Counties in Arkansas and West Virginia are the latest to benefit from USDA funds invested to improve their access to rural broadband. USDA West Virginia State Director Kris Werner announced the agency invested $18.7 million in a high-speed broadband infrastructure project that will create or improve rural e-Connectivity for more than 6,300 rural households and almost 400 farms in several West Virginia counties. Werner says, “This will have a positive economic impact for the farms, small businesses, and families that live in these communities.” In Arkansas, USDA Rural Development State Director David Branscum announced that USDA invested another $7.1 million in two high-speed broadband infrastructure projects that will help create or improve connectivity for 1,250 rural households in north-central Arkansas. “Through the USDA’s ReConnect Program, more than 1,250 people will get access to the latest broadband technology, which will help connect them to opportunities in education, health care, and economic development,” says Branscum. “USDA has made deploying critical infrastructure across rural America a top priority because when rural America thrives, all of America thrives.”