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Community Connect Grant Program - FY 2025

Agency: U.S. Department of Agriculture
CFDA: 10.863
Federal FON: RDRUS-CC-2025
Office: Rural Development (RD) Rural Utilities Service (RUS)
Multipart Grant: No
Next Due: 04/21/2025 (Application)
Solicitation Date: Unknown
   
Match Required: Yes
Match Type: Cash
Actual Funds: $26,000,000 (Estimated)
Award Range: $100,000 (Min) / $5,000,000 (Max)
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to provide service at or above broadband speed to all premises in rural, economically challenged communities where broadband services do not exist. Projects are intended to provide community-oriented connectivity to stimulate economic development and provide enhanced educational and health care opportunities in rural areas. 

Priority will be given to rural areas that demonstrate the greatest need for broadband services. Preference will also be given to projects that have support from residential, business, and local, state, or federal interests shown to be within the applied-for proposed funded service area (PFSA).

Proposed projects must:

  • Serve a contiguous geographic area within an eligible rural area where broadband service does not currently exist
  • Offer service at the broadband grant speed to all residential and business customers
  • Offer free broadband service for at least two years to each essential community facility
  • Provide a community center with at least two, and and up to ten, computer access points and wireless access at the applicable broadband speed free of charge to all users for at least two years

Details on the required broadband speeds can be found on page 8 of the AppGuide file in the Guide folder.

Projects must involve provision of computer access points.

Funds may be used for:

  • Construction, acquisition, or leasing of facilities, including spectrum, land, towers, or buildings, to deploy broadband services to all residential and business customers and all participating essential community facilities
  • Improvement, expansion, construction, or acquisition of a community center that furnishes free internet access at broadband speeds; and provision of computer access points
  • Costs of bandwidth necessary to provide free service to essential community facilities for two years

Program funding may also be used for strategic economic and community development (SECD) projects that promote and implement strategic community investment plans to advance prosperity in rural communities. SECD projects must meet all program requirements in order to be eligible.

Optional webinars are scheduled for this program. Refer to the Application section for details.

Last Updated: March 05, 2025

Eligibility Notes:

Eligible applicants are:

  • Incorporated organizations
  • Indian tribes or tribal organizations, as defined in Title 25 of U.S.C. Section 5304
  • State governments
  • Local units of government
  • Other legal entities including cooperatives, private corporations, and limited liability companies organized on a for-profit or nonprofit basis

A tribal resolution of consent from the appropriate tribal body with jurisdiction over the tribal lands at issue is required if service is proposed over, or on, tribal lands. Resolutions are not required when the federally recognized tribe is the applicant proposing service on its own tribal lands.

State governments or state agencies include American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, the Marshall Islands, Palau, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In order to be eligible, applicants must propose to provide services in areas where broadband service does not exist, or where access that is less than 10 Megabits per second (Mbps) downstream plus 1 Mbps upstream. The proposed funded service area (PFSA) must be a contiguous geographic area located entirely within an eligible rural area. The PFSA may consist of multiple municipalities, and may be located in more than one state.

Buildings constructed with award funds must be located on property owned by the award recipient. Award recipients must have the legal authority to provide, construct, operate, and maintain the proposed facilities or services.

Only one application per applicant is eligible for approval under this program.

Existing award recipients through this program may apply for new projects.

Areas already receiving federal funding to construct terrestrial facilities providing at least 10/1 Mbps service in the project PFSA that have been reported to the funding agency are ineligible.

The following entities are not eligible to apply:

  • Corporations that have been convicted of a federal felony within the past 24 months
  • Corporations that have been assessed to have unpaid federal tax liability for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or have lapsed, and is not being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement with the tax authority responsible for collecting the tax liability
  • Partnerships

Previous award recipients include:

  • City of Loveland (CO)
  • Premier Holdings LLC (TX)
  • Public Utility District 1 of Lewis County (WA)
  • Atlantic Telephone Membership Corporation (NC)
  • Washington County Rural Telephone Cooperative (IN)

Refer to the Award file for additional information regarding previous award recipients.

Eligible Applicants:
Local Government
Native American Tribe
Non Profits
Private Sector
State Government
Tribal Organizations/Institutions
Application Notes:

Applications must be received by 11:59 a.m. ET on April 21, 2025.

Applications must be submitted online at eauth.usda.gov. Mailed, faxed, or emailed submissions will not be accepted.

Applications must include:

  • SF 424
  • Executive summary of the project
  • Scoring criteria documentation
  • System design
  • Service area map and demographics
  • Scope of work
  • Community-oriented connectivity plan
  • Financial information and sustainability
  • Statement of experience
  • Additional funding
  • Compliance with other federal statutes and regulations
  • Tribal lands certification (if applicable)
  • Agreement or draft agreement to partner with another entity to operate the system (if applicable)

The following are required in order to submit an application:

  • Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number
  • SAM (System for Award Management) registration

Applicants may obtain a UEI number and verify or renew SAM registration status at www.ecivis.com/sam.

Optional webinars are scheduled for this program as follows:

February 19, 2025
2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. ET

March 12, 2025
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET
Registration: www.zoomgov.com

Additional registration information for the February 19, 2025, webinar is expected to become available online at www.rd.usda.gov.

Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  • PFSA needs (50 points)
  • Stakeholder involvement (40 points)
  • Management experience (10 points)

Refer to the NOFA file, as well as the Guide and Application folders, for additional application information.

