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The Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS), the Rural Housing Service (RHS), and the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) constitute the Rural Development mission area. The mission area’s efforts support Goal 4 of the USDA Strategic Plan — “Enhance the capacity of all rural residents, communities and businesses to prosper.”
The staffs of these agencies have been, and will continue to be, important providers of financial and technical assistance to rural communities. Their efforts in the past have helped millions of rural Americans achieve a higher standard of living and have enabled them to live healthier, more productive, and more enjoyable lives. Much, however, remains to be done. The development of rural America is a difficult and complicated task in the best of circumstances. The mission area is charged with being the lead Federal entity for rural development in an era of dwindling Federal resources and in the face of rapid changes in the global economy. Substantial challenges exist for both rural America and the mission area.
This plan covers fiscal years 2000 through 2005. It is an update of the mission areas’ first Strategic Plan published in September 1997. The plan will be reviewed annually and updated every 3 years.
Rural America is diverse and complex. The thousands of communities which make up rural America are at different stages in their adjustment to the forces which impact our national economy. Some communities have adjusted well and are prospering. There are, however, regions of the country, and pockets in every State, where unemployment and poverty are widespread. Between these two extremes are numerous individual communities, throughout the country, with major unmet needs. Until these needs are met, these communities have a very limited ability to attract the job-creating businesses needed for the community to grow and prosper in the future.
Even though rural communities are very diverse, with each one having its own unique needs, most of them share a common problem - difficulty in obtaining financing for needed improvements. This problem is exacerbated by the limited number of available users to support the repayment of debt, the high cost per user of rural projects due to their small scale, and the lack of expertise in many rural communities in the technical aspects of project development and management. Most small rural communities do not have bond ratings, which makes it nearly impossible for them to obtain private sector financing. Rural residents and businesses encounter similar problems in obtaining financing. Financing for homes or businesses in small rural communities is often very limited due to the small number of interested lenders in the area. There may also be a high potential for loss in case of financial failure due to a number of factors including the lack of economic diversity in the community and the limited number of people who might be interested in assuming the debt or buying the property securing the debt.
Rural Development programs are designed to meet the diverse needs of rural communities and to help them obtain the financial and technical assistance needed to improve the quality of life in rural America and help individuals and businesses compete in the global marketplace. These programs consist of a variety of loan, loan guarantee, and grant programs, plus technical assistance, in the areas of business and industry; cooperative development; rural housing; community facilities; water and waste disposal; electric power; and telecommunications, including distance learning and telemedicine.
Rural Development loan programs, with an outstanding portfolio of approximately $79.6 billion, are delivered through a National Office for each agency, 47 Rural Development State offices and a network of other field offices. The mission area is supported by a Finance Office in St. Louis, Missouri, which provides accounting support for all mission area programs, and a Centralized Servicing Center, also in St. Louis, which services the direct single-family housing portfolio.
The mission of the Rural Business-Cooperative Service is “to enhance the quality of life for all rural Americans by providing leadership in building competitive businesses and sustainable cooperatives that can prosper in the global marketplace.” RBS accomplishes this mission by investing its financial resources and technical assistance in businesses and cooperatives, and by building partnerships that leverage public, private, and cooperative resources to create jobs and stimulate rural economic activity.
The Rural Housing Service’ mission is “to improve the quality of life in rural America and help build competitive, vibrant rural communities through its community facilities and housing programs.” Two of the key components of a healthy community are decent and affordable housing and the availability of essential community services such as fire protection and health care. RHS has financed over 2 million single-family homes since the inception of its home ownership program. The rural housing programs are an essential part of the President’s National Homeownership Initiative. In the last 20 years, the community facilities program has enabled over 7,000 communities to provide basic community services for their citizens.
The mission of the Rural Utilities Service is “to serve a leading role in improving the quality of life in rural America by administering its electric, telecommunications, distance learning-telemedicine and water and waste programs in a service-oriented, forward-looking and financially responsible manner.” RUS programs provide rural residents access to modern, affordable telecommunications, distance learning-telemedicine, water, waste water disposal, and electric service. In addition to financial assistance, the agencies provide technical assistance to help rural communities deal with both day-to-day management and operational problems plus long-term problems, such as developing contingency plans for droughts, floods, and other natural disasters. These infrastructure systems are essential for the health and safety of rural Americans and are vital if they are to be participants in the global economy.
The mission area administers, through its Office of Community Development, the rural portion of the Administration’s Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities (EZ/EC) Initiative. Its mission is “to create self-sustaining, long-term economic development in areas of pervasive poverty, unemployment, and general distress, and to demonstrate how distressed communities can achieve self-sufficiency through innovative and comprehensive strategic plans developed and implemented by alliances among private, public, and nonprofit entities.” This program is seen as the first step in rebuilding poverty-stricken communities in rural America. It is designed to empower people and communities to work together to create jobs and opportunities.
The mission area also houses and provides support to the National Rural Development Partnership, a nationwide network of rural development leaders and officials committed to the vitality of rural areas. The network consists of the National Rural Development Council, 37 State Rural Development Councils, and the National Partnership Office.
The legislative authorities for the mission area programs are found in the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, as amended; Title 5 of the Housing Act of 1949, as amended; the Cooperative Marketing Act of 1926, as amended; and the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, as amended. The mission area is also impacted by other legislation, such as the Food Security Act of 1985, as amended; the Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform Act of 1996; the Telecommunications Act of 1996; and the Energy Policy Act of 1992. A basic mandate of many of the mission area’s programs is that they are not to compete with private credit, but rather supplement that credit. If the individuals or entities can obtain affordable credit to meet all, or part, of their needed funding from other sources, they are expected to do so. Another legislative mandate is that priority should be given in the delivery of our programs to the smallest and poorest communities.
The partnerships and coordination with other organizations required for program delivery varies between agencies and by programs within the agencies. Most of the direct financial programs do not require a partner for program delivery but we are seeking to ensure the placement of our funds are coordinated with, and support the delivery of, the funds of other entities. Likewise, we are seeking to coordinate the delivery of technical assistance by mission area staff with assistance available from our numerous partners involved in rural development throughout the country.
Most of the coordination with rural development partners occurs at the state level or local level. This plan serves as the basis for the development of State/Tribal strategic plans required by the Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform Act of 1996. The Rural Development State Directors develop their plans with their various public and private partners to support the coordinated delivery of all resources, both financial and technical. These partners include other Governmental agencies at the Federal, State and local level; small farm operators and organizations that represent small farm interests; minorities organizations; and community-based and nonprofit organizations.
While coordination with other agencies are not required for program delivery, close coordination with the Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation Service is required for the Department’s Service Center initiative. This initiative focuses on the effective and efficient delivery of programs of the three agencies at the local level. This coordination involves not only the sharing of office space but also the development of common automated systems and administrative policies and practices.
Other Departmental agencies which the mission area works with are the Economic Research Service; Forest Service; Foreign Agricultural Service; Agricultural Marketing Service; Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service; and National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Outside of the Department, coordination occurs, as needed, with the Department of Housing and Urban Development; Department of Commerce; Environmental Protection Agency; Small Business Administration; Department of Labor; Department of Energy; Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; Federal Home Loan Bank; Federal Communications Commission; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; and Nuclear Regulatory Commission.