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By Jennifer McDaniels

For the Enterprise

A significant announcement concerning expanded high-speed internet access in Harlan County was made at the Harlan County Courthouse Monday by visiting higher-ups with The Center For Rural Development. Eighty thousand dollars in grant funds made possible by The Center For Rural Development, based out of Somerset, was officially awarded to the court for a project to improve broadband connectivity in the Cloverlick community near Cumberland.

Harlan County Judge Executive Dan Mosley described Monday as an exciting day because the grant funding will not only allow the residents of Cloverlick, which has traditionally been an underserved area.

“It’s huge,” Mosley said. “I would be remiss if I didn’t say that our people really helped sell the case not only for a project like this with The Center For Rural Development but also with the Appalachian Regional Commission’s Power Plus project because the Center conducted and ran a speed test they oversaw statewide, and Harlan County per capita had the second highest participation rate in the state. When you have that many people showing what their speeds truly are at home by participating in this feasibility test, then that makes it a lot better for us to be able to make the case why investments in broadband are needed.”

  As many as 125 residents in Cloverlick will have the opportunity to connect to improved broadband once the expansion project is completed, which is projected to be in the next three to four months. Mosley said he was appreciative of the investment that was being made by The Center For Rural Development and credited their vision in propelling not only Harlan County but all of southeast Kentucky into the modern age.

“High-speed internet is something that is so needed in areas of our county for people who are either unserved or underserved,” Mosley said. “And this particular community, folks literally have been relying on what we classify as dialup internet to be able to do for their jobs or for their children to learn remotely.”

Mosley referred to broadband connectivity upgrades in his county as “a game changer,” because bringing technological advancements to the area will bolster economic opportunities that have long been hindered by rough terrain.

“From a transportation and infrastructure perspective, it’s hard to get to our area,” Mosley said. “It’s a challenge when it comes to certain forms of economic development, but with this form of economic development, broadband can create jobs around that. This levels the playing field. You don’t have to live in New York City, you don’t have to live in California, you can live right here in southeast Kentucky and do your job and not have to live with the problems that exist of crime and of transportation. I had one person to tell me they didn’t have to get on a subway with a million people to go to work. They said as long as they’ve got Internet, they can do their job right from home. We’re seeing a lot of that, now. People are getting out of these urban areas and are wanting to come to rural Kentucky.”

Lonnie Lawson, the president and CEO of The Center For Rural Development said making broadband upgrades throughout southeast Kentucky had been a driving force of The Center recently because of how critical the need was for the people of the region who have long been underserved.

He said the need for high-speed internet access became known during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“All the devices in the world doesn’t matter if you don’t have connectivity,” Lawson said. “It’s been eye-opening for the communities because prior to COVID, most folk were saying, ‘I don’t need to get on Facebook’ or ‘I don’t need to stream movies.’  That’s what they thought the Internet was for. They found out during COVID how critical it is to every facet of our lives. We are connected in just about every facet of our lives. It’s just like how electricity was many, many, years ago. It has become that critical throughout our communities.”

Improved broadband connectivity in Cloverlick is through the Center’s Move The Needle grant project.

The Move The Center created the Needle program to help identify areas of southeast Kentucky where broadband is needed the most. The Cloverlick project will include the installation of fiber optic cable along an approximately six-mile stretch of roadway in the community.

“With projects like this, The Center is continuing our ongoing efforts to bridge the digital divide and help expand access in high-speed broadband in southern and eastern Kentucky,” Lawson said. “By addressing broadband connectivity challenges in remote, rural areas just like Cloverlick in Harlan County, we are ensuring all of our residents can access the Internet for essential services. We look forward to working with other communities across the region just like Cloverlick.”

The grant for Cloverlick awarded was made possible by the efforts of 5th District Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers through Appalachian Regional Commission funding and the Kentucky Department Of Local Government. Lawson told those in attendance at the courthouse on Monday that Rogers had been behind broadband upgrades in southeast Kentucky “100 percent” and that he had worked tirelessly to secure the millions that were needed for the significant, historic undertaking. Rogers was unable to attend the announcement and check presentation in Harlan but did reach out to the media, saying he was thrilled for the folks of Cloverlick, as well as the entire county and region.

“The future of southern and eastern Kentucky is brighter every day as we continue to expand access to affordable high-performance broadband in the mountains, creating new opportunities for our families, businesses and students across the region,” Rogers said. “I’m thrilled that Judge Mosley and The Center for Rural Development have partnered together to ensure that the Cloverlick community has access to broadband, which could improve education, healthcare and economic development in the area. I applaud The Center for Rural Development for leading the way for rural broadband expansion in Kentucky’s Appalachian region and the critical investments they are making alongside the Appalachian Regional Commission and state leaders.”

Both Lawson and Mosley said broadband expansion projects like the one in Cloverlick were being made possible because of the intensive KentuckyWired initiative, a state-run endeavor constructing over 3,000 miles of high-speed, high-capacity fiber optic cable in every county in the commonwealth.

The KentuckyWired network is a “middle mile” project connecting government offices, universities, community colleges, state police posts, state parks, and other government institutions to the global Internet. Anywhere along its path, internet service providers will be able to connect to the network and bring faster, more reliable Internet to every corner of the commonwealth. Mosley said the KentuckyWired initiative laid the groundwork for internet providers, like Access Cable, which was awarded the Cloverlick bid, to be able to make expansion possible.

KentuckyWired has also made possible a much bigger broadband expansion project in Harlan County that was awarded through the Appalachian Regional Commission. While this project is currently getting some legal kinks worked out on the federal level, it will eventually bring high-speed internet service to the Pine Mountain xorridor in Harlan County, as well as to the communities of Smith and Clover Fork from Evarts to Holmes Mill.

While the Cloverlick Move The Needle broadband grant is just the start of significant expansion in Harlan County, the community’s magistrate said he was grateful it was all starting in a much-deserved and for too long underserved area of the county.

Harlan County District 3 Magistrate Paul Browning spoke at Monday’s announcement and check presentation at the courthouse, telling those in attendance that broadband availability in Cloverlick was going to be life-changing for its residents. Browning also touched on how efficient internet service in Cloverlick would also help in emergency situations.

“What you also gain with this is not only the access – the ability to just better your life day in and day out – but from an emergency standpoint, many times the phones do not work. They have no way of contacting myself, the judge, our Emergency Management Director David McGill, or anyone else. Fire response, flood response, snow – just basic things – water outages. They will have to drive down and navigate through a very rural area, an isolated area, to get to town to have the ability to communicate. So, this is really going to make a difference…this could truly save lives and certainly improve lives across this pocket of Harlan County.”

For more information about the Cloverlick Broadband expansion or other Move The Needle projects, contact The Center For Rural Development at (606) 677-6000.