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Rural Development: Key Priorities

Rural Development Priorities

USDA Rural Development is in the process of aligning its key priorities with the Trump-Vance Administration priorities in order to incorporate them into program scoring and associated funding announcements. If you have questions about determining qualification for priority points, please email USDA.RD.DATA@usda.gov

What are Priority Points?

Priority Points, also referred to as discretionary points, are additional points added to an established scoring criterion that USDA Rural Development uses to help determine which projects qualify for funding. Awarding extra points (i.e., priority points) raises a project’s score, which in turn improves the chances of a project being scored high enough to warrant a funding award. The flexibility related to these kinds of points varies, depending on regulations language.

How do I know what applications will have these priority points?

Priority points will be awarded in key RD programs to projects that support these priorities. These priority points will be incorporated into funding announcements and published in the Federal Register.