Connect America Summit Presenter

Summit Presenter - Joan Minor

Connect America Summit presenter Joan Minor founded Appalachian Resources, LLC in 2000.  The firm coordinates a network of home-based entrepreneurs to provide grant writing, grant search, and project management services.  Appalachian Resources, LLC grant writing services have secured 57 grants for 16 entities totaling $14,245,502 in grants.  Appalachian Resources, LLC began preparing federal grant applications for rural broadband deployment projects in 2005.

Appalachian Resources, LLC grant writing services have secured the following federal rural broadband deployment grants:

2005 Community Connect - $506,048 - “Connect Rose Hill” VA – CDP population 714 in 2000 census

            $506,048 / 714 = $708.75 “per person”  Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH)

2006 Community Connect - $454,558 - “Connect Ewing” VA – CDP population 436 in 2000 census

            $454,558 / 436 = $1,042.56 “per person”  Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH)

2007 Community Connect - $594,400 - “Connect St. Charles” VA – Town population 159 in 2000 census

            $594,400 / 159 = $3,738.36 “per person”  Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH)

2008 Community Connect - $759,600 - “Connect Blackwater” VA – population 90 in Rand McNally

            $759,600 / 90 = $8,440.00 “per person”  Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH)

2008 Community Connect - $855,000 - “Connect Tannersville” VA – population 100 in Rand McNally

            $855,000 / 100 = $8,550.00 “per person”   Wireless

2009 Community Connect - $997,015 – “Connect Hurley” VA – population 600 in Rand McNally

            $997,015 / 600 = $1,661.69 “per person”  Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC)

2010 ARRA BIP -$829,813 – “Connect Eolia, Oven Fork and Partridge” KY

Eolia 300 + Oven Fork 170 + Partridge 50 = total population 520 in Rand McNally

$829,813 / 520 = $1,595.79 “per person”  Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC)

            

2011 Community Connect - $993,339 – “Connect Endicott” KY – population 50 in Rand McNally

            $993,339 / 50 = $19,866.78 “per person”  Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC)

2012 Community Connect - $1,059,704 – “Connect McCombs” KY – population 15 in Rand McNally

            $1,059,704 / 15 = $70,646.93 “per person”  Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC)

In Appalachian Resources, LLC rural broadband deployment projects funded, achievements include:

~ The 2005 “Connect Rose Hill” project provided the lowest grant award “per person” cost for Fiber-to-the-Home service of all USDA Community Connect grants awarded during 2005 – 2012 across the nation. 

~ The 2005 "Connect Rose Hill" project was nationally featured in Science Progress at http://scienceprogress.org/2008/03/broadband-done-right/ and The Washington Post at 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/22/AR2009042203637.html.

~ The "Connect Rose Hill" and "Connect Ewing" projects were featured as a Success Story by USDA "Exciting Fact: Rolling out service at 5 Mb!!"  (see page 7 at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/ca/pdf%20files%20and%20documents/Broadband%20PPt/A.%20ClemsenCC%20Overview(4).pdf )

~ The 2009 “Connect Hurley” project received the highest USDA Community Connect grant award in the nation that year. 

~ The 2012 “Connect McCombs” project received the highest “per person” USDA Community Connect grant award in the nation since at least 2005.

Appalachian Resources, LLC clients served include:

Appalachian College of Pharmacy (Oakwood, VA)

Appalachian Dulcimer Revival (Rose Hill, VA)

Appalachian School of Law (Grundy, VA)

Appalachian Sustainable Development (Abingdon, VA)

Bristol Faith in Action (Bristol, VA)

Clinch Coalition (Dungannon, VA)

Coalfield Water Development Fund (Big Stone Gap, VA)

Coalition for Jobs and the Environment (Abingdon, VA)

Committee for the Improvement of Dickenson County (Clintwood, VA)

Emory & Henry College (Emory, VA)

French Broad Electric Membership Corporation (Marshall, NC)

Holston Associated Libraries (Emory, VA)

Inter Mountain Cable, Inc. (Harold, KY)

King College (Bristol, TN)

Lee County Economic Development/Tourism Authority (Jonesville, VA)

Lenowisco Planning District Commission/Lenowisco, Inc. I (Duffield, VA)

Literary Initiative for Appalachia (Jonesborough, TN)

Lonesome Pine Arts & Crafts (Big Stone Gap, VA)

Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation (Winston-Salem, NC)

Mikrotec CATV, LLC (Harold, KY)

New Beginnings Southwest Virginia (Dryden, VA)

Pioneer Center for Business Opportunity (Duffield, VA)

Pro-Art Association (Wise, VA)

Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center (Abingdon, VA)

Sunset Digital Communications (Duffield, VA)

Synergy Biofuels, LLC (Pennington Gap, VA)

Tazewell County (Tazewell, VA)

Town of Jonesville (Jonesville, VA)

Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA)

Virginia Microenterprise Network (Richmond, VA)

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg, VA)

Washington County Public Library (Abingdon, VA)

