United States Senator Thom Tillis announced today that the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development division has awarded Halifax and Warren counties a $17.5 million grant to improve broadband.
Tillis said the funds come from a bipartisan infrastructure package which he helped to negotiate and pass into law.
This Rural Development investment will be used to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to connect 5,434 people, 100 businesses, 76 farms and 22 educational facilities to high-speed internet in Halifax and Warren counties in North Carolina.
AccessOn Networks Inc. will make high-speed internet service affordable by participating in the FCC's Affordable Connectivity and Lifeline programs.
“Reliable broadband is crucial to perform the functions of everyday life, and this $17.5 million grant will go a long way to providing that for North Carolinians in Warren and Halifax Counties,” said the Republican senator. “I was proud to help negotiate and support the bipartisan infrastructure law to bring this investment to our great state.”
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said the funds allocated to Halifax and Warren are part of a $759 million package that will bring broadband to people living and working across 24 states, Puerto Rico, Guam and Palau.
Today’s investments include funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides a historic $65 billion to expand reliable, affordable, high-speed internet to all communities across the U.S.
“People living in rural towns across the nation need high-speed internet to run their businesses, go to school and connect with their loved ones,” Vilsack said. “USDA partners with small towns, local utilities and cooperatives, and private companies to increase access to high-speed internet so people in rural America have the opportunity to build brighter futures.”
Vilsack said under the leadership of President Biden and Vice President Harris, USDA is committed to making sure that people, no matter where they live, have access to high-speed internet. “That’s how you grow the economy – not just in rural communities, but across the nation.”
The $759 million in loans and grants comes from the third funding round of the ReConnect Program.
USDA said the project will serve socially vulnerable communities in Halifax and Warren counties and people in the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal Statistical Area.
Expansion of Rural Partners Network
The department also announced today the expansion of the Rural Partners Network to several communities in North Carolina to include Halifax and Northampton counties.
The other partnerships are as follows:
Robeson, Bladen and Columbus County Community Network
Glow House Foundation Community Network, including Randolph County
Wilson, Edgecombe, Nash and Johnston Community Network
Albemarle-Roanoke Community Network, including Bertie, Martin, Tyrrell and Washington counties
RPN is an all-of-government program that partners with rural people to access resources and funding to create local jobs, build infrastructure and support long-term economic stability on their own terms.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring that people in rural communities have every opportunity to succeed – and that they can find those opportunities right at home in rural America,” Vilsack said. “Rural people make up America’s spirit and character and provide the everyday essentials our country depends on. We know that when rural people thrive, America thrives. By expanding the Rural Partners Network, we can help these important but often overlooked communities receive their fair share of government resources to keep rural people and economies in North Carolina prepared for the future.”
USDA Rural Development North Carolina State Director Reginald Speight added, “I recently had the opportunity to speak to several North Carolina communities about the Rural Partners Network and its mission to help rural people build prosperity through job creation, infrastructure development and community improvement. County and town leaders were excited about what they heard in these meetings. We are looking forward to continuing this excitement over the coming months and years by helping rural communities connect with the federal programs that can assist the betterment of rural America.”
