Special series: Inside NACo - how USDA Rural Development supports county leaders

On this episode of Connected Nation, we talk to the IT Director of Kent County, Delaware about what can be done to help transient populations. We also sit down with a representative from USDA Rural Development about what the organization can do to help rural areas do everything from improve their infrastructure to navigate the federal grant proces. 

Related links:
USDA Rural Development
Kent County, Delaware

Transcript

Jessica Denson, Host (00:02):

This is Connected Nation, an award-winning podcast focused on all things broadband from closing the Digital Divide to improving your internet speeds. We talk technology topics that impact all of us, our families, and our neighborhoods.

(00:16):

 On this episode, we continue our coverage from the National Association of Counties annual conference and exposition taking place in Tampa, Florida. And today we talk to the IT director of Kent County, Delaware about the unique needs of his county. I also talk to USDA rural development about what they can do to help rural areas and improve their infrastructure and so much more. 

I'm Jessica Denson and this is Connected Nation.

I am back at the NACO conference in exposition and I am at the Connected Nation Booth and Joe Simmons who is with Kent County in Delaware, he's the IT director of it. He stopped by and he started talking about an issue that I asked if he would join us on the podcast and discuss. Hi Joe,

(01:01):
Joe Simmons, IT Director, Kent Co, Delaware

How you doing? Great to be here.

Jessica Denson, Host (01:03):

Yeah, thanks for stopping. We were talking about the transient population, so share some of what your thoughts were about that in your county.

Joe Simmons, IT Director, Kent Co, Delaware (01:13):

In my county, we do have a transient population right now that they working on the state legislation that have far as inclusion, far as the unhoused and the under housed population that they can use public facilities to come there and whether rest or use the public facilities and also potentially to use the wifi access to gain services from either the county or fill out a job application or pay a bill or just have that means to stay on the digital divide through the communications.

Jessica Denson, Host (01:55):

So what do you feel the state is doing right now? They're kind of focusing on a different area when it comes to broadband access.

Joe Simmons, IT Director, Kent Co, Delaware (02:01):

Yes. With the B program, the state is focused on the implementing the last mile of hooking the residents or houses that doesn't have broadband to fiber. So their focus is more on residential structures for internet access. But again, going back to the under house and house where the transient population, whether you are standing in a motel because of financial situation or hardship or maybe you're staying with family members, that your housing is not a set or determined housing, you're kind of mobile and moving around.

Jessica Denson, Host (02:39):

And for people in poverty, and this is anecdotal of course, people in poverty, sometimes broadband is the only way they can start to get out of that space or even connect with government services. Right?

Joe Simmons, IT Director, Kent Co, Delaware (02:51):

That's correct. I mean anything now from banking to government services to just staying connected with the family friends through social media, whether Facebook or TikTok or whatever, just to have that presence in society that is going on. It also keeps 'em connected. It keeps 'em connected because like you said, they can see what's going on with the news, the weather. It just showed me stuff now that depending on having that connectivity to internet services.

Jessica Denson, Host (03:18):

So talk a little bit about your role as IT director of Kent County. What are some other issues that you have to deal with daily?

Joe Simmons, IT Director, Kent Co, Delaware (03:26):

Some of the issues you got to deal with daily is again, is to make sure that the county is in position to supply digital services to the county and to our residents. Obviously as a King County IT director, my first priority is providing those services to county operations for public safety, for the library, for the rec center. But then again, I look at my job role as that, looking out for the entire constituents, the residents. 

We have 180 residents, 180,000 residents in King County. It's not the biggest county, but yeah, we do have those pockets of the county that are underserved and our goal is to that equally service all our county residents. And what comes back to again is can they get online and follow permit? Can they get online and pay any kind of tax bill or money owed to the county to make it kind of easier for everyone, all 180,000 constituents.

Jessica Denson, Host (04:23):

So talk a little bit about Delaware itself and what Kent County is like. Is it an urban or mostly rural area or what's it like?

