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BlogOn August 6, the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement for the second funding round of the Rural eConnectivity Program (ReConnect Program) for Fiscal Year 2022.USDA's ReConnect Program announces fourth round of funding
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Blog
USDA's ReConnect Program announces fourth round of funding
On August 6, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for the second funding round of the Rural eConnectivity Program (ReConnect Program) for Fiscal Year 2022 (FY 22). The ReConnect Program, now in its fourth rounding of funding since inception in 2018, offers grants and loans to provide funding for the construction, improvement, or acquisition of facilities and equipment needed to provide broadband service in eligible rural areas. The FOA provides a total of $1.15 billion in eligible grant and loan opportunities, made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), and counties can apply beginning on September 6, 2022 through November 2, 2022 at 11:59am EST.
The ReConnect Program offers three types of funding opportunities for broadband deployment in rural areas: loans; grants; and loan/grant combinations. For an area to be eligible for ReConnect Program funds, applicants must submit evidence that at least 50% of the households in the proposed service area lack access to broadband service reliably providing 100 Mbps download / 20 Mbps upload. If a proposed funded service area is receiving or under consideration to receive other Federal funds, it is eligible for ReConnect funding so long as an entity has not received final approval to receive other Federal funding to construct terrestrial facilities providing at least 100/20 Mbps service as of September 6, 2022.
The funding breakdown for the ReConnect Program is as follows:
Funding Category
Award Type
Amount Made Available
100 Percent Loan – General
Loans
$150 million
50 Percent Loan / 50 Percent Grant – General
Loan/Grant Combination
$300 million
100 Percent Grant – General
Grants, 25% matching requirement
$150 million
100 Percent Grant – ANCs*, Tribal Governments, Colonias, Persistent Poverty Areas, Socially Vulnerable Communities
Grants, no matching requirement
$350 million
Projects serving areas where 90% of households lack 100 Mbps/ 20 Mbps broadband
Grants, no matching requirement
$200 million
Counties are deeply invested in helping facilitate the deployment of accessible and reliable broadband in rural communities across the country, and are encouraged to apply as partners or providers of rural broadband service under the ReConnect Program. Rural access to high-speed internet will help facilitate economic development, provide equitable access to telehealth and remote work services, and foster innovations in precision agriculture, among other benefits. NACo will continue to closely monitor the ReConnect Program and provide updates for members.
Counties can now also access the USDA ReConnect Program Network and Financial Model Workbook, which helps interested applicants to validate their network and financial application data prior to the application window opening on September 6, 2022. You can download the workbook now by visiting the ReConnect Forms and Resources page.
*ANC = Alaska Native Corporation
On August 6, the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement for the second funding round of the Rural eConnectivity Program (ReConnect Program) for Fiscal Year 2022.2022-08-18Blog2022-08-30
On August 6, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for the second funding round of the Rural eConnectivity Program (ReConnect Program) for Fiscal Year 2022 (FY 22). The ReConnect Program, now in its fourth rounding of funding since inception in 2018, offers grants and loans to provide funding for the construction, improvement, or acquisition of facilities and equipment needed to provide broadband service in eligible rural areas. The FOA provides a total of $1.15 billion in eligible grant and loan opportunities, made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), and counties can apply beginning on September 6, 2022 through November 2, 2022 at 11:59am EST.
The ReConnect Program offers three types of funding opportunities for broadband deployment in rural areas: loans; grants; and loan/grant combinations. For an area to be eligible for ReConnect Program funds, applicants must submit evidence that at least 50% of the households in the proposed service area lack access to broadband service reliably providing 100 Mbps download / 20 Mbps upload. If a proposed funded service area is receiving or under consideration to receive other Federal funds, it is eligible for ReConnect funding so long as an entity has not received final approval to receive other Federal funding to construct terrestrial facilities providing at least 100/20 Mbps service as of September 6, 2022.
The funding breakdown for the ReConnect Program is as follows:
Funding Category |
Award Type |
Amount Made Available |
100 Percent Loan – General |
Loans |
$150 million |
50 Percent Loan / 50 Percent Grant – General |
Loan/Grant Combination |
$300 million |
100 Percent Grant – General |
Grants, 25% matching requirement |
$150 million |
100 Percent Grant – ANCs*, Tribal Governments, Colonias, Persistent Poverty Areas, Socially Vulnerable Communities |
Grants, no matching requirement |
$350 million |
Projects serving areas where 90% of households lack 100 Mbps/ 20 Mbps broadband |
Grants, no matching requirement |
$200 million |
Counties are deeply invested in helping facilitate the deployment of accessible and reliable broadband in rural communities across the country, and are encouraged to apply as partners or providers of rural broadband service under the ReConnect Program. Rural access to high-speed internet will help facilitate economic development, provide equitable access to telehealth and remote work services, and foster innovations in precision agriculture, among other benefits. NACo will continue to closely monitor the ReConnect Program and provide updates for members.
