Connected Tennessee would like to extend its congratulations to Aeneas Internet in Jackson for its ranking among Inc. magazines annual Inc. 5000 list, an exclusive ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies.

Previously named in 2008, Aeneas Internet and Telephone has been honored again. The list represents the most comprehensive look at America’s independent-minded entrepreneurs. “The leaders of the companies on this year’s Inc. 5000 have figured out how to grow their businesses during the longest recession since the Great Depression,” says Inc. president Bob LaPointe. “The 2010 Inc. 5000 showcases a particularly hardy group of entrepreneurs.”

The 2010 Inc. 5000 is ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2006 to 2009. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by June 30, 2006, based in the United States, privately held, for profit, and independent as of December 31, 2009. Despite the fact that most of this year’s measuring period of 2006-2009 took place during the latest recession, aggregate revenue among the companies on the list actually increased to $321.6 billion, up more than 50 percent from last year. This year’s Inc. 5000 employ a record 1.4 million people, up from one million on last year’s list. The minimum revenue required for 2009 is $2 million, and Aeneas Internet and Telephone exceeded that with $6.5 million in sales.

"We’re honored to be recognized by Inc. magazine twice," says Jonathan Harlan, founder and CEO of Aeneas Internet and Telephone. Founded in 1996, Aeneas Internet and Telephone has grown from just 2 employees to its current roster of 32 employees. "It's rewarding to be recognized on a national level for our continuing growth, and the best part is we're still expanding," Harlan says. "We're rolling out more products here in West Tennessee, and we're excited that we're going to be able to offer more competitive services in Middle Tennessee next year. I think our growth is only beginning."

To see the profile on Aeneas, click here.

Since its founding, Aeneas Internet & Telephone has been dedicated to the expansion of technological boundaries. Aeneas now offers a myriad of services including phone service and broadband Internet, office phone systems, commercial web hosting and corporate e-mail, Internet backbone connectivity for businesses, off-site file storage and colocation, emergency preparedness options and more.

Congratulations, Aeneas!

Yesterday, it was announced that Connected Tennessee’s Computers 4 Kids program will receive $2.3 million in federal funding in an effort to increase sustainable broadband adoption and provide computers and training to over 60,000 disadvantaged youth across the state.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced this week the funding of 126 new Recovery Act broadband infrastructure projects that will create jobs and provide rural residents in 38 states and Native American tribal areas access to improved service. Five of these projects are in Tennessee. Broadband access plays a critical role in expanding economic, health care, educational and public safety services in underserved rural communities. The announcement was part of the second round of USDA broadband funding through the Recovery Act.

"The broadband projects announced will give rural Americans access to the tools they need to attract new businesses, jobs, health care and educational opportunities," Vilsack said. "The Obama Administration understands that bringing broadband to rural America provides a gateway for businesses and key anchor institutions – such as libraries, schools, public safety and community centers – to provide services to thousands of Americans. These projects will create jobs building these networks, and the completed systems will provide a platform for rural economic growth for years to come."

In all, $1.2 billion will be invested in the 126 broadband infrastructure projects through funding made available through the Recovery Act. An additional $117 million in private investment will be leveraged, bringing the total funds invested to $1.31 billion.

By leveraging Recovery Act funding authorized by Congress, USDA has been able to provide loans and grants of $2.65 billion to construct 231 broadband projects in 45 states and one territory. The remaining authorized funds will allow an additional $1 billion in loans and grants by September 30, 2010. The Recovery Act provided USDA with a total of $2.5 billion to invest in expanding broadband access to rural America.

According to analysis released by the National Economic Council last year, overall Recovery Act investments in broadband are expected to create tens of thousands of jobs in the near term and expand economic development and job opportunities in communities that would otherwise be left behind in the new knowledge-based economy. Recovery Act broadband projects help bring down the cost of private investment, attract Internet service providers to new areas, improve digital literacy among students and workers, and help create new opportunities in employment, education, and entrepreneurship by wiring homes and businesses. With new or increased broadband access, communities can compete on a level playing field to attract new businesses, schools can create distance learning opportunities, medical professionals can provide cost-efficient remote diagnoses and care, and business owners can expand the market for their products beyond their neighborhoods to better compete in the global economy.

