USDA Rural Development · Broadband
Community Connect (Rural Broadband Grants)
100%-grant program for broadband service in rural communities lacking 10/1 Mbps service. Cities, towns, cooperatives, and tribes apply directly to build community-wide service.
Program facts
- Typical award
- $100K – $5M
- Non-federal match
- 15% (approximate)
- Audience
- Cities, towns, counties, and tribal governments
- Application window
- Annual NOFO.
- Typical prep time
- 10–18 weeks
- Statutory authority
- 7 U.S.C. §950bb-3
Catalog entry last verified 2026-05-24 · Verify on the agency page →
Eligibility at a glance
- Cities are eligible applicants.
- Rural eligibility: population under 50,000 (USDA threshold).
- Population ceiling: no more than 20,000.
Service area must lack 10/1 Mbps broadband at application time. Amounts and timing approximate; verify directly with administering agency.
How Strategic Pursuit scores this program
When you run a city dossier, Strategic Pursuit cross-checks the city's demographics, federal award history, disaster history, and CEJST burden categories against this program's eligibility and strategic-fit signals. You see an explicit eligibility / strategic / competitive grade — backed by source citations — instead of a generic "match" badge.
Planning purposes only. Award ranges, match percentages, and application windows on this page summarize the latest publicly available agency guidance and are approximate. Always verify the binding NOFO on the administering agency's page before applying.