Ensuring Broadband Grant Success

The agency I lead, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) is the major grant-making entity for our state. ADECA is at the eight-year mark of implementing massive broadband grant programs—innovative in their scale and complexity—to address rural broadband gaps and create new economic opportunities. These programs are delivering value not only for unserved homes and businesses, but also for institutions such as universities, public safety agencies, rural hospitals, and other critical parts of the broader economic and community fabric in the state of Alabama. Even before the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, ADECA managed many hundreds of millions of dollars in broadband grants through a portfolio of programs using both state and federal funds and supporting both middle- and last-mile connectivity. For the programs that use federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, we in Alabama (and all the other states) face immovable and onerous time constraints. Grantees must complete construction and activate the networks well before the end of December 2026 to ensure that none of the funding is at risk of being returned to the U.S. Treasury rather than building broadband in Alabama.