Working Together For Rural America

By Thomas C. Dorr, Under Secretary for USDA Rural Development

USDA Rural Development offers tools and resources to help improve the quality of life and increase economic opportunities for America’s rural residents. Rural Americans drive local economies and will determine what approaches are most beneficial to them. Rural Development seeks to partner with communities and organizations to assist in this effort.

To be competitive and enjoy a higher quality of life, rural areas must increase their ability to compete for resources and residents. Rural areas must also have better access to information and information systems to address local economic and social needs. Government programs must be flexible and adaptive to the unique and specific circumstances in each community. Government programs must take full advantage of partnering opportunities with organizations such as the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO). I appreciate this opportunity to share with you my vision of Rural Development and how USDA is working to improve the quality of life in rural America. Secretary Veneman recently echoed the Bush Administration’s commitment to rural America when she said, “…Rural areas are important to this nation’s economy, and that’s why we’ve worked hard to provide millions of dollars in grants and loans to spur economic growth and create jobs.”

Expanding Business and Homeownership Opportunities

A primary focus of the Bush Administration is to expand business and homeownership opportunities in underserved areas. Homeownership is a quick way to develop capital that spurs business development. New business development brings added opportunities for employment for our rural residents and strengthens local economies. USDA Rural Development provides funds to assist with the start up, expansion or modernization of businesses and cooperatives. USDA Rural Development has helped create or save nearly 160,000 jobs since 2000.

While agricultural policy is focused on production, rural development strives to maximize the return on all available resources. In support of President Bush’s economic agenda, USDA Rural Development has provided grant assistance across the country to fund feasibility analysis, business plan development, and initial capital for new value-added initiatives, strengthening the ability of farmers and ranchers to compete, and create additional profits and improve the marketability for their raw commodities.

Homeownership helps create economic stability in the economy. Over the past two years, USDA has helped 82,000 rural families realize their dream of homeownership. For Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Taylor of Upton, Kentucky, a family of three that was living in a 225-square-foot apartment, being able to purchase their own home has helped improve their quality of life. I think they said it best, “We have a place to invite family and friends; a place to be proud of; and a place to call home! We love it!”

To strengthen our economy and provide greater opportunities for homeownership, USDA Rural Development unveiled in October 2002 an ambitious plan to help 5.5 million minority families attain the dream of homeownership by 2010. Our five-star commitment includes: lowering fees to reduce barriers to minority homeownership, doubling the number of self-help participants by 2010, increasing participation by minority lenders through outreach, promoting credit counseling and homeownership education, and monitoring lending activities to ensure a ten percent increase in minority homeownership.

Community Infrastructure and Facilities

For any community, economic development requires working community facilities and infrastructure. To support local development, USDA helped with the construction and improvement of over 2,300 water or wastewater systems; 491 systems were identified as areas having persistent poverty. USDA helped with fire, rescue, and public safety needs, including the purchase of fire stations and trucks, rescue ambulances and police vehicles. Supplementing of local resources with Rural Development funding is especially important to smaller communities. Merrill, Michigan is a small rural town that has relied upon the use of a 38-year old fire truck to serve 3,457 rural residents. It now has a new tanker truck that will improve response time.

Technology for the 21st Century

A strong and competitive rural community must also provide technology infrastructure. Technology is necessary for educational and job skill training and state-of-the-art health services in more remote rural areas. Rural Development assists by helping build educational facilities and health care institutions.

The Sequatchie County School District, in Tennessee, used technology grant funds for a distance-learning project that will enable 11 end-user sites throughout four school districts in three states to network with each other through the installation of distance learning labs. Approximately 69,000 rural residents of these communities will experience significant benefits, such as access to adult education, job skills training, and access to the Internet and video-conferencing equipment. The mobile labs will work with existing information lines at each end-user site, mostly T-1 lines. The project is designed to incorporate regional and national education networks.

USDA has also established a Web site where customers can download forms needed to participate in rural development, farm, and conservation programs and services. This increases administrative efficiency and reduces the number of trips necessary to visit USDA Service Centers. USDA is currently building an integrated infrastructure to allow customers to complete transactions electronically. To date, 141 Rural Development forms have been converted to on-line forms.

We Accomplish More Working Together

Government programs and services should seek local input. In 2002, USDA Rural Development held three public meetings to seek public input on the development of the Broadband, Rural Renewable Energy, and Innovation Center programs. Comments were received from nearly 70 groups or individuals. This is a good start. Those most directly impacted should be given the opportunity to provide input, particularly as new farm bill programs and revised existing programs are implemented.

NADO represents a strong alliance of development officials who live and work in many of the communities Rural Development seeks to assist. USDA Rural Development’s goal is to forge a stronger partnership with NADO and its members to ensure that local communities have access to needed resources. By working together, new economic opportunities and a greater quality of life for rural America can be created. I encourage you to share with our offices your ideas and concerns. Information on the office nearest you can be obtained at: www.rurdev.usda.gov.

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