the Community Facilities Relending Program. | Stakeholder Announcement | Federal Register Notice

(June 14, 2016) – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA is seeking applications from non-profit financial institutions for loans to finance rural electric and/or telecommunications infrastructure. | Stakeholder Announcement

(May 24, 2016) – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA is seeking comments on how the Rural Utilities Service should develop the Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP). This is a new program recently authorized by Congress. | Stakeholder Announcement

(April 8, 2016) – USDA Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Administrator Brandon McBride today announced that the Department is accepting applications for loans to bring broadband to underserved rural areas. | Stakeholder Announcement

(September 29, 2014) Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that USDA is seeking applications from producers of advanced biofuels to participate in the Department’s Advanced Biofuels Payment Program. | Stakeholder Announcement