We would like to extend out congratulations to the five entities in Tennessee that were beneficiaries of this latest round of funding:

• West Kentucky Rural Telephone Cooperative Corporation Inc (TN & KY) - $123.8 million
• Highland Telephone Cooperative, Inc. (TN & KY) – $66.5 million
• Tennessee Telephone Company Inc – $5.1 million
• Millington Telephone Company, Inc. - $3.8 million
• Bledsoe Telephone Cooperative Corporation - $5.1 million

The Tennessee Small Business Development Center (TSBDC) Lead Center at Middle Tennessee State University, has established a network of 60 computer workstations across the state primarily in rural communities. The computers are available to the public to access one-to-one computer online/video business counseling and training. In order to promote and enhance sustainable economic development in rural communities with exceptional needs and reduce travel time and increase counselor accessibility, the TSBDC is utilizing technology based practices to disburse valuable business information to small business owners. Through the TSBDC’s thirteen offices throughout the state the infrastructure already exists to deliver business counseling services. But with the addition of online business counseling services, the TSBDC will be maximizing the business counselor’s time and that of the business person. There is no statewide online business counseling assistance program available in Tennessee so there is no duplication of effort in adding this service to the business community.

Due to advances in technology, the TSBDC will be able to utilize white board, video conferencing, and instant messaging technologies to provide live business counseling to clients anywhere in the state. Programs such as Skype, iChat, Gotomeeting and Gotowebinar can easily be used, in conjunction with Windows or Mac based personal computers, by clients at home, at the clients place of business or at strategic locations throughout the state. Not only will this program save the taxpayers valuable time and money, but it will also allow the network to offer clients access to the entire network of counselors and their areas of expertise, instead of limiting clients to one professional.

The TSBDC is locating computer work stations across the state primarily in rural areas where businesses lack high-speed connectivity. Computers will be situated in chambers’ of commerce and public libraries for public use. These locations have the high-speed internet connectivity that will allow business customers of the TSBDC to take advantage of the full menu of TSBDC online services that are otherwise not available to users who have only analogue Internet connectivity.

Lincoln County will soon be jumping on the Information Highway, thanks to collaborative efforts between county officials and Monster Broadband. After Connected Tennessee’s State Operations Manager Larry Raybon introduced Mayor Peggy Bevels to the team at Monster, plans quickly got underway to roll out high-speed Internet across the county in three phases. Each phase is expected to take approximately 6-8 weeks to complete.

• Phase #1 will start at the Crystal Ridge Tank and Flintville Tank servicing Mulberry, Brighton and Flintville
• Phase #2 will complete the south end of the county by expanding the network to the Childress Tank, Blanch Tank, and then Taft Tank servicing the entire south, southwest and southeast end. This will allow for complete coverage from Huntland, Flintville, Kelso, and all the way to Ardmore.
• Phase #3 will start a new redundant link coming out of Petersburg , with plans to build two other towers that will cover Howell and Boonshill, all the way down to Dellrose. At the end of this project, Monster will have equipment configured in a 360 degree coverage on five water tanks and four company-owned towers, transmitting 10 air miles from each location.

Monster Broadband has a lot of other exciting developments taking place. They are now adding between 50 – 60 new customers per month. They are also launching a newly designed website the first week in June, allowing customers complete access to their account so they can pay their invoice via credit card and or check online. The new website will feature infrastructure updates, news articles, a voice web portal login, and much more. Visit them online at www.monsterbroadband.com.

A couple of important updates have taken place on the Connected Tennessee website this week that I am excited to bring to your attention.

First off, Tennessee’s Technology Trends 2010 is now available for viewing and can be found by clicking here. Tennessee’s Technology Trends 2010 is a two-part assessment highlighting the use and impact of computers, the Internet and broadband technology among Tennessee residents and businesses. The comprehensive survey was conducted in January 2010 and involved more than 1,200 Tennessee households and more than 800 businesses representing each of Tennessee’s 95 counties. This research shows that the changes to Tennessee’s broadband landscape have been vast since Connected Tennessee’s inception in 2007. Most notably:

- Overall, broadband adoption across Tennessee has grown by 35% since 2007. Over the past two years, broadband adoption has grown fastest among older Tennessee residents (those age 55 and older), low-income residents (those with incomes below $25,000), minorities and rural residents.

