Earlier this month, José Otero-García, USDA Rural Development State Director for Puerto Rico held a kick-off campaign activity in the Puerto Rico State Office. The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) is the only authorized solicitation of Federal employees in their workplaces on behalf of approved charitable organizations. Read more »

Opening ceremonies for the 2010 Combined Federal Campaign held on the Patio of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, October 12, 2010.

Yesterday marked the official launch of the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) at USDA for the Washington, D.C. metro area. This year, USDA has set a goal of raising just under $2 million from our employees in the national capital area. We have chosen the theme Give: Every Day, Every Way, as it resonates with the range of giving options available to employees. The kickoff was an exciting event featuring more than 20 CFC registered non-profit organizations. Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan and I led off the event by speaking movingly about the ways that non-profit organizations touch all of our lives in critical and transformative ways. Read more »

Written by Jonathan Adelstein, Administrator, Rural Utilities Service

I traveled to Philadelphia today to join the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) for their 2010 national forum. We partner with CFC to finance electric cooperatives across rural America. It was a chance to talk about the progress USDA has made over the last 75 years toward rural electrification, and how we are on the frontlines again to bring access to high speed broadband to rural America.

In 1935, our agency was challenged to bring affordable electricity to millions of farms, ranches and homes in rural America. Today we face a similar challenge with deployment of broadband.

Rural Utilities Service (RUS), the agency I oversee, has been working with national partners such as the CFC to advance new policies and programs to develop and invest in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and smart grid technology.  Integrated into our strategy is deployment of broadband.  The Congress and President Obama included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to jump start this effort.  To date, we have committed investment of more than $1 billion for 68 rural broadband infrastructure projects in 32 states.  That means over 500,000 households, 97,000 businesses and 3,300 anchor institutions will see the way they do business dramatically change – new opportunities for emerging markets, better access to health care and education.

Successful applicants include electric cooperative borrowers such as the Consolidated Electric Cooperative, who was selected for a loan-grant combination of over $2 million to construct a 166-mile middle mile network that will bring major city connectivity into underserved areas of North Central Ohio.  It’ll provide badly needed connectivity for key community facilities and wireless internet service providers.  It will also connect all of Consolidated’s substations to support its smart grid technology initiative.

This is exactly what we like to see – expanded broadband connectivity combined with sustainable, smart grid technology – delivered to rural America.  It is this kind of leveraging between our electric and telecommunications program delivery that will help our cooperative partners offer key energy efficiency tools to residential consumers so that they can monitor their usage and reduce their monthly electricity costs.

These critical broadband investments will help keep the United States at the center of innovation, and they will bring greater job opportunities to our rural communities.  It is the link to long-term sustainable economic growth that our rural communities so urgently need.

October 20 marked the official launch of the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) at USDA for the Washington, D.C. metro area. Administered by the government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM), CFC is the world’s largest workplace giving program. Since its inception in 1961, federal employees have contributed more than $6 billion to the non-profit community.

This year, USDA has set a goal of raising just under $2 million from its approximately 10,000 employees in the national capital area. The official kickoff on Tuesday morning was an exciting event in the Whitten Building patio featuring top USDA leadership and more than 20 CFC registered non-profit organizations. Secretary Tom Vilsack and Undersecretary for Research, Education, and Economics, Dr. Raj Shah, led off the event by speaking movingly about the ways that non-profit organizations touch all of our lives in critical and transformative ways.

Dr. Shah spoke about incredible array of non-profits that participate in CFC, from groups doing lifesaving work fighting malaria in Africa to charities feeding hungry people right here in Washington, D.C. Secretary Vilsack spoke about his own birth in a Catholic orphanage, saying that he probably would not be here today if not for the nuns who took care of him and his birth mother.

Secretary Vilsack and Under Secretary Shah submit their CFC pledge forms

Both stressed the importance of giving generously this year more than ever, as the worldwide economic crisis has dramatically increased the needs of the non-profit community even as donations to the sector have fallen off. Secretary Vilsack emphasized that as federal workers, we have all been blessed with good jobs, and that CFC is a wonderful opportunity to share that blessing with people in need.

After Secretary Vilsack’s remarks, he officially opened the campaign by handing in his own completed pledge form. Dr. Shah and much of USDA’s senior leadership followed suit, as the assembled USDA employees watched a video message from President Obama. The President encouraged all federal employees to give generously to CFC this year, as part of the same spirit of service and community that he has worked to strengthen across the country through United We Serve.

As the first phase of the kickoff drew to a close, Bernadine Prince of FARMFRESH Markets spoke about her organization’s work to promote locally grown food throughout the DC Metro area. When Ms. Prince finished her remarks, it was time for the attendees to sample some of the fresh, locally grown food from USDA’s very own Farmers Market, such as apple cider and banana bread.

Before attendees enjoyed the delicious and healthy refreshments, Dr. Susan McCarthy from the Agricultural Research Service, USDA’s 2009 CFC Campaign Manager, launched the charity fair. This fair was an excellent opportunity for USDA employees to talk to representatives of a few of the thousands of non-profits represented in the CFC catalog. Employees who attended reported having a wonderful time and learning a great deal about non-profits doing great work in a wide variety of ways.

The Secretary is hoping that all employees will join him in giving to the non-profit organizations of their choice. The size of the gift matters much less than the fact that each employee participates on some level. DC Metro area federal employees can find out everything they need to know to get involved in CFC by visiting www.cfcnca.org. Federal employees outside of Washington can locate their local campaign’s website by following this link. Together, federal employees can provide a huge boost to the critical work of the non-profit sector.