Office of Rural Community Affairs

I will continue my series on various state agencies with the Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA), an important agency for our area and the only state agency dedicated solely to serving rural Texas. ORCA was created by the 77th Legislature to address economic and quality of life issues affecting small and rural communities across Texas. The Office administers programs supporting rural health care, economic development, and community leadership. I will discuss this week few of the grants and programs that are administered by ORCA for economic development and healthcare. One of the primary grants administered by ORCA is the Community Development Fund. Community Development programs are funded by federal monies that come to Texas as Community Block Grants. The Community Development Fund awards funds on a competitive basis to address housing and public facility needs such as sewer, water, road, and drainage improvements. Other community enhancement programs ORCA oversees include the following: The Small Business Loan Program--awards $50,000 to $100,000 to eligible cities and counties for loans to businesses with 100 or fewer employees. The Texas Capital Fund--used to create and retain jobs primarily for low- and moderate-income persons and is administered by the Texas Department of Agriculture through an interagency agreement with ORCA. Texas Small Towns Environment Program (STEP) Fund--provides grants to cities and counties for solving water and sewer problems with a self-help approach that requires local participation through donated labor and materials. Ensuring access and availability of health care services for 2.9 million rural citizens is a continuing challenge for Texas state government and rural areas. For many years, rural counties have relied mainly upon state and federally funded hospitals to provide health care services. The Center for Rural Health Initiatives was established to serve as the primary state resource in planning, coordinating, and advocating statewide efforts to ensure continued access to rural health care services. Some of the programs designed to address rural health care needs are: The Rural Health Technology Grant--provides support to Critical Access Hospitals for technology investment (technology-related capital equipment purchases and telecommunication capabilities, such as telemedicine, telemetry, and radiology). Rural EMS Enhancement Grant--supports the development and improvement of rural EMS response, delivery and service capacity. The grant may be used to increase access to EMS, improve quality of care and strengthen the coordination of care between pre-hospital and hospital settings. Recruitment and Retention Initiatives--supports rural and frontier communities, hospitals and health facilities in the development, recruitment, and retention of primary care healthcare professionals. These are just a few of the programs administered by the Office of Rural Community Affairs. If you would like additional information regarding ORCA or any of these programs, please contact me or visit the ORCA website at www.orca.state.tx.us. You can contact me by writing to P.O. Box 2910, Austin, TX 78768-2910 or by e-mailing me at larry.phillips@house.state.tx.us.