- Nearly two-thirds of Tennessee businesses (65%, or approximately 90,000 Tennessee businesses) now subscribe to broadband, compared to just 55% in 2007.

Keep checking the website for updates, as county-level research will be posted in the coming weeks.

Also, some pretty impressive changes have taken place to our interactive map, BroadbandStat, over the past few days. Following a months-long process of data gathering, the data from Tennessee's Technology Trends as well as additional comprehensive data on the availability, speed, location, and type of broadband services available across the state can now be accessed via the BroadbandStat map by clicking here.

Please look for more information about these exciting updates in this month’s eCS newsletter, coming soon.

Connected Nation, in conjunction with ESRI, a market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, showcased its jointly developed new interactive mapping tool for viewing, analyzing, and validating broadband data at a technology policy exhibition on Capitol Hill.

At Tuesday’s technology policy kickoff reception, more than 100 people had the chance to view Connected Nation and ESRI’s BroadbandStat demonstration. I was honored to continue showcasing the technology well after the official end of the event.

Connected Tennessee would like to congratulate the North Central Telephone Cooperative, Inc. (NCTC) for its awarding of broadband funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Yesterday Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the latest round of U.S. rural broadband stimulus funding and the North Central Telephone Cooperative was one of 14 selected to receive funding. NCTC’s Recovery Act Broadband Infrastructure project includes a $24,715,709 grant as well as a $24,964,000 loan to provide fiber to the premise to homes and businesses in Macon County, Sumner County and part of Smith County.

“Our projections are that such a large scale deployment of advanced fiber-optic technology will impact almost 1,000 businesses and 15,000 homes in our service areas. We don’t have an interstate highway system today that brings the traffic this area needs to build our economy. But this funding allows North Central to provide something even better — an infrastructure that will make this area very attractive to business and industry,” said Nancy J. White, NCTC’s President and CEO.

The North Central Telephone Cooperative has locations in Lafayette and Westmoreland, TN and Scottsville, KY and provides local and long distance telephone, wireless, voice mail, digital cable TV, Internet and security services.

This is the second major broadband funding announcement. The first occured in mid-December, when Connected Tennessee was awarded $1.8 million in federal funding for broadband mapping and planning in an effort to increase the availability and use of high-speed Internet service in the state.

Altogether, Congress awarded USDA $2.5 billion in Recovery Act funding to help bring broadband services to rural unserved and underserved communities.

Congratulations, North Central Telephone Cooperative!

Yesterday I was pleased to demonstrate a new interactive mapping tool for viewing, analyzing and validating broadband data that will soon be available via the Connected Tennessee website at http://www.connectedtn.org/.

Called BroadbandStat, the new interactive mapping platform is a multi-functional, user-friendly way for local leaders, policymakers, consumers and technology providers to devise a plan for the expansion and adoption of broadband.

BroadbandStat was developed by Connected Nation in conjunction with ESRI, a market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software.

For Bob Mayfield, managing partner of Electronic Communications Systems, a small broadband provider in west Tennessee, the new tool will be extremely helpful as his company plans further coverage.

“BroadbandStat is a very important tool,” Mayfield said. “For providers to be able to look at the market as we are developing our business plans--to see where broadband exists and where the demand is—this is the best thing that’s come out in a while.”

Daryl Phillips, executive director of the Hickman County Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD), agreed.

“Five years ago, we had local business owners that couldn't decide where to locate within the county because they didn't have access to this kind of detailed information,” Phillips said. “Now, business and industry can use this tool for relocation decisions, home buyers can use this while shopping for a home and government and ECD can use it for planning purposes. BroadbandStat gives Tennessee an advantage over other states."

BroadbandStat is unique because it allows a user to build and evaluate broadband expansion scenarios using a wealth of data, including education and population demographics, current broadband speeds and availability and research about the barriers to adoption. The tool also provides an instant feedback mechanism for consumers to validate broadband data electronically or via phone.

