RAHALL REPORT: New Tech Program will Help ‘Connect the Third’
From the desk of U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV)Representing West Virginia's 3rd District
Washington, D.C. (HNN) -- It's always good to ring in the New Year on the upswing and we have hit a real high note in southern West Virginia. Last week, I joined community leaders in Beckley and Bluefield to launch a new program that I believe will be a gift that will keep on giving in 2006 and well beyond.
The new Connected Technology Corridors program will provide a major thrust to bring broadband service to the rural areas of our region which are ripe for residential development and associated commercial and economic development. It will, quite literally, help connect the Third District.
For the past few years we have worked together to strengthen telecommunications infrastructure and create tech jobs under what we have referred to as The High Technology Corridors Program, a loose confederation of committed organizations and local leaders who live, breathe and eat economic development in southern West Virginia. It has been an honor for me to promote and support this regional effort. But now we are ready in southern West Virginia to take this initiative to the next level.
We have to look no further than our own back yards to see what others are just now realizing, that we have always happily known- that living in West Virginia is truly almost heaven.
Look at the ridgetops of The Greenbrier, the gentle hills of Glade Springs or the premier future development with Wolf Creek Park. People are coming, seeing, and staying. Whether it's new residents ,or old residents returning, growth is occurring.
Many of the pristine ridges of our rural areas will-in the coming year and years to follow-be home to new neighborhoods which will demand services-chiefly among them will be access to broadband service.
We have to be ready. So in the next decade we should mutually pledge to extend service to every possible corner of this Congressional District. The Connected Technologies Corridors program will provide a platform for existing and new technological businesses in the 11 counties of southeastern West Virginia to gain access to high-speed (broadband) Internet service, entrepreneurial training/support, and marketing services.
I commend all of those who have recognized this mission, and who helped make the Connected Technology Corridors Program a reality. A $95,000 grant to the Connected Technologies Corridors Program from the Benedum Foundation over the next two years will assist with the start-up and organizational development of CTC.
And the private sector, as it does so often, has also stepped up to the plate to help make CTC a reality. Frontier Communications has committed $10,000 toward the establishment of CTC and Verizon West Virginia has committed $15,000. Both of these companies continue to work with state and local leaders to address the telecommunications needs of southern West Virginia and we are grateful for their support.
CTC will help us prepare for the future of southern West Virginia. The coming year is one of potential and promise. Together, with programs like CTC, we will connect the Third. And together, we will keep doing better.