Community Connect Program Grant Application Deadlines and Funding Levels

The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) announces the availability of $25 million in funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 for the Community Connect Grant Program. This notice is being issued prior to passage of a final Appropriations Act for FY 2011, to allow potential applicants time to submit proposals and give the Agency time to process applications within the current fiscal year.   For FY 2010, Congress appropriated approximately $17.9 million. 

Funding Opportunity:

The provision of broadband transmission service is vital to the economic development, education, health, and safety of rural Americans. The purpose of the Community Connect Grant Program is to provide financial assistance in the form of grants to eligible applicants that will provide currently unserved areas, on a ‘‘community-oriented connectivity’’ basis, with broadband transmission service that fosters economic growth and delivers enhanced educational, health care, and public safety services.  Rural Utilities Service will give priority to rural areas that it believes have the greatest need for broadband transmission services, based on the criteria contained herein.

Grant authority will be used for the deployment of broadband transmission service to extremely rural, lower-income communities on a ‘‘community-oriented connectivity’’ basis. The ‘‘communityoriented connectivity’’ concept will stimulate practical, everyday uses and applications of broadband facilities by cultivating the provide enhanced educational and health care opportunities in rural areas. Such an approach will also give rural communities the opportunity to benefit from the advanced technologies that are necessary to achieve these goals. 

Dates:

 You may submit completed applications for grants according to the following deadlines:

Paper copies must carry proof of shipping no later than May 3, 2011 to be eligible for FY 2011 grant funding. Late applications are not eligible for FY 2011 grant funding.

Electronic copies must be received by May 3, 2011 to be eligible for FY 2011 grant funding. Late applications are not eligible for FY 2011 grant funding.

Information: 

The application guide, copies of necessary forms and samples, and the Community Connect Grant Program regulation are available from these sources:

 

1. The Internet www.rurdev.usda.gov/utp_commconnect.html

2. The Rural Development Broadband Division, for paper copies of these materials: (202) 690–4673.