The tool will be useful for government agencies, consumers, community leaders, broadband providers and the media. The broadband-related data can be used for grant writing, broadband investment and economic development, and it gives the public the ability to find information about broadband providers, down to the street-level.

BroadbandStat is scheduled to launch by late 2009 to early 2010 in Tennessee.

Related Information:
News Article: 12 States Pick GIS to Help Build Broadband Coverage Maps

I am pleased to announce that on Monday, December 14th, I will be participating in a field hearing sponsored by the Federal Communications Commission that will focus on whether broadband services are being deployed in a way that allows all Americans to benefit.

Joining me will be Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton, Jr. and civil rights leader Benjamin L. Hooks, who is a former FCC Commissioner and former executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, among others. Commissioners Michael J. Copps and Mignon Clyburn will represent the Commission.

The FCC is convening a series of hearings to promote an open dialogue between the FCC and the public on development of a National Broadband Plan. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 directed the FCC to submit a National Broadband Plan to Congress by February 17, 2010 that addresses broadband deployment, adoption, affordability, and the use of broadband to advance solutions to national priorities, including healthcare, education, energy, public safety, job creation, investment and others.

The event will take place on Monday, December 14th from 6 - 8 p.m. (CST). To listen to the hearing live, please visit http://www.fcc.gov/live/.

I am pleased to announce that Connected Tennessee's Computers 4 Kids program took home the "Community Service" award at yesterday’s 7th Annual TechStar Awards luncheon in Kingsport for commitment of time and resources to improve the community through technology.

Nine winners were announced at the awards luncheon which recognizes businesses, organizations, government and non-profit agencies for their use or development of technology.

For more about this exciting recognition, please click here.

Connected Tennessee would like to extend congratulations to Lauderdale County for the grand opening of the first Community Computer Center funded in Tennessee under the USDA Community Connect Program located in Nankipoo.

The Center is a component of a $246,448 grant awarded to Pinnacle Ventures, LLC of Dyersburg by the USDA to extend wireless Internet access services into the rural west Tennessee community of Nankipoo.

The Community Connect Grant program is designed to supplement the cost of building Internet access infrastructure into rural areas that have no wireline broadband Internet services. In addition to broadband access, the grant provides for two years of funding to operate a local Community Computer Center which provides computers and Internet access to Nankipoo area residents, along with on-site help with Internet questions and other computer-related training.

Connected Tennessee provided assistance with the application process for this grant by mapping the demand for broadband services and conducting propagation studies to determine the exact locations of currently-existing technologies throughout the county.

For more information about the Center, click here.

At last week’s National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Legislative Summit in Philadelphia, the work of Connected Tennessee drew praise from a number of Tennessee state officials for its ground-breaking efforts to expand the presence of broadband throughout the State of Tennessee. During a panel highlighting the benefits of state broadband investment, state leaders lauded Connected Tennessee’s public-private partnership model as a successful path for achieving meaningful results for broadband-based expansion.

State Representative and Co-Chair of the Tennessee Broadband Task Force Mark Maddox provided the panel with an overview of Connected Tennessee’s progress, citing how the success of Connected Tennessee’s broadband mapping and demand stimulation programs prompted Congress to use Tennessee as a model for the Broadband Data Improvement Act (BDIA).

State Representative Johnny Shaw praised Connected Tennessee’s Computers 4 Kids (C4K) program for creating a collaborative effort of public-private partnerships to put computers into the hands of those citizens who need them the most. An after-school program located in Representative Shaw’s hometown of Stanton was the recent recipient of 20 computers from the C4K program and will serve as a hub of connectivity for a community with very limited access to broadband.

To view full comments from both gentlemen and to learn more about the NCSL, click here.

Connected Tennessee, with the help of ArcGIS technology from ESRI, has developed a new interactive online mapping tool to provide Tennesseans with Census Block level broadband data and arm applicants with required data for broadband infrastructure funds now available through the U.S. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

This new interactive tool will launch at 4 p.m. EST through the Connected Tennessee broadband map site and will allow the general public to click on any Census Block within those states to obtain the number of households served and unserved by a broadband provider within that Census Block.

