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Community Facilities Direct Loan & Grant Program

  • Granting Agency: Rural Development, USDA
  • Appropriation Amount: $59,000,000 (FY21)
  • Grant Amount:  Varies by project, Dependent on population & mean income
  • Closing Date: Rolling, as long as funds are available

Learn more here.

Purpose: This program provides affordable funding to develop essential community facilities in rural areas. An essential community facility is defined as a facility that provides an essential service to the local community for the orderly development of the community in a primarily rural area, and does not include private, commercial or business undertakings.

Eligible Expenditures:

Funds can be used to purchase, construct, and / or improve essential community facilities, purchase equipment and pay related project expenses.

Examples of essential community facilities include:

  • Health care facilities such as hospitals, medical clinics, dental clinics, nursing homes or assisted living facilities
  • Public facilities such as town halls, courthouses, airport hangars or street improvements
  • Community support services such as child care centers, community centers, fairgrounds or transitional housing
  • Public safety services such as fire departments, police stations, prisons, police vehicles, fire trucks, public works vehicles or equipment
  • Educational services such as museums, libraries or private schools
  • Utility services such as telemedicine or distance learning equipment
  • Local food systems such as community gardens, food pantries, community kitchens, food banks, food hubs or greenhouses

For a complete list see Code of Federal Regulations 7 CFR, Part 1942.17(d) for loans; 7 CFR, Part 3570.62 for grants.

What kinds of funding are available?

  • Low interest direct loans
  • Grants
  • A combination of the two above, as well as our loan guarantee program. These may be combined with commercial financing to finance one project if all eligibility and feasibility requirements are met.

Eligible Applicants:

Applicants must be in an eligible rural area including cities, villages, townships and towns including Federally Recognized Tribal Lands with no more than 20,000 residents according to the latest U.S. Census Data are eligible for this program. In these areas, eligible applicants are:

You can reach Alaska’s Rural Development program director at robert.chambers@usda.gov.

 

Pending Grants