Funding Will Bring High-Speed Internet, Clean Drinking Water and Modern Infrastructure to Rural North Carolina Communities
EDCGECOMBE COUNTY, N.C., Feb. 21, 2024 – During a visit to Edgecombe Community College, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced USDA is funding projects to bring high-speed internet, state-of-the-art infrastructure and economic growth to rural communities in North Carolina as part of President Biden's Investing in America agenda.
Secretary Vilsack announced the awards during the Rural Prosperity Town Hall at Edgecombe Community College as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s fourth Investing in America tour.
Today’s announcement comes just months after USDA announced a Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant to equip 10 telemedicine stations throughout Edgecombe County.
The projects announced today were made possible through historic investments from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.
“President Biden's Investing in America agenda is transforming our country for the better – reaching communities in every corner of the United States, including those that have too often been left behind,” Secretary Vilsack said. “The investments I'm announcing today will help us build our economy from the middle out and bottom up by bringing high-speed internet, modern infrastructure and good-paying jobs to communities in rural areas, in turn making it more possible for young people to build a good life in the communities they love, and for more Americans to find new opportunity in rural communities.”
The new projects, totaling $17 million in investments, will benefit Rural North Carolinians living in remote areas of the state by providing reliable high-speed internet access, clean, safe water and a range of support for rural families, agricultural producers and small businesses.
High-Speed Internet Award
USDA is investing in $199 thousand to expand access to high-speed internet for people in rural North Carolina through the Broadband Technical Assistance Program.
Under the Broadband Technical Assistance Program, USDA is assisting HarvestBeam Inc. expand access to high-speed internet in 13 communities across Pitt, Lenoir, Craven, Greene, Beaufort, Washington and Jones counties.
This project will serve Distressed Energy Communities and Persistent Poverty Communities in the Tar Heel State.
This program is made possible by President Biden’s historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides $65 billion to expand reliable, affordable, high-speed internet to all communities across the U.S.
Nationwide this program will benefit people living in Alaska, California, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.
Rural Partners Network Awards
In Northampton County USDA is investing $5 million through a USDA Community Facilities Grant to construct a 15,000-square-foot addition to the courthouse to provide critical services to residents and businesses. The new facility will house offices for the county manager, taxes, register of deeds, finance, human resources and information technology.
USDA is funding a variety of projects in underserved communities participating in the Rural Partners Network (RPN), including some made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act. These investments will expand access to jobs, business opportunities, quality health care, clean water and renewable energy.
Nationwide RPN is announcing $76.6 million of the funding to support 32 projects in Alaska, Georgia, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Carolina, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Since RPN’s launch in April 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration has provided approximately $2.6 billion to carry out a variety of economic development projects in RPN communities across 10 states and Puerto Rico.
Federal agencies partnering with USDA have also provided more than $80 million to RPN communities during that same period.
Rural Water and Wastewater Infrastructure
USDA is also providing $12 million in loans and grants to assist the city of Dunn provide clean drinking water to its 8,400 rural citizens through the Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program.
This program assists state and local governments, private nonprofits and federally recognized Tribes build and improve rural wastewater systems. The funding enables rural communities to expand access to clean and reliable drinking water, sanitary waste disposal and stormwater drainage.
These water infrastructure projects will benefit families and businesses in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virigina, Wisconsin, Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands.
A full list of projects from today’s announcement is available online.
USDA’s most recent Rural America at a Glance report, published in November 2023, signals that the Biden-Harris Administration’s investments in rural American infrastructure, jobs and overall recovery are working.
Specifically, the report found that the rural population is growing after a decade of overall population loss, with growth of approximately a quarter percent from 2020 to 2022. It also showed that rural employment levels and annual growth rates have nearly returned to those seen in the years prior to the pandemic.
In particular, the emergence of the clean energy economy is a growing employment sector, with clean energy jobs employing more than 243,000 workers in nonmetropolitan counties in 2021, and those jobs have continued to grow through the Biden-Harris Administration’s investments since.
The rural population is also experiencing a decline in poverty. In 2021, 9.7 percent fewer nonmetropolitan counties experienced persistent poverty (county-level poverty rates of 20 percent or higher over the last 30 years) compared with a decade earlier.
USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities, create jobs and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans in rural areas.
This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural, tribal and high-poverty areas.
Visit the Rural Data Gateway to learn how and where these investments are impacting rural America.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.
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