News
A blizzard of announced grant funding awards for broadband projects has kept officials busy in North Carolina.
By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities
Projects that will connect nearly 26,000 households and businesses across North Carolina are the latest to receive grant funding in North Carolina.
It is the latest development in a busy series of weeks for North Carolina’s Division of Broadband and Digital Equity, run by the state’s department of information technology.
The funding, which was described as an additional $112 million for North Carolina’s Completing Access to Broadband (CAB), will support projects across 19 counties, according to a July 1 release from the N.C. Department of Information Technology (NCDIT).
Companies awarded funding include AT&T, Brightspeed, Zito Media, Fybe, and Charter Communications.
The department’s release itemized a breakdown of the funding. The projects will be funded by $61 million from the American Rescue Plan, $25 million from individual counties in North Carolina, and $26 million in match funding by selected broadband providers.
NCDIT Deputy Secretary for Broadband and Digital Equity Nate Denny said his office is excited that “so many counties and internet service providers have partnered with us on the CAB program.”
“These awarded projects will help us make significant progress on closing the state’s digital divide,” he said, according to the July 1 announcement.
According to NCDIT, the latest funding awards will add to the over $400 million in Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) grants.
Other ongoing efforts in North Carolina
The department’s release stated that ongoing broadband projects around the state are due to connect nearly 161,000 North Carolina households and businesses to high-speed internet.
In June, NCDIT announced that $30 million in Digital Champion grants would go to 63 community service, nonprofit, higher education and regional organizations across the state.
The grants, awarded through the N.C. Department of Information Technology’s Office of Digital Equity and Literacy, include libraries, churches, schools, and non-profits like the N.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence, which received $300,000, among recipients.
The NCDIT’s Office of Digital Equity and Literacy targets populations identified in the Digital Equity Act, according to the office’s June 18 release. Identified groups the office has a mission of helping include rural residents, seniors, incarcerated persons, veterans, individuals with disabilities, people with a language barrier, members of a racial or ethnic minority group.
At the time, Governor Roy Cooper said Digital Champion grants “will help more families take part in our increasingly digital world to work, learn, access vital telehealth services and connect with others online.”
Last month the NCDIT also announced $67 million in CAB program awards to connect 15,835 households and businesses in 15 counties, along with $10 million in awards to deploy broadband infrastructure to 2,254 homes and 70 businesses in six counties through the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) grant program, according to the NCDIT website.
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