County Receives Multiple Grants from State

NASHVILLE (April 30) — On Tuesday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter announced the state will award $162.7 million in broadband and digital opportunity grants.

“Broadband is essential to all Tennesseans, and that’s why we are making strategic investments in our state’s broadband infrastructure and digital opportunity programs to create a pathway to education, job training and greater opportunity statewide,” said Gov. Lee. “I thank the Financial Stimulus Accountability Group for their continued support and management of these broadband dollars.”

With the announcement, TNECD has invested more than $715 million to expand the state’s broadband infrastructure, connecting more than 689,000 Tennesseans across 275,000 residential and business locations.

To promote broadband opportunities and high-paying digital jobs, TNECD launched four new programs during this funding opportunity: Digital Skills, Employment and Workforce Development (DSEW), Connected Community Facilities (CCF), Broadband Ready Communities (BRC) and Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) Broadband Workforce grants.

Under the CCF heading, Carroll County Civic Center will be awarded $1,800,000. This is $2 million with a 10% match. the purpose of the grant “aims to construct and improve digital access through the creation of buildings or rehabilitation of existing facilities. The goal of this program is to enable digital workforce development, virtual health monitoring, virtual education, and broadband access -- all within one building for the community.”

The (BRC) from the State at $99,900 was awarded to Carroll, Weakley and Henry counties. In Carroll County, this will be used for remote and conferencing technology at the Office Complex, Library, Civic Center, and the Carroll County Jail’s Office of Re-Entry. This grant will also fund access to the Tech Goes Home initiative, in partnership with the Northwest Tennessee Development District, to serve Carroll County senior residents.

This grant is part of the Tennessee Broadband Accessibility Act of 2017, which set out to foster county engagement in securing broadband infrastructure and access to their communities. Carroll County looks to receive $100,000.

Under Digital Skills, Education, and Workforce, COMP-U-DOPT, INC. was awarded $725,694 to serve parts of Gibson, Obion, Lake, Henry, Dyer, Weakley, Carroll, and Crockett counties. The DSEW grants, totaling $27.9 million, will be distributed among 47 organizations that will offer a variety of training and education programs to advance digital skills and workforce development, creating a pipeline for well-paying digital jobs.

Through the TCAT Broadband Workforce, Tennessee College of Applied Technology Henry/Carroll has been awarded $1,000,000 for the program.

The TCAT Broadband Workforce grants, totaling $4.9 million, will be distributed among five TCATs that will offer a Telecommunications Electronics Technician diploma. The objective of the program will be to produce a well-trained and diverse telecommunications workforce capable of deploying and managing broadband infrastructure.

The projects must be completed by December 31, 2026.