Grants secured for Appalachian Resources, LLC clients (57 grants for 16 clients, totaling $ 14,245,502):

Appalachian College of Pharmacy (Oakwood, VA) – a new rural higher education institution

Appalachian Regional Commission - $50,000 (2004 planning grant)

Richard and Caroline T. Gwathmey Memorial Trust - $20,000 (2004 planning grant)

Virginia Tobacco Commission Education Fund - $87,500 (2004 planning grant)

Virginia Center for Innovative Technology - $10,000 (2004 initial website)

Virginia Center for Innovative Technology - $7,500 (2005 technology tools)

Verizon Foundation - $8,000 (2005 technology tools)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - $491,032 (2005 laboratory equipment)

Thompson Charitable Foundation - $1,000,000 (2005 Oakwood campus building)

Appalachian Sustainable Development (Abingdon, VA) – sustainable farms and forest

Virginia Tobacco Commission Economic Development Fund – $50,000 (2001 organic markets)

F.B. Heron Foundation - $15,000 (2002 operations – farm and forest)

Virginia Tobacco Commission Economic Development Fund – $48,000 (2003 value added farm products)

Appalachian Regional Commission Entrepreneurship Initiative - $29,200 (2003 eco-friendly forest products)

Bristol Faith in Action (Bristol, VA) – basic needs assistance

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Domestic Hunger Fund - $2,000 (2004 operations)

Presbyterian Women Thank Offering - $14,000 (2005 operations)

Coalfield Water Development Fund (Big Stone Gap, VA) – public water for small coalfield communities

Marietta McNeill Morgan and Samuel Tate Morgan, Jr. Foundation - $16,050 (2006 water projects)

Richard and Caroline T. Gwathmey Memorial Trust - $15,000 (2008 water projects)

Coalition for Jobs and the Environment (Abingdon, VA) operations 2000 – 2002, promoted “green” jobs

Unitarian Universalist Fund for a Just Society - $7,500

Common Counsel Grantee Exchange Fund - $500

Commission on Religion in Appalachia - $4,272

Appalachian Community Fund - $6,270

Canaan Valley Institute - $3,000

Beirne Carter Foundation - $3,000

Ben & Jerry’s Foundation - $5,000

Funding Exchange - $3,000

Acorn Foundation - $6,000

Captain Planet Foundation - $1,598

Committee for the Improvement of Dickenson County (Clintwood, VA) - operations & training 2000 – 2004 disabled coal miners caused public agencies to cap abandoned mines that threatened the public water supply    

Appalachian Community Fund - $5,800

Catholic Campaign for Human Development - $6,375

Presbyterian Fund for the Self Development of People - $52,500

Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation - $24,000

Inter Mountain Cable, Inc./Mikrotec CATV LLC (Harold, KY) - rural broadband deployment

U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 2009 Community Connect - $997,015 – “Connect Hurley” VA

ARRA 2010 USDA Broadband Initiatives Program -$829,813 – Eolia, Oven Fork and Partridge, KY             

U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 2011 Community Connect - $993,339 – “Connect Endicott” KY

U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 2012 Community Connect - $1,059,704 – “Connect McCombs” KY

Lenowisco I Inc./Lenowisco Planning District Commission (Duffield, VA) - rural broadband deployment

U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 2005 Community Connect - $506,048 - “Connect Rose Hill” VA

U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 2006 Community Connect - $454,558 - “Connect Ewing” VA

U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 2007 Community Connect - $594,400 - “Connect St. Charles” VA

U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 2008 Community Connect - $759,600 - “Connect Blackwater” VA

New Beginnings Southwest Virginia (Dryden, VA) – operated a rural residential addiction treatment facility

Appalachian Regional Commission - $50,000 (2004 planning and start-up)

Richard and Caroline T. Gwathmey Memorial Trust - $20,000 (2004 kitchen equipment and facility furnishings)

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Domestic Hunger Fund - $2,000 (2005 operations)

Richard and Caroline T. Gwathmey Memorial Trust - $15,000 (2007 staffing for facility expansion)

Marietta McNeill Morgan and Samuel Tate Morgan, Jr. Foundation - $25,000 (2008 facility expansion)

Pioneer Center for Business Opportunity (Duffield, VA) – rural business incubator facility and services

Appalachian Regional Commission Entrepreneurship Initiative - $20,000 (2003 education)

Pro-Art Association (Wise, VA) – diverse musical performances in small town coalfield locations

Virginia Tobacco Commission Economic Development Fund - $50,000 (2006 sound and lighting equipment)

Rural Area Development Association (Gate City, VA) - fiscal sponsor/community action agency/tourism

Richard and Caroline T. Gwathmey Memorial Trust - $8,000 (2006 “Bluegrass in the Park” concert series)

Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center (Abingdon, VA) – higher education and energy research

Appalachian Regional Commission Telecommunications Initiative - $30,000 (2003 webcasting equipment)