Joe Simmons, IT Director, Kent Co, Delaware (04:30):

Kent County, Delaware is a small state. It has three counties. It has a Newcastle County, two or North and Sussex County two or South Kent County is the smallest county, both by population and by distance. But Kent County is a very unique counties because Kent County is the city of government. Kent County is where everybody's familiar with. 

Dover Air Force Base is one of the largest Air Force base base in the United States. We have three universities. We have a major NASCAR venue there with Dover Downs. So we have a split between probably 35 to 40%, kind of like an urban area, the city of Dover, and then the rest is going to be kind of suburban world. So as small as we are, we really have truly a mix of different classifications of whether it's manufacturing. We have Kraft food is actually located in Dover, Delaware. Playtex products is located in Delaware. So we have a truly, truly mix.

Jessica Denson, Host (05:28):

Yeah, that's got to be interesting. If you have NASCAR and you also have these manufacturing places, but then you have government, they all have unique needs and I would think with NASCAR that come and go, suddenly you have a huge surge in people. How do you handle that big surge and back and forth?

Joe Simmons, IT Director, Kent Co, Delaware (05:45):

Well, a lot of small or venue places. We rely on our state partners, our county partners. We provide public safety for us paramedics to when they have a NASCAR race and basically bringing in municipalities kind of as a team to serve that influx. Again. Also, we have the Dover Air Force base there. So it's all about partnerships and having that vision and plan put together.

Jessica Denson, Host (06:13):

And we talk a lot about partnership at Connected Nation that you can't close the digital divide without it. Is that one of the reasons you come to, you were telling me that you find it very informative. Talk about why you come to this event.

Joe Simmons, IT Director, Kent Co, Delaware (06:26):

I come to basically to get ideas and see what other counties challenges and projects they're working on to get kind of ideas. Everybody has different challenges. Some people have the same challenges, but what I come here and I can kind of obviously meet vendors and see what solutions, their problems. That is our underlying job is to solve problems and to kind of find out what other people are doing and how are they doing accomplishment. Again, some people accomplish it with different funding mechanisms and just to get great ideas. And I think NACO is one of the very few conferences him, you come here, you can talk to your counterparts.

 The other day I talked to the CIO of Miami-Dade County or Cobbs County or up in Illinois, which they have. IT shops as large as my county staff, but whether you're a small Alabama county or a large county like Cobbs County, we still have some of the same issues, little different but some in the same issues. Staffing resources, budgetary leadership change with elections. So yeah, it's a great conference to come to.

Jessica Denson, Host (07:38):

Alright, well thank you so much Joe for joining me. I appreciate it. Thank

Joe Simmons, IT Director, Kent Co, Delaware (07:41):

You.

Jessica Denson, Host (07:42):

I am at the NACO conference and exposition in Florida and I have stopped by the USDA rural development booth, which has a lot of really cool things in rural development that I'm excited to talk about. And I am sitting with Lakeisha Hood Moise, I got the name right, right. She's the state director of Florida and the US Virgin Islands in Rural Development. Welcome, Lakeisha. Thank

Lakeisha Hood Moise, USDA Rural Development (08:04):

You for stopping by SNAs.

Jessica Denson, Host (08:06):

Thank you for talking to me. Absolutely. I don't think people are aware of how much USDA rural development does with rural communities. Talk a little bit about the overall mission.

Lakeisha Hood Moise, USDA Rural Development (08:17):

So the overall mission is wide, but in that same respect, very narrow and hyper-focused. So our sole mission and purpose is to ensure that rural communities receive the same resources and opportunities that any other communities in the US receive and that they have the quality of life that allows people to choose rural or to stay rural if they grew up there and to have jobs and all the types of economic development and activities that they would have anywhere else.

