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USDA grants to help increase access to education, healthcare in rural communities

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — There's some big money coming to help rural Tennesseans as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) just announced grants to help with education and healthcare.

The goal of this program is to help 5 million rural Americans. The USDA says our rural areas see higher infection and death rates related to COVID-19.

Some of the factors leading to that are things like, difficulty accessing medical care and lack of health insurance. For some background, the USDA is funding 86 projects nationwide – helping rural education, health care organizations remotely reach students and patients.

In Middle Tennessee, the Grundy County School System will use a nearly $275,000 grant to make a distance program to help students in the county. The services and equipment will be given to the students in the district.

Other grants are going to East Tennessee State University to create a telemedicine system.