Virginia Tobacco Commission Education Fund - $1,400,000 (2008 building expansion)

Appalachian Regional Commission - $450,000 (2008 building expansion)

Virginia Tobacco Commission Special Projects - $400,000 (2008 energy research center plans)

Tazewell County (Tazewell, VA) - rural broadband deployment

U. S. Department of Agriculture 2008 Community Connect - $855,000 - “Connect Tannersville” VA

Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Nurse Anesthesia (Richmond, VA) – train nurses to fill rural nurse anesthetists positions through local recruitment, satellite campuses, and classroom/lab technology

Virginia Tobacco Commission - $128,000 (2004 Abingdon campus start-up)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - $ 516,552 (2005 – 2007 Abingdon campus)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - $ 712,376 (2009 – 2011 Roanoke campus)

Appalachian Regional Commission - $65,000 (2013 Abingdon campus enhancements)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - $ 730,000 (2013 – 2015 program enhancements)

Washington County Public Library (Abingdon, VA) - innovative library branch/tourism center 

Virginia Dept. of Transportation Enhancement Program - $ 582,000 (2009 Damascus branch/tourism) 

Connect America Summit Agenda

Connect America Summit

April 10, 2014 – Pioneer Center in Duffield VA

AGENDA

10:00AM – 10:20AM   Introduction and Overview – Connect America Phase II

10:20AM – 11:20AM  Three Case Studies – Connect America Phase II

Case Study # 1 - “digital state of Cumberland” – 9 counties in 3 states (Lee, Scott, and Wise Counties in Virginia; Claiborne, Hancock and Hawkins Counties in Tennessee; Bell, Harlan and Letcher Counties in Kentucky)

Case Study # 2 – Cumberland Plateau Planning District – 4 counties in 1 state (Russell, Tazewell, Dickenson and Buchanan in Virginia)

Case Study # 3 – Madison County, North Carolina

11:20AM – 11:40AM  Brief overview of FCC information, FCC maps, Census maps, and other websites offering more information about Connect America Phase II

11:40AM – 11:50AM  Rural broadband experiments – The national dialogue happening now!

11:50AM – NOON  Plans for Connect America Summit II – Thursday, May 8, 2014 

Where Virginia's Rural Broadband Deployment Began

Connect America Summit Location – The Pioneer Center in Duffield, Virginia

Virginia’s federally-funded rural broadband deployment experiments began in Duffield in 2002 in the inaugural round of the USDA Community Connect grant program.  According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the population of Duffield was 62. 

Powell Mountain Overlook Near Duffield, Virginia

The grant award project summary provided at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/SupportDocuments/UTP-CCProjectSummaries2002.pdf reported, “The Pioneer Center for Business Opportunity, a local business incubator will serve as the community center that will be utilized to provide education and training in the use of the Internet and web browsers, community boards, directories, through the use of short-courses, seminars and coordination with other teaching institutions in the region. This project proposes to use the existing Duffield central office to mount all of the electronic multiplexer equipment to provide a direct “fiber to the premise” solution that uses two buried fibers to each location to provide all of the communications services. Scott County will provide 100mbit Ethernet fiber optic connection to each household, business and institution within the project service area that signs up for the service.”

Now, in 2014, as the FCC has launched the Connect America Phase II national dialogue and rural broadband experiments funding, the Pioneer Center for Business Opportunity in Duffield, which began offering rural fiber-to-the-premise in 2002, offers an ideal location for hosting the Connect America Summits in 2014.  Welcome to Duffield, where Virginia’s rural broadband deployment experiments began!

For more information about the Connect America Summit, 

visit www.connectamerica.blogspot.com 

email Joan Minor at joan@appalachianresources.com

or call Joan Minor at (276) 445-4600.

Connect America Summit on April 10, 2014

Appalachian Resources, LLC presents the 

Connect America Summit 

on Thursday, April 10, 2014 from 10:00 am to noon 

in the Pioneer Center at 225 Boone Trail Road in Duffield, Virginia.  

The Connect America Summit will provide information about Connect America Phase II, a new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) grant program for "Next Generation Network Experiments in Rural America."  Connect America Phase II funding will be available to deploy high-speed, scalable, IP-based networks in rural, high-cost areas.  The FCC will solicit proposals for Connect America Phase II funding from entities seeking either one-time support or recurring support.  Support may be provided for up to ten years.  The FCC encourages proposals from a wide range of entities and consortia of entities, including state and regional authorities, competitive local exchange carriers, incumbent local exchange carriers, fixed and mobile wireless providers, wireless Internet services providers, and utilities.

Learn more about Connect America Phase II funding, geographic areas eligible for support, and upcoming grant application process at the Connect America Summit.  

Seating is limited.  Registration is required.  The registration fee is $89 per person.  Email joan@appalachianresources.com or call (276) 445-4600 to register.

For more information visit www.connectamerica.blogspot.com.

Connect America Summit site - The Pioneer Center for Business Opportunity