CLINTON — Donald LaVoy, lives in Alexandria, Virginia, a few miles away from Washington, D.C., but owns a house in Reedville, Virginia, a small fishing village home to 800 people.

During a Wednesday visit to the Star Communications Distribution Center in Clinton, the U.S. Department of Agriculture deputy under secretary for Rural Development spoke about the problems rural areas face when it comes to technology infrastructure.

“You can get one bar on your phone if you’re real still and hold that bad boy just like this,” LaVoy said while pretending to have a cellphone in his hand. “Many of you can relate. Broadband has now come to Reedville and the difference is remarkable. We have two new businesses that have shown up. We have people connecting like they never have been before. Fiber optic cable has arrived and people are excited. The best of both worlds — a small town connected to the world, just like Clinton.”

Along with Star Communications and USDA officials, LaVoy is looking forward to more residents of Sampson and Bladen counties streaming television or participating in distance learning program. LaVoy announced the USDA has invested $23.7 million in high-speed broadband infrastructure to improve rural “e-Connectivity” for more than 8,700 homes.

It’s one of many funding announcements for the first round of the USDA’s ReConnect Pilot Program.

Jeff Shipp, vice president of operations for Star, said the first projects will take place in the Herring exchange in the northern region of Sampson County, which also loops around the middle portion of Sampson County. The second is the Six Runs area part of county toward Turkey and the third is Harrells, in the southern region.

Other projects are scheduled for Bladen County as well.

According to a USDA news release, Star will use the ReConnect Program grant funding to deploy a fiber-to-the-home broadband network capable of simultaneous transmission rates of 100 megabits per second or greater. The funded service area includes 8,749 households, 19 businesses, 10 educational facilities, and three critical community facilities. Insufficient service is defined as connection speeds of less than 10 mbps download and 1 mbps upload.

Robert Hosford, the state director with the USDA, said the project is the largest grant award from USDA in 2019. He said it’s not only significant for the businesses, but for the thousands of homes the project is going to reach, along with many other places.

“We’re touching this whole community,” Hosford said.

He lives in Raleigh and grew up in a rural setting.

“When my daughter is in downtown Raleigh doing her homework, competing with a kid in Sampson or Bladen County that has to go to a fast food joint to get his or her homework done or their research done, that’s an inequality,” he said. “We’re hoping to bridge that gap with this type of project.”

He added that it could assist with efforts to make agriculture a $100 billion industry in North Carolina, which is at $94 billion now. Some of those efforts are precision agriculture though satellite farming, drones and uploading information in the field.

U.S. Rep. David Rouzer, who represents a portion of Bladen County, was in attendance.

“Quite frankly, if you don’t have that infrastructure and you don’t have that connectivity, it’s very difficult to operate in the 21st century in a global economy,” Rouzer said. “That’s just the fact of the matter. It’s very difficult to attract young people back to the rural communities, even if they’re from a rural community if you don’t have good connectivity.”

Rouzer said this comes with difficulties for businesses, dental practices, and community colleges if they don’t have quality access to the internet.

Chase Jordan | The Sampson Independent
Donald LaVoy (left) and U.S. Rep. David Rouzer discuss the USDA grant that will improve broadband service in Sampson and Bladen counties.
https://www.bladenjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_BB_5.jpgChase Jordan | The Sampson Independent
Donald LaVoy (left) and U.S. Rep. David Rouzer discuss the USDA grant that will improve broadband service in Sampson and Bladen counties.

Sampson Independent