ASHEVILLE – A $7.7 million grant provided to a regional nonprofit to help improve broadband access in rural areas of Western North Carolina and provide resources to veterans was canceled May 20 as the Trump administration has continued to look for ways to shrink the federal government. Some have called the measure “bad news” for the region’s recovery from Tropical Storm Helene.
The grant, which was provided to the Land of the Sky Regional Council, was canceled just days after President Donald Trump ordered Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to cancel grants established through the Digital Equity Act, which was passed through Congress as part of the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.
In a May 8 Truth Social post, President Donald Trump called the act “unconstitutional” and ordered funding ordered by Congress to be halted, claiming the grants were “race based” and “illegal.” Beside the act’s nondiscrimination clauses, the act contains few references to race.
In WNC, the cancelation of funding for the act’s grant programs is likely to directly impact rural communities without broadband access, also known as high-speed internet.
By May 20, Digital Equity Act grant terminations included the grant provided to the Land of the Sky Regional Council’s WNC Connecting All Communities program. The program aims to bring new technology-based programs to 18 counties in WNC. While the $9.1 million program had received $1 million in matching funds from Dogwood Health Trust, the lion’s share of program funding was through the $7.7 million Digital Equity Act grant.
‘Bad news’ amid Helene recovery
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration began sending termination letters to grant recipients on May 9. Since then, the agency has removed all information regarding the grants from its website, with some indicating that users “don’t have access” to information regarding the grants. Other pages redirect to the agency’s homepage.
The cancelation will only make recovery from Tropical Storm Helene “much more challenging” and is “bad news,” Land of the Sky Regional Council Executive Director Nathan Ramsey said in an email to local officials and media. Most of WNC lost cell connection and internet for days after the storm.
“Helene reminded us how important digital connectivity is for our region. When we cannot communicate, we cannot access lifesaving information, healthcare, education, and grow businesses,” Ramsey wrote. “WNC has consistently been under resourced so that small towns, rural communities and even some places in urban areas lack broadband connectivity comparable to other places in our state and nation.”
Vice-President of Economic Opportunity for Dogwood Health Trust Sarah Thompson called the termination of the Digital Equity Act “disappointing,” as around 80,000 households in WNC are not connected to the internet.
“The $7.7 million that was granted to Western North Carolina counties from the Digital Equity Act held significant promise for our region. It is essential that all public and private funders continue to care about and participate in this important work for people all across the region and the U.S. We simply can’t afford not to,” Thompson said.
The cut to the $7.7 million grant comes as other programs have been cut while the region continues to recover from Helene. On April29, North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson sued AmeriCorps after the agency removed 52 workers from a federal program helping WNC residents rebuild after the storm.
Other cut programs in WNC, all related to cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency, include the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Western North Carolina: Project Mars and 25 members working with the Asheville-based nonprofit Conserving Carolina, according to a presentation made during a May 12 Governor’s Advisory Committee on Western North Carolina Recovery meeting.
A spokesperson for Sen. Thom Tillis, who played a key role in negotiating and passing the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, said his “office is looking into this specific grant” and that he was “committed to getting Western North Carolina all the resources it needs to rebuild in the wake of Helene.”
