By Helen Price Johnson / For The Herald
People love their hometowns, and they care about and are engaged in improving the quality of life there. That is why I’m a big fan of rural communities. The pride of place and personal connections are strong in our small towns and rural areas of our state.
I grew up and raised my family on South Whidbey Island. I have served as a county commissioner, local school board member, small business owner and active community volunteer. I have worked statewide advocating for small towns, small businesses, and rural communities.
I am so excited to be serving as the USDA’s Rural Development state director in Washington state and committed to the priorities of the Biden-Harris administration, which were outlined earlier this month when President Biden used his first State of the Union address to talk about where our country has been and where we are going.
The president mentioned a lot we can be proud of and even more to look forward to, especially in rural America. The country has faced deep challenges over the past year, and the people of rural America know this better than anyone.
But rural communities are resilient, and as the success of rural America goes, so goes the rest of the country.
That’s why the progress we have made in rural Washington over the past year is a good sign for everyone. By investing in water infrastructure and broadband internet connections, rural business opportunities and the American food supply chain, USDA is helping communities build a foundation for sustained economic growth.
Recently USDA announced a $5.2 billion investment to build and improve critical rural infrastructure for electricity, water and waste systems and broadband internet. For example, Whidbey Telephone Co. will use a $1 million Community Connect Grant to construct a 9-mile fiber-to-the-premises system to benefit 358 residents and three businesses on Point Roberts in Whatcom County.
Closer to home, Arrowhead Beach Cooperative Water Association was recently awarded a $436,000 loan from Rural Development to replace water distribution pipes and water meters on Camano Island. This investment will help protect the homes and water supply for the 245 people living within this rural community.
These investments create jobs and economic opportunities in rural areas. They help grow the economy from the bottom up and middle out as Biden described. And they contribute to a circular economy where the resources and wealth we build in rural Washington stay right here in Washington.
And they’re just the beginning. In the State of the Union, President Biden committed to building a national network of 500,000 electric-vehicle charging stations, working to replace poisonous lead water pipes so every child and every American has clean water to drink at home and at school, and providing affordable high-speed internet for every American in urban, suburban, rural and tribal communities.
The Biden-Harris administration’s plan for the economy is already producing historic wins, and there’s room for everyone to participate, no matter their ZIP code.
That’s why we’re optimistic that our best days lie ahead.
By giving everyone a fair shot and providing equitable access to federal resources, we can do our part to carry out the president’s economic vision. That means making more things here at home, strengthening our supply chains and lowering costs for working families. It means giving people opportunities to make a good living without having to leave the communities they know and love.
For a lot of us, that means staying right here in rural Washington.
By Helen Price Johnson is the Washington state director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program. She served on the Island County Board of Commissioners for 12 years and lives in Clinton.
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