USDA SOLICITS GRANT PROPOSALS TO IMPROVE RURAL ACCESS TO INFORMATION

                                            Release No. 0254.97
                                                               
                                   Laura Trivers (202) 720-4623
                                         laura.trivers@usda.gov
                                     Maria Bynum (202) 720-5192
                                           maria.bynum@usda.gov

USDA SOLICITS GRANT PROPOSALS TO IMPROVE RURAL ACCESS TO INFORMATION

     WASHINGTON, July 31, 1997--The U.S. Department of Agricuture is
soliciting grant proposals for projects that will improve rural Americans'
access to and use of information technology.  Agriculture Secretary Dan
Glickman today announced the request for proposals that will provide $2.1
million in grants from the Fund for Rural America. 

     "The most critical part of economic growth in our increasingly science
and technology-based economy is access to information and the knowledge to
use it,"Glickman said. "Improving access and use are the core of  the
Clinton Administration's initiative to connect rural America to the
information super highway."  

      "People who live in rural areas should have access to the same
technology as those who live in more urban areas.  These grants will help us
build a rural information infrastructure to deliver more opportunities for
economic growth to rural America," Glickman added. 

     The research, education, and extension grants are part of USDA's Rural
Information Infrastructure Program, established by Glickman through the Fund
for Rural America.  

     The program will fund projects in three areas:

     1) Rural telecommunications technologies and systems projects that
examine the special needs, limitations, applicability, and use of existing
and cutting-edge telecommunications technologies and systems in rural
America;

     2) Information infrastructure projects to examine ways to enhance
information technologies to improve access to research, education, and
extension materials; and 

     3) Human capacity building projects to examine ways to expand everyday
use of telecommunications for citizens of rural America through the creation
of new and more user friendly applications of the information and
technology.
     
     The formal "Request for Proposals" is published in the July 31 Federal
Register.  Grant proposals may be submitted by Federal research agencies,
national laboratories, colleges or universities or their associated research
foundations, or private research organizations.

     The Fund for Rural America, established under Section 793 of the
Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (FAIR), provides $100
million annually for the next three years for research, education and
extension or rural development.  Secretary Glickman has designated part of
this for competitive research grants through the Rural Information
Infrastructure Program.
     
     Information on the Fund for Rural America and the Rural Information
Infrastructure Program is available from the Fund for Rural America Website
at http://www.reeusda.gov/fra or from Cathy Bridwell, USDA Cooperative State
Research, Education, and Extension Service, at (202) 720-6084.
                                
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