Usda $1 Billion Loan Guarantee Ensures Future For Rural Electricity
The National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation’s (NRECA) closure on a $1 billion loan facility from the Federal Financing Bank, guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, secures the future for the Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant (REDL&G) program and paves the way for electric cooperatives to contribute more than $250 million to the program over the next 20 years.
For 15 years, the REDL&G program has funded local initiatives that improve small and rural communities at no cost to the government, providing more than $1.5 billion in loans for fire stations, schools, community centers and medical facilities in 1,000 communities around the country, and spurring economic development that has created 29,000 jobs.
NRECA in concert with the Rural Utilities Service and USDA make the REDL&G program a model for cooperation between federal government, private business and small communities.