U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Administrator of Rural Utilities Service Andrew Berke, alongside state and local officials, and high-speed internet stakeholders visited the cities of Mount Moriah and Princeton, to celebrate the first groundbreaking of projects funded through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law under the Department’s ReConnect Program.
“With historic funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, high-speed internet is bringing a better quality of life and more economic development to communities throughout our country,” Berke said. “Because of the progress in Northwest Missouri symbolized by today’s event, along with several more projects getting underway across the state, USDA is helping communities build a stronger and more resilient rural America.”
To help Grand River Mutual Telephone Corp. (GRM) kick off its Fiber Field Day, RUS Administrator Berke highlighted the importance that investing in high-speed internet connectivity has in narrowing the digital divide between rural America and the rest of the world. In an effort to provide an exclusive opportunity for policymakers, industry partners, and other stakeholders to see firsthand how GRM is bringing fiber infrastructure for high-speed internet to northern Missouri and southern Iowa, the opening ceremony was followed by a visual fiber and splicing demonstration and a trip out to tour the network access facility.
A town hall, in Princeton after the groundbreaking, brought together subject matter experts to further discuss the importance of high-speed internet in rural America, and the impact that GRM Network’s efforts to bring fiber infrastructure for telehealth, distance education, economic development, and precision agriculture have for rural Missourians.
“It speaks volumes to the importance of these infrastructure needs to have Administrator Berke here, on the ground, recognizing this historical step towards creating new opportunities for this area of the state through high-speed connectivity,“ Rural Development State Director for Missouri Kyle Wilkens said. “We are excited to have him here in Missouri, hearing directly from the source as to the positive impact this will have on rural Missourians.”
Funding for the investment breaking ground today is in partnership with a $15.7 million grant through USDA’s ReConnect Program and President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This funding is allowing GRM Network to deploy a fiber-to-the-home network to connect 3,107 people, 521 farms, 59 businesses, and nine educational facilities to high-speed internet in Daviess, Gentry, Grundy, Harrison, Livingston, Mercer, and Nodaway counties in Missouri. High-speed internet will be made affordable by participating in the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity and Lifeline programs.
ReConnect investments reflect one of the many ways that USDA Rural Development’s programs can help rural areas address the unique needs of their individual and surrounding communities to help rural America build back resiliency.
