Assistance program
Rural Economic Development Loans and Grants
$130.6 Million committed in FY2018–FY2026
- Agency
- Rural Business Cooperative Service, Agriculture, Department of
- Assistance
- Project Grants;Direct Loans
- CFDA number
- 10.854
- What it does
- The Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant Programs provide funding for rural projects through local utility organizations. USDA provides zero-interest loans to local utilities which they, in turn, pass through to local businesses (ultimate recipients) for projects that will create and retain employment in rural areas. The ultimate recipients repay the lending utility directly. The utility then is responsible for repayment to USDA. USDA provides grants to local utility organizations which use the funding to establish Revolving Loan Funds (RLF). Loans are made from the revolving loan funds to projects that will create or retain rural jobs. When the revolving loan fund is terminated, the grant is repaid to USDA.
- Who benefits
- Not Applicable
- Who applies
- To receive funding (which will be forwarded to selected eligible projects), an entity must be: A former Rural Utilities Service borrower who borrowed, repaid or pre-paid an insured, direct or guaranteed loan. Nonprofit utilities that are eligible to receive assistance from the Rural Development Electric or Telecommunication Programs. Current Rural Development Electric or Telecommunication Programs borrowers. Electric and telephone utilities that have current loans with the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), Rural Telephone Bank loans, or guarantees outstanding and are not delinquent on any Federal debt or in bankruptcy proceedings.
- Authorized by
- Rural Electrification Act of 1936, as amended, Title III, 7 U.S.C. 930-940c.
Committed by fiscal year
* FY2026 is year-to-date — the fiscal year is still in progress, so its total is still filling in. The striped band and dashed line mark that provisional stretch.
How the money flows
Committed dollars by how this program's money is paid out.
Grants
$74.1M
57%
Loans
$56.5M
43%
Top recipients
By dollars committed.
How to read these numbers
- Committed through this program
Money committed under this assistance listing (its CFDA program), counted in the year each action happened.
- How it's paid
Most programs pay out one way — a grant, or a direct payment to individuals; the flow bar only appears when a program genuinely mixes types.
- Some recipients aren't itemized
For entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, the government reports one aggregate instead of naming tens of millions of people, so the recipient roster isn't part of the public record.
- Awards, counted once
An award count is the number of distinct awards with at least one action that year — each counted once, however many times it was amended.
- The colored bars
Every bar on this page splits by how the money moves:
Direct payments