Revitalized Downtowns, Greenspace Projects and Community Centers: T-Mobile Presents 25 Hometown Grants to Help Small Towns Thrive

 In April 2021,T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) announced T-Mobile Hometown Grants, a $25 million, five-year initiative to support the people and organizations that help small towns across America thrive and grow. Since the program’s start, T-Mobile has given more than $4.4 million dollars to kickstart 100 community development projects across 36 states, including the latest grant winning recipients. Pretty cool, isn’t it?

Revitalized Downtowns, Greenspace Projects and Community Centers: T-Mobile Presents 25 Hometown Grants to Help Small Towns Thrive (Graphic: Business Wire)

Here are the next 25 Hometown Grant winners and their projects:

• South Lake Tahoe, Calif.: Envision Ski Run Park. A community-led project to create a brand-new gathering place for kids and families that will feature an iconic play structure, a climbing boulder, a plaza, mural wall, and a large community table.
• Adel, Iowa: Beautify Pedal Plaza, including seating, shade structures, landscaping and a musical flower art installment to promote community walkability and gathering.
• Lansing, Iowa: Redevelop the Lansing Community Plaza in the historic Downtown District, to include a mural, canopy, landscaping, lighting, benches and new cement surfaces.
• Marshalltown, Iowa: Reconstruct downtown State Street, including enhancements to landscaping and safety and accessibility infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists, damaged after the 2018 EF-3 tornado disaster.
• Hutchinson, Kan.: Renovate the Hutchinson Zoo with the addition of a Nature Play themed playground, including a splash river and greenspace to provide a dedicated and inclusive play space for children of all abilities.
• Columbia, Ky.: Build a multi-use arena on the Adair County Fairgrounds to host community and student 4-H agricultural education events.
• West Point, Ky.: Renovate Veterans Park Pavilion along the Ohio River to help revive and increase tourism in the historic district area.
• Chelsea, Mich.: Transform the brick-and-mortar Chelsea District Library with the addition of the “Mobile CDL” – a library on wheels, that will not only deliver books, but be outfitted with connectivity devices, programs, mobile office solutions, and Wi-Fi to increase accessibility to technology resources within the community.
• Oxford, Mich.: Support the refinishing of the back section of one of the four quadrants of the Oxford downtown area and provide additional activities to the area.
• Howard Lake, Minn.: Construct a community library facility to provide vital connectivity resources such as public-use computers and Wi-Fi, tele-commuter conference room and a soft interview space for the local police department.
• Nixa, Mo.: Expand the John Thomas School of Discovery Gardens program, to include a vertical aeroponic gardening system, providing sustainability and entrepreneurial agriculture education to youth and produce resources to the local food pantry.
• Poplar Bluff, Mo.: Construct the Wolf Creek Connector Trail, a trail connecting the Wolf Creek Trail, Shelby Road Trail, and the Mark Twain National Forest, creating safe and accessible infrastructure for residents to enjoy outdoor activities.
• Minden, Nev.: Transform the historic Copeland Lumber building into an Arts Center to include an art gallery, performance venue and artisan store to strengthen arts and culture within the community.
• Salem, Ohio.: Revitalize and beautify McCulloch Park to attract downtown visitors and provide a space for community gathering and events.
• Altus, Okla.: Provide a multipurpose facility for Dream Big Project Management mentor program, which will include connectivity resources and a training space for youth and young adult development.
• Oil City, Pa.: Revitalize the 5^th floor of the historic 100 Seneca at Cornplanter Square with a co-working and maker space, outfitted with technology and artist equipment such as large format and 3-D printers, sewing machines and more to support an entrepreneurial business innovation center.
• Lock Haven, Pa.: Transform Fallon Alley to promote walkability, support local businesses with a digital kiosk and provide a solar phone charging station for needed connectivity.
• Abbeville, S.C.: Renovate the Abbeville Civic Center to use as a multi-faceted community space, making ADA accessible upgrades for the entire community to enjoy.
• Lawrenceburg, Tenn.: Modernize the Lawrence County Senior Center with structural and ADA accessibility upgrades to continue to serve the community with meals, programs and more.
• Mooresburg, Tenn.: Relocate Mooresburg Community Association (MCA) and its Community Center to a more accessible and safer location, making needed structural and ADA accessibility renovations to enable MCA to continue to provide social connections, healthy meals and other critical services to older and disabled residents in the community.
• Falfurrias, Texas: Build “The Quarter” – the area’s first community park – complete with food truck accessibility, public seating and a stage for local musicians to foster local connections and increase community vibrance.
• Staunton, Va.: Expand Staunton Community Garden Park, a vibrant garden oasis that serves as an affordable food source and recreation area for locals.
• College Place, Wash.: Complete Lions Park renovation – a vital hub for the community – to include new electrical and lighting throughout the grounds.
• Newport, Wash.: Revitalize the Pend Oreille Playhouse community theater, with upgrades to the box office, signage and HVAC system.
• Waupaca, Wis.: Launch “The Lawn,” a creative greenspace project in the heart of downtown to be used for events and community gathering.

