May. 08, 2018
HARRISBURG – Rep. Tina Pickett (R-Bradford/Sullivan/Susquehanna) today encouraged local governments, nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies and corporations to apply for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Program.
“Grants are available at the federal level for a variety of educational, health care and technology purposes,” Pickett said. “I encourage anyone who has an interest in expanding the reach of distance learning and telemedicine to look into these programs.”
According to the USDA, the Distance Learning and Telemedicine program helps rural communities use the unique capabilities of telecommunications to connect to each other and to the world, overcoming the effects of remoteness and low population density. For example, this program can link teachers and medical service providers in one area to students and patients in another.
More information about that program is available at www.rd.usda.gov. The deadline to apply is June 4.
A similar grant program – USDA Community Connect Grants – offers financial assistance to eligible service providers that will construct, improve or expand broadband networks in rural areas. Eligible applicants include state and local governments, federally recognized tribes, nonprofits, for-profit corporations and limited liability companies. The deadline for that program is May 14.
More information, including application instructions and an April 10 webinar, is available at www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/community-connect-grants.
Representative Tina Pickett
110th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives