New USDA toolkit features resources for high-speed Internet in rural areas

According to a report, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a new toolkit to support the development of high-speed Internet services in rural communities. The toolkit defines 27 USDA programmes that aim to ‘facilitate the expansion of broadband, including grants, loans and technical assistance from multiple mission areas of the USDA’.

Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development, Anne Hazlett, stressed the importance of the user-friendly toolkit by stating ‘high-speed broadband e-connectivity is becoming more and more essential to doing business, delivering health care, and, for school children, doing homework in rural communities’.