State Director Reginald Speight and members of North Carolina Rural Development Team recently participated in an obligation of funds-signing ceremony-with Star Communications, in Elizabethtown.
Rural Development is investing $24.9 million through a USDA ReConnect Grant to expand fast, affordable, reliable high-speed internet to socially vulnerable communities of Bladen, Columbus and Sampson Counties.
This network will benefit:
“This rural area of North Carolina has waited and sacrificed too long to receive a service that has become essential for families and business in our country,” said Speight in a press release. “One of the first public events I participated in when I took my job with USDA was obligating $2.4 million to Star Communications to assist them expand the availability of internet into Sampson County. I am proud to represent the Biden-Harris Administration as we continue our partnership with Star Communications with continued expansion into Bladen, Sampson and Columbus Counties with this $24.9 million ReConnect Grant.”
Star Telephone Membership Corporation will make high-speed internet affordable by participating in the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Lifeline and Affordable Connectivity Programs.
“Star is very grateful to once again be the recipient of a ReConnect Grant. We are thankful for the USDA and their ongoing efforts to expand access to high-speed internet in rural areas,” Star CEO Donna C. Bullard stated in a press release. “Without this program and their assistance, we could not have accelerated our buildout efforts in the way that we have over the past few years. This award is a crowning achievement for Sampson, Bladen and Columbus counties.”
To wrap up the first day, attendees were able to meet up for a social event at the Brad Halling American Whiskey Ko. in Southern Pines where a $10,000 check was presented to the Joint Special Operations Foundation for their scholarship fund. Photo pr
The three-story, 200,000 square-foot business incubator space is located at 420 Maiden Lane. The building features an elevator, construction has begun on handicap bathrooms for the first floor and the second and third floors feature window walls offering views of Segra Stadium.
Image provided by FTCCFocused on building the local workforce and streamlining the education process through real world learning, the Hope, Opportunity, Prosperity through Education Program at Fayetteville Technical Community College (FTCC), also kno
