COLUMBIA, — The USDA has announced that it's ready to accept applications to help regional rural communities fund special projects.
Strategic Economic and Community Development (SECD) money will be available in the form of grants and loans to rural towns here in South Carolina.
According to the USDA, a municipality can qualify if its need is in a rural location, its regional, and the place is eligible for a covered USDA program.
Those programs include community facilities, water and waste disposal, and rural business development.
"We want the rural area to have the same type of amenities and the same type of opportunities that our sister urban neighborhoods have," said Tim Ellis, USDA rural business and cooperative program director.
Ellis said the SECD initiative is geared toward populations of 20,000 or less and can for projects like a school, fire department, bridge, road, water line, or housing.
Ellis said he believes South Carolina has about $15M available in the SECD initiative. If that money isn't used, he said it will go back into the pool of funding for other USDA programs. He explained that this initiative aims to help rural communities fulfill an overwhelming need.
The Central Midlands Council of Governments is a group that can help these rural towns apply for USDA funding.
"We will apply for federal or state grants on their behalf and even help administer those if they don't have the resources, the staff to do that sort of thing," Britt Poole, the group's executive director, said. "We're a force multiplier, if you will, in being able to match that money, bring it down, and then apply for specific projects in that area."
Poole said writing the grant typically takes about a month, and a town can wait for an answer for up to two years.
According to the USDA, these applications will be open until June 2024. The application is available on the USDA Rural Development website.