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Connect Humanity Plans $10 Million Fund to Boost Small Business Internet Access and Economic Development in Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas
The Texas Border Small Business Broadband Fund will invest in high-speed connectivity, digital transformation, and skills development for businesses in Hidalgo and Cameron counties

Governor Abbott Names Rhodes Chair of Texas Workforce Investment Council
Governor Greg Abbott has named Richard “Rick” Rhodes, TRF's Rural Engagement Coordinator chair of the Texas Workforce Investment Council.

Texas Likely Will Spend Billions Fixing its Water Systems. Will It Reach These Forgotten Colonias?
An estimated 500,000 people live in thousands of colonias along the Texas-Mexico border. Largely built between the 1950s and 1980s, these communities have been promised water — but it has never come.

Texas Water Markets Review
Freshwater resources in Texas are facing unprecedented pressures. Increasing competition between water users, coupled with increasingly variable supplies, is giving rise to water scarcity across the state.

Farm Fresh Broadband: The Politics of Rural Connectivity
Book analyzing the promise and the failure of national rural broadband policy in the United States and proposes a new national broadband plan.

Fiber: The Coming Tech Revolution―and Why America Might Miss It
Book examining how large corporations that control cable and internet access in the United States use their tremendous lobbying power to tilt the playing field against competition, holding back the infrastructure improvements necessary for the country to move forward.

Broadband Stories from Rural Texas
Report from Texas Rural Funders that tells broadband stories across Texas counties, identifies key broadband stakeholders, offers policy recommendations.

Rural Broadband: A Listening Tour
Through a Listening Tour and Focus Group meetings, this 2018 report examines broadband access identified in rural Texas and prioritizes recomendations to empower Rural Texas.

Texas Broadband Funding Guide
To bridge gap between funders and community uptake, Connected Nation developed this 2018 Texas Broadband Funding Guide highlighting public and private programs across the state.

To Seize ‘Unique Moment,’ Rural Areas Need Help Building Capacity
Opening remarks from the 2022 Investing in Rural America Conference highlighting important ways to build rural capacity, including: helping communities write grants, creating pools of match funding, and building local capacity.

Rural Matters
Podcast about rural education, business, and health with a mission to increase awareness and expand dialogue on the most important issues facing rural stakeholders.

What Does Being a Rural Teacher Mean to You?
Video featuring rural teachers talking about what being a rural teaching means to them. Created by the National Rural Education Association and Rural Schools Collaborative.

West Texas farmers and ranchers fear the worst as drought, heat near 2011 records
2011 was the driest year on record for Texas, causing an estimated cost of $7.62 billion in crop and livestock losses. A dry and hot June has many sounding alarm bells about 2022.

Rural Transportation: R.E.A.L Transportation
News story about the Rural Economic Assistance League providing free transportation for rural communities to and from college campuses in the Coastal Bend region.