COVID-19 Resources for Rural Communities

Local Government

Provides information, tools, resources from climate change, public health, housing affordability, and economic prosperity to build better communities.

MACo is committed and focused on helping Montana’s counties through this ever-evolving pandemic through advocating for your needs, disseminating useful information, facilitating the exchange of effective strategies and approaches, as well as providing guidance and support.

Communities

Building community resilience through rural innovation entrepreneurship from Penn State Extension. Free webinar for anyone to view. 

Mississippi State Extension has made this free 6-part course a simple step-by-step guide to leveraging social media for your small business or organization. 

Through tele-emergency medicine, rural providers can consult with a physician at a different location to receive guidance when performing a critical procedure, such as intubating a patient. 

Provides facts, news, and events that help determine how hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding flow into communities every year for the next decade.

Implements Immediate Measures to Help Rural Residents, Businesses and Communities Affected by COVID-19.

Provides community self-sufficiency and mutual aid in the suburbs by helping each other, sharing resources, and producing own food to get through any crisis.

Offers programs & services, grant awards, newsroom, coronavirus response, and other resources to help improve the economy and quality of life in rural America.

Provides tools, information, and assistance to support cities, counties, state Departments of Transportation (DOTs), and others working to build transportation systems that expand mobility choices while creating strong and prosperous communities.

From small-scale placemaking projects to regional economic development collaboratives, we help communities develop locally-rooted strategies that build upon and enhance their place-based assets while addressing key needs and challenges.

Working with communities and forward-thinking developers to make it easier to build quality projects in smart locations, with a focus on three critical areas of opportunity: (Re)Investing in Place; Brownfields Redevelopment; Smarter Growth at the Edge.

Based on best practices and designed to educate newcomers on business resilience. This is a collaborative partnership between the UPS Foundation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the World Economic Forum (WEF), and the Disaster Resistant Business (DRB) Toolkit.

Focusing its efforts to support effective responses, resilience, and recovery for those most negatively affected by COVID-19. 

Works to be a leader in the movement to end violence against women and girls, men and boys – across the life span before violence has occurred – because violence is preventable.

The new normal? In Idaho, different is normal. Getting back to work and play, taking care of ourselves, our families, our neighbors, our communities.

Helps rural communities use the unique capabilities of telecommunications to connect to each other and to the world, overcoming the effects of remoteness and low population density.

Nonprofits

Mission is to increase food security and reduce hunger by providing children and low-income people access to food, a healthful diet and education in a way that supports American agriculture and inspires public confidence.

Provides tools, resources, hot lines, and other services to support hospital administrators, public health officials, and health care professionals about Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Designed to provide up-to-date resources and information to help make the best decisions for your organization and community. 

Offering two $3,500 environmental grants per year – one each in the spring and fall – to an individual or group currently pursuing a program or initiative designed to benefit our environment.

Project applicants may be state and local agencies, tribes, nonprofit organizations, or citizen groups. National Parks and other Federal agencies may apply in partnership with other local organizations.

Income + Unemployment

Supplies links and other contact information to address COVID-19 issues such as unemployment, health care, benefits, loans, and other resources.

  • Grant Space list of financial hardship resources for individuals, artists, nonprofits and more

Lists emergency financial hardship contacts as an informational resource to apply for grants and aid for nonprofits, individuals, artists, small businesses, and international aid.   

Nationwide network of non-profits financial counseling agencies to help you tackle every kind of financial problem and provide the most feasible strategy to get rid of ongoing difficulties.

Department of Labor’s mission is to promote and achieve compliance with labor standards to protect and enhance the welfare of the nation's workforce.

Housing

Assists approved lenders in providing low- and moderate-income households the opportunity to own adequate, modest, decent, safe and sanitary dwellings as their primary residence in eligible rural areas.

Information for homeowners and renters regarding moratorium on foreclosures and evictions as a result of COVID-19

Sponsors housing counseling agencies throughout the country that can provide advice on buying a home, renting, defaults, foreclosures, and credit issues.

Helps struggling homeowners with major mortgage relief options during the coronavirus pandemic.

Provides Coronavirus resources and guidance.

Provides a directory of rental assistance agencies and organizations that will help you pay your rent.

