Administration Touts Broadband Efforts Ahead of Rural Forum Meeting
The White House touted “$7.7 million in new grants to bring broadband to 6 unserved communities,” outlined in a fact sheet Tuesday pegged to a White House Rural Forum meeting scheduled for Wednesday. “USDA’s Community Connect program provides funding for…
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broadband deployment into unserved areas,” the administration said. “Since 2009, USDA Rural Development broadband programs have helped bring high-speed Internet access to nearly 6 million rural residents and businesses.” President Barack Obama also wrote an opinion piece on the topic, which the Department of Agriculture posted. “Over the last eight years, my Administration has worked hand-in-hand with rural communities to build more opportunity,” Obama said, which included efforts in “deploying high speed internet and wireless.” The White House Rural Council released a memo titled “Rural Strategies that Work,” which said “geographic isolation” is a key challenge for many rural communities: “Remote rural towns often do not have access to vital resources, such as high speed broadband or educational institutions.” USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack wrote a Medium blog post highlighting a focus on telehealth. The Rural Council includes Vilsack, who is its chairman.