Match Required: Yes
Match Type: Cash
Actual Funds: $26,000,000 (Estimated)
Award Range: $100,000 (Min) / $5,000,000 (Max)
Match Notes:

Applicants must provide at least 15 percent of the requested award amount via cash contributions that are available at closing.

Matching contributions must be used solely for project purposes.

Matching funds may not include funds from other federal sources, unless there is a federal statutory exception specifically authorizing the federal financial assistance to be considered as such.

Matching contributions may not include:

  • Manufacturer or service provider discounts
  • In-kind contributions
  • Income generated from proposed projects
  • Non-cash items
  • Costs incurred by the applicant, or others on behalf of the applicant, for facilities, installed equipment, or other services rendered prior to the submission of a completed application

Applicants from American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands may request a waiver for exemption from matching requirements up to $200,000.

Refer to page 13 of the AppGuide file in the Guide folder for details regarding a request for a match waiver under community designation as a substantially underserved trust area (SUTA).

Funding Notes:

Approximately $26 million is expected to be available to support awards ranging from $100,000 to $5 million through this program. A total of 10 percent of available funding will be set aside for strategic economic and community development (SECD) projects, as detailed on pages 6-7 of the AppGuide file in the Guide folder.

Awards are anticipated to be made in September 2025.

The project period will span three years.

In general, funds may not be used for areas that have an enforceable commitment, as defined on page 2 of the NOFA file; however, if the applicant submits evidence that the entity that received the enforceable commitment has not deployed broadband service as required by the awarding agency's regulations or award documents, such an area may be considered eligible for funding after consultation with the awarding agency.

Funds for the improvement, expansion, construction, or acquisition of a community center may not exceed the lesser of 10 percent of the amount requested or $150,000.

Project funding may not have been reimbursed by another federal award and may not be used to reimburse another federal award.

Funds may not be used for:

  • Application development costs
  • Duplication of lines, facilities, or systems providing broadband services
  • Projects located in an area that does not meet the definition of a rural area found in Title 7 of CFR Section 1739.3
  • Projects that propose to provide broadband service in the same geographic area
  • Costs incurred by the applicant, or others on behalf of the applicant, for facilities, installed equipment, or other services rendered prior to the submission of a completed application
  • Operating expenses, with the exception of the uses listed on page 8 of the AppGuide file in the Guide folder
  • Satellite and mobile wireless technologies
  • Service areas that are currently served with broadband service

For FY 2024, 19 awards ranging from $410,436 to $5 million were distributed through this program. Refer to the Award file for details.

Contacts:

Randall Millhiser
Deputy Assistant Administrator
(202) 720-0800
randall.millhiser@usda.gov

Program Staff
(202) 720-0800
community.connect@wdc.usda.gov

Agency Address
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, D.C. 20250

Contact Notes:

Questions should be directed to the program contacts provided, to the appropriate general field representative (GFR) listed online at rd.usda.gov/gfr, or to the program staff via an online contact form at rd.usda.gov.

Applications must be submitted online at eauth.usda.gov.

The agency address provided is for reference purposes only.

Files:
Award File: US1782_Award_FY2025.pdf (2.6 Mb)
Other Pre-Award File: US1782_WebinarSchedule_FY2025.pdf (88.7 Kb)
NOFA File: US1782_NOFA_FY2025.pdf (4.5 Mb)
Guide File: US1782_Guide_FY2025.zip (8.0 Mb)
Application File: US1782_Application_FY2025.zip (55.2 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US1782_Overview_FY2025.pdf (195.1 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US1782_StandardAgreement_FY2025.pdf (444.5 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US1782_WebinarSchedule2_FY2025.pdf (120.7 Kb)
Federal Forms:
SF 424 (144.4 Kb)
File Notes:

The NOFA file contains the full solicitation for this program. The Guide file contains detailed application instructions. The Application folder contains required forms for submission. The WebinarSchedule and WebinarSchedule2 files contain information regarding optional webinars scheduled for this program. The Overview file contains general program information, including additional program officer contact information. The StandardAgreement file contains a standard funding agency award agreement for this program. The Award file contains information on previous award recipients. The required federal form is attached. Additional program documents can be found online at rd.usda.gov/programs-services.

March 5, 2025
Information regarding an additional optional webinar scheduled for this program has been released and attached as the WebinarSchedule2 file. The Application section has been updated accordingly.

February 28, 2025
Full solicitation information for this program has been released. All sections have been updated accordingly.

January 16, 2025
Information regarding an optional webinar scheduled for this program has been released and attached as the WebinarSchedule file. The Application section has been updated accordingly.

Project: Scott County Telephone Cooperative Broadband Initiative - Edwards Ridge and Surrounding Area of Dickenson County, Virginia (110.2 Mb)
Applicant: Scott County Telephone Cooperative (SCTC)
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to support the provision of broadband internet connections to premises in currently unserved, lower-income, and extremely rural areas. Scott County Telephone Cooperative requested $3 million and provided a match to support a fiber-to-the-premises project that would deliver broadband service to 620 locations. Funding was requested for a two-year period to assist the rural coal mining and farming communities of Edwards Ridge and the surrounding area of Dickenson County, Virginia.

 
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Grant Categories
Community Development
Economic Development
Information Technology/Telecommunications
Rural Issues