USDA will allocate $714 million in grants and loans to help rural residents in 19 states better access high-speed internet. It is the fourth round of funding through the agency’s ReConnect Program that is working to bring high-speed service to an estimated 314,000 rural residents.

“High-speed internet is a key to prosperity for people who live and work in rural communities,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says. “Thanks to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we can ensure that rural communities have access to the internet connectivity needed to continue to expand the economy from the bottom up and middle out and to make sure rural America remains a place of opportunity to live, work, and raise a family.”

This latest round of grants and loans will support projects in Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Washington.

In Berkeley County, S.C., the Home Telephone Company will use grant money to improve internet service for nearly 4,000 people as well as 49 businesses, 46 farms and educational facilities. The Decatur Telephone Company will use its grants to bring high-speed service to 5,400 people, 257 farms, 74 businesses and four educational facilities.

The North-State Telephone Company and Cal-Ore Telephone Company will provide more affordable internet service through the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program in Wasco County, Ore. and Modoc and Siskiyou Counties in California.

In Kansas, the Craw-Can Telephone Cooperative will bring high-speed internet to more than 4,100 people, 820 farms, three schools and nearly 150 businesses in Bourbon, Cherokee, Crawford, Labette and Neosho Counties. The Goodman Telephone Company will do the same for nearly 7,000 people, 206 farms, 140 businesses and two educational facilities in McDonald and Newton Counties in Missouri.