Counties can now also access the USDA ReConnect Program Network and Financial Model Workbook, which helps interested applicants to validate their network and financial application data prior to the application window opening on September 6, 2022. You can download the workbook now by visiting the ReConnect Forms and Resources page.
*ANC = Alaska Native Corporation

About Seamus Dowdall (Full Bio)
Associate Legislative Director – Telecommunications & Technology
Seamus is the associate legislative director for telecommunications & technology on NACo's government affairs team.More from Seamus Dowdall
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NACo Cyberattack Simulation: Ransomware
Sep. 11, 2023 – Sep. 15, 2023Presented by the NACo County Tech Xchange and Professional Development Academy -
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TechKnow Series: NACo Tech Xchange Overview – Resources and Tools for your CIO Strategy
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The Modern Edge for County Government
Sep. 6, 2023 , 1:00 pm – 2:00 pmModernization with Juniper AIOps (artificial intelligence for IT operations) is the industry’s best alternative to a network refresh if user experience, automation, and fiscal efficiency are important to county IT departments. Attend this session to discover how Juniper AIOps addresses these challenges and more: -
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Understanding Enterprise Service Management
Aug. 31, 2023 , 1:00 pm – 2:00 pmAugust 31st, 2023 | 1 PM Eastern -
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USDA announces $123 million in grant funding to support resilient local food systems
On August 21, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development announced a new round of funding for meat and poultry producers through the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program.
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Responding to Ransomware Attacks
September 26, 2023 , 1:00 pm – 2:00 pmSeptember 26, 2023 | 1 PM Eastern Time09261:00 pm<p><strong>September 26, 2023 | 1 PM Eastern Time </strong><br />
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How Overloaded County IT Organizations Can Address Traditional and New AI-Generated Cyber Threats
September 28, 2023 , 1:00 pm – 2:00 pmCounty IT organizations are already overloaded dealing with cyber threats that could result in data breaches, loss of system access resulting in the unavailability of critical services, and more. New cyber threats generated by AI or chat add additional complexity on top of everything else.09281:00 pm<p>County IT organizations are already overloaded dealing with cyber threats that could result in data breaches, loss of system access resulting in the unavailability of critical services, and more.
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Transforming Digital Government Experiences
October 5, 2023 , 1:00 pmOctober 5th, 2023 | 1 PM Eastern10051:00 pm<p><strong>October 5th, 2023 | 1 PM Eastern </strong><br />
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October 18, 2023 – December 13, 2023October 18, 2023 | 1 PM Eastern - Charting Your AI Growth: A Practical Guide on the Use of Generative AI - What Are All Those Tools -
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October 18, 2023 , 1:00 pmOctober 18th, 2023 | 1 PM Eastern10181:00 pm<p><strong>October 18th, 2023 | 1 PM Eastern </strong></p>
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October 23, 2023 , 1:00 pm – 2:00 pmOctober 23rd, 2023 | 1 PM Eastern10231:00 pm<p><strong>October 23rd, 2023 | 1 PM Eastern </strong></p>
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Basic page
County Tech Xchange
The NACo County Tech Xchange is an online portal designed to connect county CIOs, IT Directors, CISOs, and other county IT leadership. This portal provides valuable resources in a central location that counties can use to improve their overall technology infrastructure.pagepagepage<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:100%" summary="call-out transparent">
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TestIT: How Fast is Your Broadband
NACo has partnered with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) to develop a mobile app designed to identify areas with low or no connectivity to help ensure adequate funding for broadband infrastructure is provided across the country.pagepagepage<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:100%" summary="call-out">
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Agriculture & Rural Affairs Steering Committee
Responsible for all matters pertaining to USDA agriculture, rural development programs, rural renewable energy development, research and extension, food safety, and conservation programs. Policy Platform 2023-2024 2023 NACo Legislative Prioritiespagepagepage<p>Responsible for all matters pertaining to USDA agriculture, rural development programs, rural renewable energy development, research and extension, food safety, and conservation programs. </p>
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Basic page
Telecommunications & Technology Steering Committee
All matters pertaining to telecommunications and technology policy, including, but not limited to, the county role as a telecommunications regulator, service provider, and consumer, cable services technology and implementation, information technology development and implementation, information technology innovation, e-governance, and geo-spatial data collection and utilization.pagepagepage<p>All matters pertaining to telecommunications and technology policy, including, but not limited to, the county role as a telecommunications regulator, service provider, and consumer, cable services technology and implementation, info
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Reports & Toolkits
Implementing Infrastructure Investments at the County Level: The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (P.L. 117-58)
As intergovernmental partners, counties play a key role in ensuring the successful interpretation and implementation of the BILReports & Toolkitsdocument100710:00 amReports & Toolkits<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:100%" summary="call-out transparent jump">
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Contact
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Associate Legislative Director – Telecommunications & Technology(202) 942-4212
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Press ReleaseCounties Applaud Release of Broadband AllocationsJun. 26, 2023
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Reports & ToolkitsCybersecurity and Resilient CountiesMay. 22, 2023
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