Funds awarded through the American Rescue Plan’s Capital Projects Fund, part of President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda
RALEIGH, NC – Today, President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. Department of the Treasury approved $82.2 million for high-speed internet projects in North Carolina under the American Rescue Plan’s Capital Projects Fund (CPF), which the state estimates will connect approximately 16,000 homes and businesses to affordable, high-speed internet. A key priority of the CPF program is making funding available for broadband infrastructure to expand economic opportunities and provide high-speed internet connectivity in underserved communities, including rural, Tribal, and other underserved communities.
“With the partnership of your Governor we’ve invested over $3 Billion to expand high-speed internet in every county across the state,” President Biden said. “Fiber-optic cable is being laid in the ground as we speak. Over the next 3 years over 300,000 homes and businesses across North Carolina will be connected. And today I’m announcing another major step: another $82 Million to connect over 16,000 additional homes and businesses bringing high-speed internet across the state. By the end of the decade, we will finish the job, reaching all remaining homes, schools, libraries small businesses and healthcare facilities in North Carolina that don’t have access to high-speed internet today.”
“The pandemic upended life as we knew it and exposed the stark inequity in access to affordable and reliable high-speed internet in communities across the country,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo. “This funding is a key piece of the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic investments to increase access to high-speed internet for millions of Americans and provide more opportunities to fully participate and compete in the 21st century economy.”
The CPF provides a total of $10 billion to states, territories, freely associated states, and Tribal governments to fund critical capital projects that expand economic opportunities and provide internet connectivity in communities with unmet needs. Through high-speed internet, digital technology, and multi-purpose community facility investments, CPF funding is both closing the digital divide and bringing workforce, education, and health care services to communities in need. In addition to the $10 billion provided by CPF, many governments are putting a portion of their State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) toward meeting the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of connecting every American household to affordable, reliable high-speed internet.
The $82.2 million announced today will fund the Broadband Stop Gap Solutions Program to extend high-speed internet service to reach individual or small pockets of households or businesses which have not been reached through prior federal investments. North Carolina’s Broadband Infrastructure Office will work with counties to identify remaining locations that lack high-speed internet and then make Stop Gap Program awards on a county-by-county basis. Today’s announcement is in addition to the $177.7 million in CPF funding the Treasury Department awarded North Carolina in 2022, which was used to fund broadband infrastructure projects.
Overall, the Biden-Harris Administration is investing $3 billion in North Carolina to connect everyone in the state to affordable, reliable high-speed internet through the American Rescue Plan and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. These investments are creating thousands of good-paying manufacturing and construction jobs in places like North Carolina to produce Made-in-America fiber-optic cable that will build out internet infrastructure across the country. And, because of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Affordable Connectivity Program, over 880,000 households in North Carolina are saving money on their internet bills every month.
The Treasury Department began announcing state awards in June 2022. To date, CPF has awarded over $9 billion for broadband, digital technology, and multi-purpose community center projects in all states and the District of Columbia, which states estimate will reach over two million locations with expanded internet access, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of individuals who will be served annually by multi-purpose community facilities.
###