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 Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a federal program that provides reimbursements for nutritious meals and snacks to eligible children and adults who are enrolled for care at participating child care centers, day care homes, and adult day care centers.
The Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) provides USDA Foods to income-eligible households living on Indian reservations, and to American Indian households residing in approved areas near reservations or in Oklahoma.
The SFSP is a federally-funded, state-administered program. The SFSP reimburses providers who serve free healthy meals to children and teens in low-income areas during the summer months when school is not in session.
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children - better known as the WIC program - serves to safeguard the health of low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating including breastfeeding promotion and support, and referrals to health care.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the largest federal nutrition assistance program. SNAP provides benefits to eligible low-income individuals and families via an Electronic Benefits Transfer card. This card can be used like a debit card to purchase eligible food in authorized retail food stores.
The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) is a federal program that helps supplement the diets of low-income Americans, including elderly people, by providing them with emergency food assistance at no cost. Through TEFAP, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) purchases a variety of nutritious, high-quality USDA Foods, and makes those foods available to state distributing agencies.
In lieu of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Nutrition Assistance Program (NAP) block grants provide food assistance to low-income households in the U.S. territories of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The Regional Food System Partnerships (RFSP) program supports partnerships that connect public and private resources to plan and develop local or regional food systems. The program focuses on strengthening the viability and resilience of regional food economies through collaboration and coordination.
The Micro-Grants for Food Security Program (MGFSP) assists agricultural agencies or departments in eligible states and territories to increase the quantity and quality of locally grown food in food insecure communities through small-scale gardening, herding, and livestock operations by competitively distributing subawards to eligible entities.
The Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) funds projects that develop, coordinate and expand direct producer-to-consumer markets to help increase access to and availability of locally and regionally produced agricultural products by developing, coordinating, expanding, and providing outreach, training, and technical assistance to domestic farmers markets, roadside stands, community-supported agriculture programs, agritourism activities, online sales or other direct producer-to-consumer (including direct producer-to-retail, direct producer-to-restaurant and direct producer-to-institutional marketing) market opportunities. A 25% match is required.