arra

With a lot of support from her family and financing through USDA Rural Development and the Recovery Act, Elissa Jahn is now a home owner. Check that, she is now a very proud home owner.

Earlier this week I participated in an Obama Administration Clean Energy Economy Forum in Arlington, Virginia with U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewables Cathy Zoi, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, U.S. Representative Gerry Connolly, and former U.S. Senator John Warner.

Despite the chilly air and light frost, the atmosphere at the Groundbreaking Ceremony I attended last month for the Winterport Water District was warm as partners greeted one another and remarked on the terrific project they were about to break ground upon.

The Red Cloud Indian School is located about five miles north of Pine Ridge, South Dakota.  The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and Shannon County are often listed as being among the poorest areas in this Nation.  Within this Third World environment the school provides a safe learning environment for Native American students.  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that President Obama signed into law in February will help provide a much-needed economic boost to this rural area.  Recently, I joined Area Director Tim Potts to present the School with federal funds totaling $941,000. The money will be used to provide teacher housing, a new heating and cooling system and a sewer lift station at the school. The money is a combination of Recovery Act funds and dollars from USDA Rural Development’s standard allocation to South Dakota.

USDA Rural Development Deputy Under Secretary Cheryl Cook was in Phoenix last week and addressed Native American contractors regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) as well as the many programs Rural Development has to offer including the additional programs that came with the 2008 Farm Bill.

I found it very rewarding to see the rural town of Gideon, Missouri utilizing the Recovery Act funds to make their water system safe.  The water project is one of the first in the nation to benefit from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds that President Obama signed into law in February.

I recently had the pleasure of participating in a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony with Steve Richard, President/CEO, SUN Home Health and Hospice and otherstakeholders, for a new hospice center located within the Sunbury Hospital. USDA Rural Development awarded Sun Home Health Services, Inc. $99,500 through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Rural Business Enterprise Grant funding to create a six-bed inpatient hospice unit within the hospital.  Terminally ill cancer patients in Central Pennsylvania now have an alternative to travelling 30–150 miles to an urban area for short-term in-patient hospice care.

In addition to providing quality jobs, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is improving antiquated infrastructure in rural America. For example, Jonestown, East of Easton on Maryland’s Delmarva Peninsula, is about to receive a long-needed upgrade to its water system.

I had the pleasure of joining USDA Under Secretary Tonsager, Senator Kent Conrad, Senator Byron Dorgan and Congressman Earl Pomeroy in the ground-breaking of a new regional medical center in Jamestown, North Dakota. This project is a direct result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that President Obama signed into law in February.

On Thursday Under Secretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager participated in Trade Talk during the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) convention in Kansas City.