Jessica Denson, Host (08:45):

And the things that you help with are everything from planning to technology to talk about some of the things that you all do. I know it's a big, so maybe pick two or

Lakeisha Hood Moise, USDA Rural Development (08:56):

Three. It is a really large scope. It runs the full gamut. So we say underground, we do all the waste and water infrastructure, and then on top of the ground we can do community facilities, which is anything from your police stations to healthcare clinics, and then also broadband. And we do a lot of business and industry financing, but also a lot of our housing, which is our largest program, which is making sure that our low and very low income and moderate income individuals are able to experience home ownership.

Jessica Denson, Host (09:26):

I just talked to a representative IT director from Delaware who was talking about the need for connecting transient populations. Is there some of that that you guys

Lakeisha Hood Moise, USDA Rural Development (09:38):

Work with? Absolutely. So we do have, of course we focus specifically in rural communities. And for us that's communities that are 50,000 in population or less. But a lot of times that is also populations who have been displaced and they're moving from other places. They may be commuting back and forth from major metropolitan areas. And so we need to be able to make sure that remoteness is not a barrier just because you're simply away from a major metropolitan area. You're not living in an urban center or even in a suburban area outside of an urban center, that you have access to be able to dial up 9 1 1 to be able to connect with those resources when you need healthcare, if it's distance medicine or even during what we experienced during the pandemic with distance learning. And so it's important to be able to have connectivity for everyone to have access to it and not necessarily confined to the soles of a mobile phone.

Jessica Denson, Host (10:34):

Yes. One thing that I find interesting that rural development does is you're not serving just a few thousand people in your county, but it's millions of people over the whole country that people don't realize that small town America or rural areas really do encapsulate a large number even though they're small.

Lakeisha Hood Moise, USDA Rural Development (10:56):

Absolutely. So specifically for the state director role, there's 47 of us across the us and then within that we have our state offices. And then there are area or local offices throughout the states that particularly focus on making sure we have that one-on-one contact with constituents in rural areas. And like you mentioned, yes it is. It's all over the US and there are some areas that people would be surprised are considered rural. It's not just you're really, really small in unincorporated areas or places where the population is 2,500 or less. But the Virgin Islands is a very good example where each of the Virgin Islands is actually considered rural. And so it really does take on many different types and looks of rural, but it does comprise a large portion of our population, also very large base for our agriculture production. So rural is important. Yeah.

Jessica Denson, Host (11:51):

So when I asked if you would do this interview, I asked you if you really enjoyed doing it. Talk about why you do this work.

Lakeisha Hood Moise, USDA Rural Development (11:59):

Oh, the mission. I think in this day and age, it is something where you want to be able to do passion work. You want to be able to go and do things where you're going to be able to help and uplift communities that may have been overlooked, may have been underserved, they have special needs. They don't have the capacity and the bandwidth to really get to accessing the programs and filling out the applications because I know with our programs we have lots of pages and lots of lines and our applications and there's lots to do there, but sometimes small communities don't have the staffing levels to be able to support that extra work to go after the funding. So it makes doing this work really, really special knowing that we can help close that gap for them, whether it be through our office and our staff or through the technical assistance providers that we're able to bring on board to help those communities.

(12:50):

We just get to be able to go into those communities and help make a difference. I recently was talking with someone and they asked me, what's your favorite thing that you do in rural development? And I said, man, there's nothing beyond going to a home ownership event where you're cutting that ribbon and handing those keys over and you get to just kind of see, you can feel the energy and see the faces and the excitement. You see the kids who are like, I painted this room pink. This is my shade of pink from my room. And those little things that you know that, gosh, we checked the box today, we made somebody's life in rural America better. It helps so much to solidify and help us to continue to stay motivated to do this work because it's so needed

Jessica Denson, Host (13:32):

And our audience can't see you. But I can tell you got this huge smile when you talked about that, your eyes lit up. They got a little watery. I started to get a little watery because it's so wonderful. So talk a little bit about the areas that you cover, specifically Florida. And you mentioned the Virgin Islands. Do they have some unique needs or some similarities to other rural

