ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Nov. 20, 2014 – USDA-Rural Development (USDA-RD) Alaska State Director Jim Nordlund today announced that USDA-RD’s Rural Utilities Service is awarding a total of $1,076,709 in Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) grants to improve the delivery of health care and educational services in rural Alaska.

“The DLT program delivers educational and medical opportunities that are urgently needed in remote, rural areas,” Nordlund said. “These investments mean that students in rural Alaskan schools will have educational opportunities often not available outside urban areas. They also mean that people who live and work in rural areas will not have to travel long distances for specialized health care services.”

All three recipients are located in both USDA StrikeForce for Rural Growth and Opportunity Initiative Areas; Southeast and Western/Interior Alaska.  The following details the recipient’s projects and grants awarded:

• Aleutians East Borough School District               Distance Learning       $431,440

To make University of Alaska and Alaska Vocational/Technical Education Center courses available to students from the Aleutian Islands

• Southeast Island School District                          Distance Learning       $360,845

To link 10 very small, rural Alaskan village schools to the larger school and curricula in Thorne Bay

• Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium    Telemedicine               $284,424

To provide healthcare for more than 16,200 clients from 12 clinics in remote Alaska locations

Each award is contingent upon the recipient meeting the terms of the grant agreement.

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