About RCAP

RCAP's programs [2]help communities that are seeking to build, maintain or expand their water and wastewater infrastructure. We provide:

Every year, 140 RCAP specialists based in the field provide assistance to more than 2,000 communities in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The staff includes registered professional engineers, certified operators, utility finance and board-management specialists, community planners, and experts with other relevant backgrounds. Most of the communities we assist are economically disadvantaged and have populations under 2,500, and many have significant minority populations. 

 

• Office of Community Services of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services [3]
• U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development [4] program
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water [5]and the Office of Waste Water Management [6])

Structure

The Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) is a national network of nonprofit organizations working to ensure that rural and small communities throughout the United States have access to safe drinking water and sanitary wastewater disposal. The six regional RCAPs - its partners or affiliates - provide a variety of programs in their section of the United States to accomplish this goal, such as direct training and technical assistance, leveraging millions of dollars to assist communities develop and improve their water and wastewater systems.

The work in communities is coordinated and carried out by each of RCAP's regional partners. The network includes a national office in Washington, D.C., that coordinates funding, reporting and finances for the programs and handles communications at a national level for the network.

 

 

National office [7]

 

The national office engages in program management, applied research [8], advocacy and policy development [9], and public education on rural issues, especially with respect to community infrastructure. It also supports the work of the other parts of the network – the regional partners [10] - by obtaining financial support, sharing knowledge and best practices across the network, and promoting dialog to help communities understand the relationship between the environment, public health, and economic viability. It does this by representing the partnership in rural associations, networks, regulatory committees and coalitions, along with other ways.

 

RCAP regional partners [10]

 

Each RCAP regional partner is an autonomous organization with its own governance, staff, structure, and other sources of funding. Even the official names of some partners do not resemble the common name of Rural Community Assistance Partnership. Each partner provides an array of services that directly respond to the needs of its area. These region-specific services include affordable housing-development assistance; loans for water and wastewater infrastructure, as well as housing and business development; community and economic development; job training and placement; community-based education programs; and special programming for underserved populations. 

 

What binds the RCAP network together are the programs each regional partner has in the water and wastewater sector. The water-related work done in each region and the coordinating work of the national office is done together under the banner of the Rural Community Assistance Partnership.

 

The history of RCAP and evolution of its programs [11]