Find Rural Health Programs and Resources
The USDA has many programs and resources that can support rural communities improve their health and quality of life, but many programs do not have “health” in the title or description. To help rural community leaders and others to identify which USDA programs and resources can help improve a rural community’s health, a USDA Rural Health Inventory tool has been developed.
This tool is a curated library of active USDA’s programs and resources that support rural health. You can use the filters at the top to simplify your search in finding the programs and resources available by Sub-Agency, Program Type, or Assistance Type. Select the Rurality Requirement box to show programs and resources eligible for rural communities only.
Rural health programs are the emphasis, but this library is inclusive of all health programs.
The program works with qualified private-sector lenders to provide financing to qualified borrowers to increase the supply of affordable rental housing for low- and moderate-income individuals and families in eligible rural areas and towns.
This program provides competitive financing for affordable multi-family rental housing for low-income, elderly, or disabled individuals and families in eligible rural areas.
Help small and emerging private businesses and/or nonprofits in rural communities startup or expand. Note: This program combines the former Rural Business Enterprise Grant and Rural Business Opportunity Grant programs and was created through the 2014 Farm Bill. Acquire or develop land, buildings, plants, and equipment; build or improve access roads, parking areas, utility extensions, and water and waste disposal facilities; provide technical assistance; establish revolving loan funds; and support rural distance learning programs that provide educational or job training.
The primary goal of the From Learning to Leading: Cultivating the Next Generation of Diverse Food and Agriculture Professionals Program (NEXTGEN) is to enable 1890 institutions, 1994 institutions, Alaska Native-serving institutions and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions (specifically, the certified Hispanic-serving agricultural colleges and universities (HSACUs)), and insular area institutions of higher education located in the U.S. territories to build and sustain the next generation of the food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANH) workforce including the future USDA workforce primarily through providing student scholarship support, meaningful paid internships, fellowships, and job opportunity matching, and also facilitating opportunities to learn the processes and pathways leading to training and employment in the federal sector.
Technical assistance and training to improve planning and management of solid waste sites and reduce or eliminate pollution of water resources.
The program provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for renewable energy systems or to make energy efficiency improvements. Agricultural producers may also apply for new energy efficient equipment and new system loans for agricultural production and processing.
The Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) program helps agricultural producers enter value-added activities to generate new products, create and expand marketing opportunities, and increase producer income.
VAPG is part of the Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP) which is an umbrella program created under the 2018 Farm Bill.
Establish/operate centers for cooperative development. Establish centers to provide technical assistance, training, applied research, and data collection and interpretation for the purpose of cooperative development.
The primary objective of the Socially Disadvantaged Groups Grant program is to provide technical assistance to socially-disadvantaged groups through cooperatives and Cooperative Development Centers.
To help low- to moderate-income applicants/households buy their homes by guaranteeing loans made by private lenders. Purchase new or existing homes and refinance existing Rural Development guaranteed or direct loans.