Media Contact:

DEL TINSLEY, State Director (307) 233-6700

JAN HOSKINSON, Public Information Coordinator (307) 233-6705

Fremont County, 10/02/2006 -- **USDA AWARDS OVER \$25.8 MILLION FOR
DISTANCE LEARNING AND TELEMEDICINE PROJECTS**

Agriculture Under Secretary for Rural Development Thomas Dorr today
announced the award of 103 Distance Learning and Telemedicine grants
totaling \$25,853,991 to provide improved educational and medical
services to residents of 38 states. Dorr made the announcement during a
USDA Rural Development sponsored broadband telecommunications workshop
in Charleston, W.Va.

\"This program connects communities to medical services and educational
opportunities they would not otherwise have,\" said Dorr. \"Our focus is
to ensure that all rural Americans have access to state of the art
services through our rapidly expanding telecommunications system.\"

The Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant program (DLT) was created
to encourage, improve, and make affordable the use of
telecommunications, computer networks and related technology for rural
communities to improve access to educational and/or medical services.
Fifty seven of the grants announced today will fund projects designed to
provide improved medical service and 46 will provide improved
educational opportunities. Since 2001, 483 grants totaling over \$166
million have been awarded under the program.

In Wyoming, Fremont County School District #2 located in Dubois, WY
sponsored the grant application and was awarded \$494,748. The Distance
Learning grant will provide additional compressed video access to
students in seven school districts and 14 individual schools across
Wyoming via the Wyoming Equality Network (WEN).  The WEN provides unique
educational opportunity to small rural schools that would otherwise not
be available. At present, foreign language, advanced math, ACT
preparation courses and Advanced Placement classes are being delivered
from various sites across Wyoming with expansion limited only by the
amount of connections capacity at each school. The educational grant
award will be used to purchase network and compressed video equipment,
improve network connectivity and provide additional sites on the Wyoming
Equality Network

This grant will enable students across the State in rural areas to
access difficult to obtain educational content. Schools benefiting are
in **Fremont County - Dubois, Middle and High Schools, Wyoming Indian
Elementary, Middle and High Schools, Arapahoe Middle School, Carbon
County Schools -- Saratoga, Hanna Elk Mountain High School, Encampment
and Medicine Bow Middle School, Platte County Schools - Wheatland,
Chugwater Elementary School and Glendo Elementary School, Also
benefiting are Normative Services for middle and high school; Wyoming
Girl's School grads 7-12 and Wyoming Public Television**.

USDA Rural Development\'s mission is to increase economic opportunity
and improve the quality of life in rural communities. As a venture
capital entity, Rural Development has invested over \$72 billion since
the beginning of the Bush Administration to provide equity and technical
assistance to finance and foster growth in homeownership, business
development, and critical community and technology infrastructure. Over
1.2 million jobs have been created or saved through these investments.
Further information on rural programs is available at a local USDA Rural
Development office or by visiting USDA\'s web site at
[http://www.rurdev.usda.gov](http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/).