The Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) is a national network of non-profit organizations working to ensure small, rural and tribal communities throughout the United States have access to resources, tools, and technical assistance, building capacity through access to safe drinking water and sanitary wastewater, economic development and other small community needs that lead to economic prosperity for rural people and places.
RCAP uses a locally driven multi-state approach to address various needs in underserved rural and tribal communities, driven by the network of regional partners who provide hands-on technical assistance, training and access to funding and opportunities.
Nationally, RCAP provides advocacy, partnerships, program administration, communications, education, and research on behalf of its network of community service providers. RCAP’s policy and advocacy priorities for the Farm Bill include:
- Reauthorize the Water & Waste Disposal Technical Assistance & Training Grant Program to the maximum amount (Section 306(a)(14)(A) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act 7 U.S.C. 1921 et seq.), set-aside no less than 10% of funding for expanded technical assistance and capacity building, and include additional language for separate emergency response technical assistance activities under emergency disaster supplementals from Congress.
- Reauthorize the Water & Waste Disposal Loan & Grant Program (Section 306 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act).
- Reauthorize the Solid Waste Management Grant Program (Section 310B of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act) at $10 million a year over five years, create additional flexibility under the program by removing caps on funding.
- Reauthorize the Rural Decentralized Water Systems Grant Program (Section 306E of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act), include additional program eligibility and flexibility by raising the income eligibility requirements from 60% of statewide median household income up to 100% in cases of extreme need.
- Reauthorize the Revolving Funds for Financing Water and Wastewater Projects Program (Section 306 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act).
- Reauthorize the SEARCH -Special Evaluation Assistance for Rural Communities and Households Program, include additional matching flexibility under the program to include in-kind or waivers in cases of extreme need.
- Reauthorize the Water & Waste Disposal Predevelopment Planning Grant Program, include additional matching flexibility under the program to include in-kind or waivers in cases of extreme need.
Authorize a flexible program for expanded capacity building and flexibility across all USDA-Rural Development mission areas, including adequate resources to implement modern plans, community broadband access, create jobs, and leverage new infrastructure development to increase the resiliency of rural communities.
- Reauthorize the Community Facilities Technical Assistance and Training Program (Section 306(a)(26) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act), set-aside no less than 10% of funding for expanded technical assistance and capacity building and create additional flexibility under the program by removing caps on funding.
- Reauthorize the Community Facilities Direct Loan & Grant Program (Sec. 306(a)(19) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act).