The Un-carrier is painting even more towns magenta. T-Mobile unveiled its latest 25 Hometown Grant recipients, tallying up to 300 communities across 47 states, including, for the first time, Rhode Island. The grantees will each receive up to $50,000 in funding from T-Mobile to kickstart local development projects that enhance communities, such as building adaptive playgrounds, launching small business initiatives and beautifying downtowns.
The Town of Aberdeen, N.C. is one of the 25 Hometown Grant recipients. Their funding will be used to create the Aberdeen Garden Park, a first-ever greenspace including a pergola, water feature, benches, pathways and a pollinator garden for the community to enjoy.

“The Town of Aberdeen is thrilled and proud that the Friends of Aberdeen Library organization have received this terrific grant from T-Mobile. The funds will make it possible for the non-profit to create a green space and passive garden park which will be a new and welcome addition to the historic area of Aberdeen,” shared Town of Aberdeen Mayor Robert Farrell. “Speaking on behalf of the Mayor's office and Town Board of Commissioners and all our residents that will enjoy this amenity, we appreciate T-Mobile's commitment to giving back to small towns and helping to make our community a better place to live and work.” 

Aberdeen is one of two towns in North Carolina awarded T-Mobile Hometown Grants on June 20.  Mount Airy received a $50,000 T-Mobile Hometown Grant for their own local restoration project. Since the Hometown Grant program launched in 2021,19 cities and towns across North Carolina, including, Elizabeth City, Goldsboro, Hickory Kings Mountain, Mars Hill, and Wilkesboro have received grants totaling more than $680,000.

Aberdeen will hold a special project reveal and check presentation on Saturday, June 22 from 10 a.m. to Noon at 105 N. Pine Street in Aberdeen.

"The Board and members of the Friends of Aberdeen Library are honored that T-Mobile selected our passive garden-park project for funding. These funds will assist us in moving forward and completing the garden-park with green space, pergola, benches and more than two years ahead of plan. Located just steps away from an historic building we are renovating as a community resource center and library; this space will be "nature's annex" to that facility,” shared President, Friends of Aberdeen Library (NC) Tom Cruce. “We sincerely appreciate T-Mobile's mission to positively affect small communities and we look forward to deeding this garden-park to the Town of Aberdeen in 2025!”

T-Mobile has provided more than $13 million in Hometown Grants since it kicked off its five-year commitment to small towns and rural communities in April 2021. To date, Hometown Grants has created more than 78,000 volunteer hours, rallying people to come together and uplift their towns.

“Hometown Grants is T-Mobile’s way of giving people in small towns a chance to build a more resilient future, and it's incredibly inspiring to see the impact it’s had on 300 communities knowing there’s many more to come," said Jon Freier, President, Consumer Group, T-Mobile in a press release. “When we started this program three years ago, we knew it had the power to make a difference, but to see so many people come together for their towns is truly extraordinary.”

To select Hometown Grant recipients, T-Mobile partners with Main Street America to oversee the grant program and assess applications based on their level of detail, community impact, feasibility and other considerations.