San Luis Valley gets nearly $2 million to expand internet access for rural Coloradans

SAN LUIS VALLEY, Colo. (KRDO) -- The San Luis Valley Rural Electric Cooperative received $1,998,448 as part of the USDA Rural Development's ReConnect program. The money will go towards connecting 129 families, a public school, and 20 farms to high-speed internet.

The company started installing fiber-optic-based internet in rural areas in 2014, but the process is costly, which is why SLVREC CEO Loren Howard says the grant is huge for their work.

“In a very remote place and without grant money would we get there eventually?" said Howard. "Yes, eventually we’d get there, but it would be years out.”

The grant allows for that installation to happen now, in Conejos and Alamosa county. The installation will connect 129 individuals, 8 businesses, and one public school to high-speed internet.

After applying and getting rejected for the federal grant twice, the SLVREC's application for the ReConnect program was accepted in the third round.

"These are resources that bring about that equity approach," said Armando Valdez, State Director of USDA Rural Development. "Where we are able to compete in rural areas in the same ways they are in a Pueblo, a Colorado Springs, a Denver.”

Valdez is a resident of the San Luis Valley and a staunch advocate for rural Colorado communities. In his role as State Director, he helps alert rural communities to available resources.

He says he's grateful the SLVREC persisted so more communities could be served.

“We've worked to really strive to advocate for the attention, the allocation of resources because we are a thriving community," said Valdez. "We are a growing community in many ways, and we're working to ask, how do we develop with the latest and greatest technologies that are available.”