rural Alabama

Governor Kay Ivey has awarded nearly $42 million for “last-mile” high-speed internet projects in 23 Alabama counties. The latest Capital Projects Fund grants will cover 2,347 miles and provide broadband availability to more than 15,000 households, businesses and community anchor institutions that currently do not have access to high-speed internet.

Public health experts from some of the nation's leading research universities have deployed a massive medical trailer to rural parts of the South as part of an ambitious and unusual new health study. The researchers aim to test the heart and lung function of rural residents of Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The University of Alabama has joined the STARS College Network, a coalition of 32 of the nation’s most prominent institutions. These are outlets dedicated to ensuring that students from rural and small-town communities have the resources they need to be successful throughout their college journey.

Governor Kay Ivey is announcing she has awarded nearly $53.5 million to continue the expansion of high-speed internet service in Alabama. The grant will help develop the second phase of the state’s “middle-mile” broadband network deployment to 24 counties in the state.

Inefficiencies in broadband service have persisted for underserved communities, like HBCUs and their neighboring areas, since before the Covid-19 pandemic. But the shutdown highlighted both the importance of and disparities surrounding affordable and accessible high-speed internet access for vulnerable populations.Although $18.4 million dollars have been designated to expand broadband services at HBCUs in the state of Alabama, it will take until the end of the decade to see sustained progress.In this season finale of Crunk Culture, Robin Boylorn highlights why closing the digital gap is necessary now rather than later.

This week on Crunk Culture, Robin Boylorn breaks down food deserts - what they are, the communities most affected by them and some of their lasting effects - and she offers some right-now remedies to improve equitable food access for the people that need it the most.

LIVINGSTON, Ala. (AP) — A $2.5 million federal grant will help develop new workers with a goal of expanding economic development in rural west Alabama.The…

Artist Chris Cumbie shaped his nontraditional, artistic style in rural Alabama. From a young age, his grandfather taught him how to use what was around…