Balsam Fiber Awarded Grant Money

Gov. Roy Cooper announced on Thursday July 6th that 25,825 households and 862 businesses in 33 counties will get high speed internet thanks to an 80-million-dollar GREAT grant. The GREAT (Growing Rural Economics with Access to Technology) grant is the second round of grants which totaled 269-million-dollars in 2022 in a program started by Cooper in 2018 to close the “digital divide”. In Jackson County, Balsam West Fibernet was awarded 2.4 million-dollars to serve an additional 636 customers. The funds were made available by the American Rescue Plan Act which was signed into law on March 11th, 2021, providing 1.9-Trillion-Dollars from the COVID19 and Economic Relief Funds. The Jackson County Commissioners will be required to provide matching funds to expand this infrastructure development even further.