Foundation for Rural Service Announces $50,000 in Grants for Rural America; Womble Bond Dickinson a Supporter of FRS Grant Program

WASHINGTON, DC—The Foundation for Rural Service (FRS) is making rural communities stronger, with help from Womble Bond Dickinson.

FRS has announced that it is awarding $50,000 in grants to rural communities in 2018. The FRS Grant Program supports local efforts to build and sustain a high quality of life in rural America. Grants can reach up to a total of $5,000, projects varying but concentrated in four major areas including business and economic development, community development, education, and telecommunications.

The 2018 grant recipients are:

• 5 Loaves Food Pantry (Twin Lakes, Tenn.)
• Clifton Community Library (Cranberry Lake, NY)
• Face to Face Recovery (Jesup, Ga.)
• Family Resource Center (Luc De Flambeau, Wis.)
• Gervais High School (Gervais, Ore.)
• Greater West Central Public Library District (Augusta, Ill.)
• Mercer County Ambulance Service (Hazen, ND)
• Moundridge Public Library (Moundridge, Kan.)
• Oakhurst Community College Outreach Center (OCCC) (Oakhurst, Calif.)
• Owsley County Action Team (Booneville, Ky.)
• Screven County Community Collaborative, Inc. (Sylvania, Ga.)
• Toole County Health Foundation (Marias Medical Center) (Shelby, Mont.)

The grants will help fund a range of projects ranging from a “Learning on Wheels” tech bus to buying computers for a rural community library to training rural residents for telework careers.

Attorney Carri Bennet leads Womble Bond Dickinson’s participation in the FRS Grants Program. The firm contributed $10,000 to the program this year. In an effort to do more, earlier this year, the firm launched Grow the Grants, an initiative to raise additional funds for the FRS Grants Program through the Communication, Technology and Media Team’s Informational Memo eSubscription.

Carri Bennet has more than three decades of experience representing wireline, wireless and broadband communications providers, as well as commercial and noncommercial broadcasters, in regulatory compliance matters. She has a particular focus on advocating for small rural carriers, including serving as General Counsel to the Rural Wireless Association. Bennet represents telecom industry clients before the FCC, state regulatory agencies, the courts, and Congress.