After months of awaiting a final decision from the Tennessee Emergency Broadband Fund – American Rescue Plan (TEBF-ARP), the PES Energize team received notification late Thursday evening that their grant applications had not been chosen as a finalist and would not be moving forward in the grant process.
The TEBF-ARP is a $400M competitive grant; the grant review committee received 218 applications requesting over $1.3B in funding for broadband projects over the state of Tennessee.
PES Energize staff worked diligently with Finley Engineering to submit two compelling grant applications. The two areas submitted would help bridge the digital divide in the rural parts of the county by providing high-speed, cost effective internet to unserved and/or underserved citizens.
While the PES Energize team is saddened by the decision, it will not deter them from applying for any future grant funding opportunities such as the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant that will be available next year.
PES Energize’s CEO, Scott Newton, would like to say thank you to everyone that took the speed test and submitted a letter of support. “We greatly appreciate your time and effort and PES Energize will continue to seek out grant funds.”
PES Energize is still awaiting notification regarding the Rural Utilities Services (RUS) grant application for the Northwestern part of the county. Announcements are expected to be made by late summer.