Susan McAvoy (202) 720-4623
susan.mcavoy@usda.gov
Steve Thompson (202) 720-2446
sathomps@rdmail.rural.usda.gov

GLICKMAN AWARDS $18.7 MILLION TO BOOST TECHNOLOGY IN RURAL EDUCATION AND MEDICINE

RAISIN CITY, CALIF., Sept. 21, 2000--Continuing the Clinton Administration's efforts to help rural America, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman today announced $18.7 million in grants to promote the use of technology in education and medicine.

"Distance learning and telemedicine are the wave of the future for rural America," Glickman said. "Using new technology students and families can participate in classes not previously available to them, and people who live in rural areas can access health care without driving long distances."

Glickman made the announcement at the Raisin City Elementary School in Raisin City, Calif., near the Community Medical Centers of Fresno County, which received a $206,000 grant to establish a telecommunications network. This network will provide rural residents -- including medically under-served farmworkers - in the surrounding area with round-the-clock access to medical care. The project includes equipping a mobile medical van with telemedicine equipment to reach out to and visit farmworkers and other rural residents who would likely not otherwise receive medical care.

The awards also include a $350,000 grant to establish distance-learning classrooms at three high schools in the Union (Miss.) Public School District. The new facilities will give students in small, isolated communities there access to upper division instruction through a regional cooperative distance-learning network.

Among the other awards is a $277,000 grant to create distance-learning hubs in Clay Center, Doniphan and Superior, Neb. A $325,000 grant was awarded to Copenhagen (N.Y.) Central School for distance-learning technology to upgrade agricultural science programs in sparsely populated rural areas near the St. Lawrence River.

The 84 grants announced today will include $11.3 million for 49 distance learning projects encompassing over 300 educational facilities, which will enable students in rural school districts to participate in classes taught by instructors at distant locations, or to access information from libraries and other learning centers located far from their schools. Over $7 million will fund 35 telemedicine projects, involving nearly 200 medical institutions that will use new telecommunications technology to help patients in isolated rural health clinics be examined, diagnosed and treated by doctors working in distant medical centers.

Further information about the grants is available on the web at http://www.usda.gov/rus/dlt/dlml.htm. Attached is list of grant recipients.

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