PIEDMONT TRIAD REGION (NORTH CENTRAL), N.C., April 17, 2024 – USDA Rural Development North Carolina State Director Reginald Speight, announced a $3 million grant with Piedmont Triad Regional Council (PTRC) to offer capacity building and credit enhancement.
As a regional government agency in healthy food systems development, PTRC connects partners and food projects in the Piedmont Triad.
The partnership’s mission is to develop a path to equitable healthy food lending through education, relationship-building, capital access programs, and customized support.
Service to underserved communities, rural areas, women-owned and BIPOC-owned businesses will be a priority. Promoting lending opportunities and building loan readiness will create jobs that enhance social and community benefits and improve access to healthy food.
Speight said, “there is a need to develop a robust healthy food system in rural North Carolina, The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to improving the quality of life for rural Americans in small towns across our country."
The project will benefit the 12 county Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina.
Background
Under the Biden-Harris Administration, 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. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov. If you’d like to subscribe to USDA Rural Development updates, visit our GovDelivery subscriber page.
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, promoting competition and 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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