Informs about some of the proactive measures Idaho Housing and Finance Association and HomeLoanServ have in place to continue to support and serve their customers, clients and partners.

Communicates with statewide housing partners any relevant information about COVID-19 and how it affects affordable homes in Montana.

Find links to free legal information and resources related to housing rights and the 2020 Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Organizes and supports city and state leaders to coordinate and catalyze the federal response to homelessness, working in close partnership with senior leaders across our 19 federal member agencies.

Offers direct technical assistance, training, tools and insights, and compelling success stories to provide communities and local leaders with the resources and support to take action on affordable housing options.

Dedicated solely to achieving social just public policy that ensures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes.

Goals are to preserve existing federally assisted homes and housing resources, expand the supply of low income housing, and establish housing stability as the primary purpose of federal low income housing policy.

A national nonprofit organization that helps build homes and communities across rural America.

Develops strategies for coping with CovID-19’s impact, but co-ops are built to weather crisis and share tips in forums and through emergency grants and spotlights.

A fast, free rental housing site that helps renters, landlords, and property managers meet their housing needs throughout Idaho.

Statewide rental finder. 

Relevant statewide information with partners in housing and how COVID-19 affects affordable housing in Montana. 

Agriculture

  • USDA: Food Access, SNAP benefits, food safety FAQs 

During the Coronavirus National Emergency, USDA will continue providing timely delivery of the services to maintain the movement of America’s food supply from farm to fork. Information for farmer assistance, food assistance, loans & grants, school meals, food supply chain and more.

  • USDA Agricultural Marketing Service FAQ for perishable agricultural commodities
  • USDA Microloans

Financing for small farms, market farms, CSAs, hydroponic and aquaponic operations.

Farm Loans offer access to funding for a wide range of farmer needs, from securing land to financing the purchase of equipment. Targeted funds are set aside for groups that have been historically underserved, while there are specific loans available for youth agricultural projects and Native American Tribes. 

Lenders who are subject to credit examination and supervision by an acceptable State or Federal regulatory agency and have experience in agricultural lending are eligible to participate in the FSA Guaranteed Farm Loan Program.

Tourism

Links to resources from partners, current data on travel and tourism, and a database of MSU Extension Tourism programs developed in response to Novel Coronavirus/COVID-19. 

To help travel brands adapt to this fast-changing environment, they created the ADARA Traveler Trends Tracker, which taps into their real-time travel data to track travel-related consumer behavior and identify key trends. Data updated frequently.

As the industry looks for guidance on reopening properties, AHLA has collected a variety of leading resources from industry experts. These reopening resources focus on what’s next and includes a checklists for enhanced cleaning practices, the latest contactless technologies, workplace protocols to meet the new health/safety challenges and more.  

Arrivalist’s Daily Travel Index measures consumer road trips of 50 miles or more in all 50 U.S. states. The data is drawn from a panel of GPS signals representing road trips taken by car. The insights have been prepared to help travel marketers and other industry professionals gauge fluctuations in drive market trips in any of the 50 U.S. states.

Brand USA works in close partnership with the travel industry to maximize the economic and social benefits of travel. These benefits include fostering understanding between people and cultures and creating jobs essential to the economy.

Destination Analysts is a travel and tourism market research firm based in San Francisco, California. They are a team of travel industry experts with extensive, hands-on experience working with some of the world’s greatest tourism brands and Destination Marketing Organizations. They are widely known for our pioneering, customized travel and tourism research that is second to none for its reliability, affordability and transparency.

A video presentation on the top three ways to recover income for communities and small businesses

U.S. Travel is the leading force that grows and sustains travel and protects the freedom to travel. Our efforts are focused on achieving our shared vision for the industry: Travel is understood as essential to the economy, American jobs, security, image and well-being of the United States and travelers.

Visit Montana prioritizes the health and safety of our citizens and visitors. With that, we are closely monitoring COVID-19 and the rapidly changing public health situation. Visit Montana wants to ensure that you have the resources needed to make informed travel decisions. We are taking precautions according to information and recommendations released by the Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization and we encourage the traveling public to seek and heed the latest expert guidance.

Arts

Our Town is the National Endowment for the Arts’ creative placemaking grants program. Through project-based funding, we support projects that integrate arts, culture, and design activities into efforts that strengthen communities by advancing local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes.

Small Business

Utilities