NEW YORK - USDA Rural Development announced that six recipients throughout New York State will receive funding to improve access to health care and educational services in rural New York. Funding is provided through the USDA Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Program:

• Hillside Family of Agencies, an organization that works with youth and families facing a wide range of behavioral and emotional challenges, in Central New York State received a DLT grant of $76,610. 

• Cattaraugus Allegany Erie Wyoming Board of Cooperative Educational Services  (BOCES) received a DLT grant of $375,717. Rural Development funds will be used by eight schools and two BOCES offices in Southwestern New York State to purchase distance learning system components to access courses, teachers and services that are not currently available. 

• Elizabethtown Community Hospital received a DLT grant of $134,931. Funds will be used at six sites, including three community health centers, a county jail, and two hospital sites at Elizabethtown, one of those serving as the hub of this telemedicine network. 

• Franklin - Essex - Hamilton BOCES received a DLT grant of $142,162. Funds will be used to purchase video conferencing equipment and bridging capabilities so that they can share classes, and boost the availability of technical education, dual enrollment and other courses that were previously unavailable to them. 

• Otsego Northern Catskills BOCES received a $220,339 DLT grant. Rural development funds will be used by this project to expand from a distance learning grant last year to include three new school sites, and adds an extra distance learning classroom to a school where demand has exceeded the school’s capacity for classroom space. 

• Wayne Finger Lakes Board of Cooperative Education Services also received a DLT grant for $311,337. These funds will be used for distance learning equipment for 14 rural public schools in Wayne County, and equipment for the hub site at the Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES office to manage and participate in the video conferencing system.