The White House Rural Council announced earlier Thursday, the creation of a new U.S. Rural Infrastructure Opportunity Fund, which will allow private entities to invest in job-creating rural infrastructure projects across the U.S., enhancing access to capital projects and speeding up the process of improvements to promote continued growth in the country’s rural economy.

According to a news release from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), target investments include hospitals, schools, rural water and wastewater systems, energy projects, broadband expansion, local and regional food systems and other rural infrastructure.

The announcement was made during the first-ever White House Rural Opportunity Investment Conference in Washington, D.C., where business and financial community leaders, Administration and other government officials, rural development experts and others gathered to promote investment opportunities in America's rural communities.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the fund is a new approach to supporting job-creating projects across the country.

"USDA and other agencies invest in infrastructure through a variety of federal initiatives, but our resources are finite and there are backlogs of projects in many parts of the economy. We know where investment opportunities exist, so we are in a position to help promote these projects among investors,” Vilsack said in the release. “With new efforts like this we can move beyond existing programs and help encourage substantial private investment in projects that grow the economy and improve quality of life for millions of Americans."

The release states, CoBank, a national cooperative bank serving rural America and a member of the Farm Credit System, is the fund's anchor investor, committing $10 billion to get the fund off the ground. Capitol Peak Asset Management will manage the new fund and work to recruit more investors to add to CoBank's initial commitment. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other federal agencies will help to identify rural projects that could be potential beneficiaries of financing through this new fund and other private sources.

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