In addition, Connected Tennessee has posted online the downloadable datasets of broadband availability information by Census Block.

Such accurate, granular broadband availability information is required to complete the RUS and NTIA broadband infrastructure grant applications. The data tools will provide state leaders, community advocates and providers in Tennessee with public access to this timely information, offering applicants in these states a comprehensive, Census Block level dataset of broadband availability.

Currently, approximately $7 billion in stimulus funds through the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) have been designated to help expand broadband access to unserved and underserved communities across the United States.

These funds are available through the NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and the RUS’s Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP).

View the new Broadband Stimulus Data Tools by clicking here.

Today, Connected Tennessee announced the release of an updated version of the statewide broadband inventory map that illustrates the extent of broadband services available across Tennessee. The Connected Tennessee map, which represents broadband availability data from more than 60 broadband providers across the state, is expected to serve as a key asset for the state as it prepares for federal stimulus funding to support broadband expansion. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the USDA’s Rural Utilities Services (RUS) recently released their Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for stimulus funding aimed at expanding broadband, and Tennessee is well positioned to take advantage of the competitive grants.

The Connected Tennessee broadband map was created through a collaborative, public-private approach to broadband mapping as Congress prescribed in the Broadband Data Improvement Act of 2008. The map illustrates broadband service availability at the household level, based on information from all types of providers across Tennessee, including cable, telephone, wireless Internet service providers, rural cooperatives and municipalities.

Most importantly, the updated broadband map illustrates the service gaps that remain in rural and other hard-to-reach locations along with the demand that exists in those areas allowing Tennessee to see a very detailed illustration of which areas of the state are most in need of stimulus funding. The updated map also reveals where key community facilities such as libraries, schools and healthcare facilities are located in relation to broadband availability painting a clear picture of what conduits are available to bring broadband to those in the areas that need it the most.

To view the full press release about Connected Tennessee's updated broadband inventory map and how it puts Tennessee ahead of the curve in prioritizing federal broadband stimulus funding, click here.

The Connected Tennessee staff would like to extend our congratulations to the Tennessee Office of e-Health Initiatives for recently being named as the nation's #2 in Top 5 Most Improved Electronic Prescribing States.

Surescripts, the nation’s largest electronic prescribing network, yesterday presented Governor Phil Bredesen with a Safe-Rx Award as Tennessee joins Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Vermont as one of the top five most improved electronic prescribing states for 2008.

Electronic prescribing, or e-prescribing, is the secure, electronic transmission, from a medical provider’s computer to a pharmacist’s computer, of a patient’s prescription that needs to be filled or refilled.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS), the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) and Surescripts created the Safe-Rx Award to raise awareness of e-prescribing as a means of enhancing patient safety by providing a more secure, accurate and informed prescribing process.

Besides the top five most improved e-prescribing states, the Safe-Rx Award recognizes the top 10 e-prescribing states, and three physicians within these states who have demonstrated outstanding leadership, the Safe-Rx E-Prescriber of the Year and the Safe-Rx Evangelist.
Results are based on the annual review and ranking of electronic prescribing activity based on the electronic routing of new prescriptions and refill responses transmitted over the Surescripts network. States are ranked based on the number of prescriptions routed electronically in 2008 as a percentage of the total number of prescriptions eligible for electronic routing.

According to Surescripts’ 2008 results, Tennessee also moves to position 18, up from position 29 in 2007, in the state-by-state rankings of e-prescribing activity.

At the end of 2006, Tennessee had 177 active electronic prescribers and closed out 2007 with 657.

Tennessee finished 2008 with 1,605 electronic prescribers, representing a 144 percent increase over 2007, with 1,120 pharmacies in the state accepting prescriptions electronically.
Tennessee health care providers issued more than 1,788,000 prescriptions in 2008, representing more than four percent of all prescriptions written in the state.

The Office of e-Health Initiatives is the single coordinating authority for the exchange of electronic health information in Tennessee and works to improve the health of Tennesseans by ensuring providers have complete patient information at the point of care.

For more information on the Office of e-Health Initiatives, visit www.tn.gov/ehealth.

