USDA assigns $1.3M to 9 projects to expand Puerto Rico’s rural economies
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Under Secretary Xochitl Torres-Small announced that USDA assigned about $1.3 million to nine projects across Puerto Rico helping to improve access to jobs, health care and infrastructure for people in underserved communities.
The agency awarded a total of $262 million across the Rural Partners Network (RPN) to support 68 projects in Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Puerto Rico.
“From renewable energy and new jobs to clean water and quality health care, the Rural Partners Network is connecting rural people to resources that will help them create new and lasting prosperity on their own terms,” said Torres-Small.
The RPN was established to transform the way federal agencies partner with and serve rural people and places, including Native American communities. Led by USDA with support from more than 20 federal agencies and commissions, RPN is central to ensuring all rural people can benefit from federal resources.
This includes funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Maximiliano J. Trujillo, USDA Rural Development State Director for Puerto Rico provided a list of the specific projects that received funds on the island:
- Mercy Corps in Puerto Rico will use the $200,000 Rural Business Development Grant investment to provide technical assistance through workshops followed by mentorship opportunities to promote rural business in the municipality of Maricao.
- Cooperativa Hidroélectrica de la Montaña will use this Socially-Disadvantage Groups Grant investment to help with a technical assistance project that relies on highly qualified experts in electric cooperative operation and training and on English to Spanish translators, to produce technical operation manuals and training programs for staff and directors of the cooperative.
- Kefruits LLC will use this $250,000 Value Added Producer Grant to provide working capital for activities such as labor, gasoline, promotions, utilities and packing materials.
- E & D Herbs Medicine Products LLC will use this $150,000 this Value-Added Producer Grant to assist with working capital activities, such as labor, promotion, utilities, packing and raw material. These costs are directly related to the processing and distribution of locally produced food supplement capsules.
- Amasar LLC will use this $250,000 Value Added Producer Grant to assist with working capital activities. These costs are directly related to the processing and distribution of locally produced packaged breadfruit flour-based products.
- Impacto Comunitario Inc. will use $32,000 of the Water and Waste Disposal Grants-Disaster Grant to purchase a generator. After the passing of Hurricane Maria, the community was 10 months without electricity.
- Acueducto Rural Tabor Inc. will use this $57,000 of the Water and Waste Disposal Grants-Disaster Grant to purchase a generator. After the passing of Hurricane Maria, the community was 10 months without electricity.
- Acueducto Rural Santos Pellejas Inc. will use this $28,000 of the Water and Waste Disposal Grants-Disaster Grant to purchase a generator. This aqueduct system needs a reliable power generator with an automatic transfer switch.
- Municipality of Villalba will use this $123,700 of the Community Facilities Emergency Rural Health Care grant to acquire equipment to respond to medical emergency, including an ambulance. This project will help procure an ambulance to serve the rural population.