“With one year since T-Mobile launched Hometown Grants, I continue to be amazed by the extraordinary projects that small towns are creating with our support,” said Jon Freier, President, Consumer Group at T-Mobile. “As the Un-carrier, I am proud of our deep commitment to investing in communities across the country, and I’m excited to see what this next round of winners will accomplish.”

Hometown Grants are provided every quarter to up to 25 towns. Every small town with a population of less than 50,000 people with a vision for how to make their community even stronger than it is today are eligible and encouraged to apply.

To select Hometown Grant recipients, T-Mobile works with Main Street America and Smart Growth America, two organizations that have decades of experience helping to build stronger, more prosperous small towns and rural communities. Together, the organizations assess applications based on level of detail and completeness, potential community impact, project viability and other factors.

“The T-Mobile Hometown Grants provided to these communities represent a commitment to investing in historic assets, community gathering places, and the expansion of facilities and technologies for residents,” said Smart Growth America’s President and CEO Calvin Gladney. “Smart Growth America applauds these efforts as we continue to support scores of towns and cities in rural places.”

“We’re proud to work with T-Mobile and Smart Growth America to support these innovative projects in rural communities across the country,” said Main Street America’s President and CEO Patrice Frey. “These grant recipients represent the creativity and passion for place we’ve long seen in Main Street communities, and we are excited to see how the projects positively impact these areas in the coming years.”

Commitment to Rural America

Hometown Grants are part of the Un-carrier’s massive 5-year commitment announced in April 2021 to bring 5G to rural America, open hundreds of new stores and support economic development in small towns by providing $25 million in funding.

In addition, the Un-carrier unleashed T-Mobile Home Internet, wireless home broadband available to more than 40 million households – including more than 13 million households in rural areas – across the country. Just last month, T-Mobile unveiled Internet Freedom, tackling pain points that have plagued the broadband industry for years. T-Mobile is making it easier for broadband customers to break up with Big Internet, lock in their price with massive savings, and feel appreciated with great deals every Tuesday.

It’s all part of T-Mobile’s goal to ensure that all Americans — from big cities to small towns and rural communities across the U.S. — have access to all the latest products, services and technology.

For full details on how to submit a proposal for Hometown Grants, visit https://www.t-mobile.com/brand/hometown-grants.

For more information on past Hometown Grant recipients, visit the T-Mobile Newsroom here, here and here.

For more information about T-Mobile’s commitment to small towns, visit T-Mobile.com/AcrossAmerica.

Follow T-Mobile’s Official Twitter Newsroom @TMobileNews to stay up to date with the latest company news.

About T-Mobile

T-Mobile U.S. Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) is America’s supercharged Un-carrier, delivering an advanced 4G LTE and transformative nationwide 5G network that will offer reliable connectivity for all. T-Mobile’s customers benefit from its unmatched combination of value and quality, unwavering obsession with offering them the best possible service experience and undisputable drive for disruption that creates competition and innovation in wireless and beyond. Based in Bellevue, Wash., T-Mobile provides services through its subsidiaries and operates its flagship brands, T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile and Sprint. For more information please visit: https://www.t-mobile.com.

About Main Street America

Main Street America has been helping revitalize older and historic commercial districts for over 40 years. Today, it is a network of more than 1,200 neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, who share both a commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development. Since 1980, communities participating in the program have leveraged more than $89.57 billion in new public and private investment, generated 687,321 net new jobs and 154,435 net new businesses, and rehabilitated more than 303,836 buildings. Main Street America is a program of the nonprofit National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. For more information, visit www.mainstreet.org.

About Smart Growth America

Smart Growth America envisions a country where no matter where you live, or who you are, you can enjoy living in a place that is healthy, prosperous, and resilient. We empower communities through technical assistance, advocacy, and thought leadership to realize our vision of livable places, healthy people, and shared prosperity. https://smartgrowthamerica.org/.