General About the Organization/Mission : USDA Rural Development seeks to promote economic growth in rural areas through a wide portfolio of lending services and technical support.
Basic Info : USDA Rural Development is primarily a lending and funding organization divided into three agencies, each with a unique focus and mission : Rural Housing Service, Rural Utilities Service, and the Rural Business-Cooperative Service. They all operate under the same goal of bringing economic prosperity to rural areas.
USDA Rural Development offers many loans and grants for those living or seeking to live in rural areas. You can apply for low-interest home loans, home improvement loan, a loan for farm equipment or operational expenses, housing preservation grants as well as community improvement loans and grants, rural business development grants and many other programs. There are many grants that focus on building renewable energy infrastructure, building rural business and co-operatives and community empowerment programs. In line with their mission to promote and support rural development, they also offer technical assistance to community empowerment programs.
USDA Rural Development has a $212 billion portfolio of loans. Through their programs, they administer $38 billion in loans, loan guarantees and grants each year.
| Type of Organization | Non-profit |
| Website | http://www.rd.usda.gov/wv |
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Issues of Focus : The improvement of quality of life and economic well-being and development of rural areas.
History of Organization : The Rural Development Administration (RDA) was a USDA agency established by the 1990 farm bill (P.L. 101-624, Sec. 2302), amending the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act of 1972 (7 U.S.C. 1921 et seq.), to administer FmHAcommunity and business programs and other USDA rural development programs. RDA was superseded by the Office of Rural Development following the 1994 reorganization of USDA authorized by P.L. 103-354.
On October 13, 1994, the Department of Agriculture was reorganized under the Federal Crop Insurance Reform Act of 1994and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994. Under that act, USDA Rural Development was created to administer the former Farmers Home Administration's (FmHA) non-farm financial programs for rural housing, community facilities, water and waste disposal, and rural businesses. The former Rural Electrification Administration's (REA) utility programs were also consolidated within Rural Development.
Programs and Projects :
- Single and multi-family housing loan programs
- community facilities program
- Rural community development initiative grants
- Water and environmental programs
- loans and grants for non-profits
- Clean energy grants and programs
Partners and Frequent Collaborators :
- USDA Rural Development partners with local banks, credit unions and community lending pools.
Future Developments for This Wiki :
- Additional pages for programs