Lakeisha Hood Moise, USDA Rural Development (13:52):

Areas? I think both. So Florida, I think because people are really, really, they know us for Disney and tourism and beaches and the lifestyle of Florida and what that brings, which we love. But there are also very, very rural communities here in Florida. Agriculture is our second highest industry. And so we do a lot of production agriculture here. And so we have lots of ag producers and farm worker communities. And so it's important for us to make sure that their needs are taken care of to continue to not only support our economy here in Florida, but to also support rural living. And the Virgin Islands the same thing. People think beaches, paradise, blue skies and cruises, and that's all there. But there's also the terrain is very mountainous. We talked a little bit about St. John Island and the national parks and the mountains, and so there's remoteness there that can be sometimes really extreme.

(14:47):

And so those are things that we're working to overcome. And of course, we're tropical, so those hurricanes, we experience hurricanes in a different way than most. And so we have that in common, both the Virgin Islands and Florida. But there's always so much opportunity that we see with our programs and the people are, you can't come here to Florida and not feel the energy or go to the Virgin Islands and feel the same energy of the people who are very resilient and they love where they live and they love that they get to live in Florida. The bi

Jessica Denson, Host (15:18):

I was talking about that I have met some of your previous leadership Farah and just everybody that I've met with your USDA rural development is just filled with passion and want to help other people and want to do good. So talk a little bit about your background. What brought you to rural development?

Lakeisha Hood Moise, USDA Rural Development (15:38):

Yeah. So prior to coming into this role, I had spent about a decade with the State Department of Agriculture, so the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. And in that I was responsible for overseeing the child nutrition programs for the state, which are a part of the US Department of Agriculture. They come through the Food and Nutrition Service. 

And so when an opportunity was presented to transition into a new place where I feel like I could still have the same type of impact because that really was also passion work in making sure that our children are able to get access to healthy food and nutritious food on a daily basis. And now I'm like, oh wow, I get a bigger opportunity to do that on a bigger scale, sign me up. And so coming from rural America, I grew up in Southwest Georgia, small town, Albany, Georgia. And so I know what the needs are, I know how the communities are, I know where we can make a really good impact. And having those conversations and the exposure that we can have with people. And so it was like, yeah, this feels like the perfect next step, so let's do it. And it's been great.

Jessica Denson, Host (16:42):

So why is it important that USDA rural development is at naco, is at this conference?

Lakeisha Hood Moise, USDA Rural Development (16:48):

Well, so a lot of the time we're reintroducing ourselves to people. There are lots of transitions in leadership in counties, and so we want to make sure that we're always present and people know that we're a consistent resource for them. And so if we have to reintroduce new officials to rural development and the scope of what we do and the programs that we offer, we want to be here to do that. And then for others who want to come by and say, Hey, thank you for the grant that I got, and oh yeah, I heard y'all have a new program coming. Can you tell me about that? It's been really good to make those connections and to reiterate that we're here for them and that our sole purpose is to make sure they have what they need in rural America.

Jessica Denson, Host (17:24):

So if a county official or just anyone in rural America wanted to get in contact with USDA Rural Development, what should they do?

Lakeisha Hood Moise, USDA Rural Development (17:30):

Yes. So I would recommend going to our website, which is rd.usda.gov. And if they click on state offices on that webpage on the main page, they can find and click on their state and find me in every state across the US and get access to whatever programs they're looking or interested in.

Jessica Denson, Host (17:48):

Okay. Well, thank you so much, Lakeisha, for joining me. I really appreciate. Thank you so much for stopping by all you doing. Absolutely. We'll continue our coverage from the National Association of Counties Annual Conference and Exposition Center. In our next episode. 

I'm Jessica Denson. Thanks for joining us. If you like or show and want to know more about us, head to connected nation.org or find us on all major podcast platforms.