Tennessee Broadband Director Talks BEAD and Why the State Targeted 3 Counties for Capital Projects Fund Dollars

The Tennessee Economic and Community Development Office (TNECD) will begin accepting applications for $60 million in Capital Projects Fund (CPF) dollars for rural broadband deployments in September 2023. But not every county will be eligible for funding. “We wanted to look at counties that historically had very few applications for grant programs," Tennessee State Broadband Director Taylre Beaty said. “It was an effort to set up a targeted program where we really incentivized providers to come to the table in those areas.” TNECD selected three counties for the program, which has a $60 million budget. The counties are Polk, Hardin and Wayne. All three had few if any, applications in previous funding programs. Beaty noted that some other states have used this targeted approach successfully in the past.