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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 153 / Thursday, August 12, 2021 / Notices Office See ADDRESSES section for details. Track One, Recovery applications will be accepted on a continual basis, beginning on the publication date of this Notice, until funds are exhausted. The applicable USDA Rural Development State Office will conduct an initial review, rating, and selection of complete applications received by 4:00 p.m. local time on October 12, 2021. Subsequent application reviews, rankings, and selections will occur in additional rounds for all complete applications until all remaining funds are utilized.
Track Two, Impact applications must be received by the applicable USDA Rural Development Office by 4:00 p.m. local time on October 12, 2021. Track Two, Impact applications received after October 12, 2021 will not be considered.
Comments related to the collection of information must be submitted by October 12, 2021. Please follow the directions provided in Section IX of this NOFA.

Authority:
This solicitation is authorized pursuant to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 Pub. L. 1172, 7 CFR part 3570, subpart B; 7 U.S.C. 8103f, Farm Security and Rural Investment Act, 2002; 7 U.S.C. 1926a13, and the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act; 7 U.S.C. 1926a26.

This funding opportunity will be made available for informational purposes on Grants.gov.
Application Submission: Track One, Recovery applications will be submitted to a processing office as designated by the USDA Rural Development State Office in the state where the applicants project is located. Agency state office contact information is available at https www.rd.usda.gov/about-rd/stateoffices. Track Two, Impact applications will be submitted to a processing office as designated by the USDA Rural Development State Office in the state where the applicant is headquartered.
For applicants with headquarters located in the District of Columbia, applications will be submitted to the USDA Rural Development National Office, ATTN: Jamie Davenport, 1400
Independence Ave., SW, STOP 0787, Washington, DC 20250. Both paper and electronic applications must be received by the Agency by the deadlines stated in the DATES section of this Notice. The use of a courier and package tracking for paper applications is strongly encouraged.

Congressional Review Act Pursuant to Subtitle E of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 also known as the Congressional Review Act or CRA, 5
U.S.C. 801 et seq., the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget designated this action as a major rule as defined by 5 U.S.C. 8042, Pub. L. 104
121, because it is likely to result in an annual effect on the economy of $100,000,000 or more. Accordingly, there is a 60-day delay in the effective date of this action. Application rating, ranking, and selection will not begin until after October 12, 2021. Therefore, the 60-day delay required by the CRA is not expected to have a material impact upon the administration and/or implementation of the ERHC Grant Program.

ADDRESSES:

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jamie Davenport: USDA Rural Development, Community Facilities Program. Telephone: 202 7200002, email: Jamie.Davenport@usda.gov.
Persons with disabilities that require alternative means for communication should contact the U.S. Department of Agriculture USDA Target Center at 202 7202600 voice.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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Rural Development Funding Priorities The Agency encourages applicants to consider projects that will advance the following key priorities:
Assisting rural communities recover economically from the impacts of the COVID19 pandemic, particularly disadvantaged communities;
Ensuring all rural residents have equitable access to RD programs and benefits from RD funded projects; and Reducing climate pollution and increasing resilience to the impacts of climate change through economic support to rural communities.
For further information, visit https
www.rd.usda.gov/priority-points.

Background USDAs Rural Development Agencies, comprising the Rural BusinessCooperative Service RBCS, Rural Housing Service RHS, and the Rural Utilities Service RUS, are leading the way in helping rural America improve the quality of life and increase the economic opportunities for rural people.
RHS offers a variety of programs to build or improve housing and essential community facilities in rural areas. The Agency also offers loans, grants, and loan guarantees for singleand multifamily housing, child-care centers, fire and police stations, hospitals, libraries, nursing homes, schools, first responder vehicles and equipment, housing for
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farm laborers and much more. The Agency also provides technical assistance loans and grants in partnership with non-profit organizations, Indian tribes, state and Federal government agencies, and local communities.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ARPA, Public Law 1172, was signed by the President on March 11, 2021. It provides the Rural Housing Service Community Facilities CF
Program up to $500,000,000 in grant funding for eligible CF applicants and eligible CF facilities to help broaden access to COVID19 vaccines and testing, health care services including telehealth services, food assistance through food banks and food distribution facilities, and collaborative, evidence-based support for the longterm sustainability of rural health care.
Nearly one in five Americans live in rural areas and depend on local hospitals for care. Data shows that between January 2013 and February 2020, 101 rural hospitals closed in 28
states. According to data from the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services HHS and a recent study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office GAO, counties with a hospital closure experience an immediate and steady decline in availability of health care providers compared to counties that do not experience a closure. Rural residents in these counties must travel an additional median distance of 20
miles to access health care services after a closure. Furthermore, HHS data shows that Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries are less healthy in areas with hospital closures compared to their counterparts in service areas without closures. In addition, HHS data shows that rural hospitals operated under negative margins before closure and hospitals that remain open are increasingly showing signs of financial distress.
The financial stress on rural hospitals and the negative impact on rural residents was exacerbated by the COVID19 pandemic. In 2020 alone, 20
hospitals closed and as many as 453
more rural hospitals are considered highly vulnerable for future closure. It is estimated that rural hospitals lost an estimated 70 percent of their income in 2020 due to delayed and deferred care caused by the pandemic. Rural residents are generally older, less healthy, and more reliant on government payors than their urban counterparts.
In designing this ERHC program, USDA determined that the challenges facing rural health care are primarily two-fold: immediate financial needs stemming from COVID19 related
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