Concluding that all rural Americans must have the opportunity to reap the full benefits of broadband services, Acting Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael J. Copps released a report yesterday providing a starting point for the development of policies to deliver broadband to rural areas and restore economic growth and opportunity for Americans residing and working in those areas.

Recognizing that the need for broadband in rural America is becoming ever-more critical, Congress in the 2008 Farm Bill required the FCC Chairman, in coordination with the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, to submit a report to Congress describing a rural broadband strategy. Entitled “Bringing Broadband to Rural America: Report on a Rural Broadband Strategy,” the report by Acting Chairman Copps identifies common problems affecting rural broadband, including technological challenges, lack of data, and high network costs, and offers some recommendations to address those problems.

Broadband “is the interstate highway of the 21st century for small towns and rural communities, the vital connection to the broader nation and, increasingly, the global economy,” Acting Chairman Copps said in the report. “Our nation as a whole will prosper and benefit from a concerted effort to bring broadband to rural America.”

According to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, “Providing broadband access to rural communities will not only enhance farmers and ranchers' ability to market goods and enhance production, it will help residents in rural communities obtain needed medical care, gain access to higher education, and benefit from resulting economic activity and job growth.”

Consistent with the statute’s provisions to make recommendations concerning improving inter-agency coordination, the report includes a number of recommendations, including: enhancing coordination among and between federal, Tribal, state, and community agencies, governments and organizations; reviewing existing federal programs to identify barriers to rural broadband deployment; coordinating broadband program terminology consistent with current laws; coordinating data collection and mapping efforts at the federal, Tribal, and state levels to better inform the public and policymakers; supporting consumer education and training initiatives to stimulate and sustain broadband demand; and identifying important policies and proceedings that support further broadband deployment such as universal service and network openness. The report also recognizes that the new administration has already taken important steps to improve coordination efforts and to prioritize broadband initiatives.

In the report, Acting Chairman Copps notes that Congress has provided new direction and support for federal broadband policies and initiatives, in particular through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In addition to providing $7.2 billion for broadband grants, loans and loan guarantees administered by the Agriculture and Commerce departments, that law charges the FCC with developing a national broadband plan by next February.

“I view this report as a prelude to, and building block for, the national broadband plan, which will address in greater detail and on a vastly more complete record, the input of all stakeholders and the steps the nation must take to achieve its broadband goals,” Acting Chairman Copps said in the report. Although the national plan will be broader in scope and will focus on bringing broadband to all Americans regardless of where they live, the Rural Broadband report “provides another, critical step in the Commission’s efforts to develop an effective, efficient and achievable national broadband plan.”

View the report in its entirety below:
FCC Rural Broadband Report

Welcome to the Executive Director's Journal on the brand new Connected Tennessee website! We are proud to bring you our new and improved website, and hope you will take some time and browse through the pages and explore our new features. We hope you will find the new site dynamic, easy-to-use and most of all, informative.

On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The act is a nationwide effort to create jobs, jumpstart growth and transform our economy to compete in the 21st century. The compromise package contained $7.2 billion dollars dedicated for broadband. That amount is divided between the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Commerce.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) within the Department of Agriculture received $2.5 billion to distribute in a combination of grants and loans. The awards will be made primarily through existing programs. The remaining $4.7 billion will be distributed through a new Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in the Department of Commerce.

Eligible entities for these grant programs include government entities, non-profit organizations, and broadband providers. These applicants are able to apply for grants that will expand broadband availability into unserved or underserved areas of the state, create public computing centers and programs for sustained adoption.

Final application details will likely not be out until April. However, if you are interested in applying for an availability or adoption grant, start planning now. Work that can already be started includes project and budget planning. Connected Tennessee’s goal is to ensure that Tennessee receives as much as support as possible. Please take some time to read through our March eCS newsletter, which highlights the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the broadband provisions that are contained within it. You can view the newsletter by clicking here. Once you read through the newsletter, please contact us regarding next steps and additional support. We want to help to ensure each application looks as good as possible. Also, let us know if you have any questions regarding the opportunities.

Michael Ramage
Executive Director
mramage@connectedtn.org