members and their communities is our way of saying
thank you. Without your support—the support of our
donors and sponsors—none of what we do at FRS would be
possible. What I’d love for you to know is that your donations, large or small, whether as an individual like Mike
grisham or Russell Moore, as a company like Endeavor
Communications or Foothills Communications, or like the
Staurulakis family, have made a real, human impact on
rural America.
Today, rural, independent broadband providers face
numerous challenges, but I believe that NTCA members
are the heart of rural America and are worth investing in
and fighting for. With that belief in mind, our team at FRS
will continue to work each and every day to keep the rural
voice at the table, and we hope you’ll join us!
Jessica Golden is executive director of FRS. Contact her at
jgolden@frs.org.
l brought over 2,200 students on our annual Youth Tours
to Washington, D.C., visiting with telecom experts on
Capitol Hill and at the FCC.
l Taken over 60 congressional aides on broadband tours
to Montana, New York, Wyoming, Tennessee, kentucky,
West virginia and South Dakota, meeting with NTCA
members and learning about rural broadband.
l And created countless educational materials.
In 2019, FRS will be celebrating our 25th anniversary.
We will be launching this celebratory year with a gala at
RTIME, but we will be celebrating first and foremost by
giving back: awarding additional scholarships, grants and
youth leadership awards nationwide. giving back to our
NTCA Rural Broadband PAC celebrates its
50th anniversary in 2019.
Although the pAc has seen a few name changes over the
decades, the goal has remained the same—to educate
federal candidates about the important work of NTcA
members so they can make informed decisions that
promote telecommunications deployment. Although
Washington has grown increasingly partisan, the pAc is
a bipartisan organization that continues to help garner
bipartisan support of our issues.
Our yearlong celebration of this milestone begins at
RTIME with a special anniversary edition of our annual
awards breakfast on Tuesday, February 5, at 7 a.m. come
founded by a small group of
NTcA members in Tennessee
in 1969 and how it has grown
over the past half century.
Also on Tuesday during
RTIME, attendees are invited
to join us for an evening at the
National World War II
Museum. The event will
include exclusive access to
select galleries, dinner and a private screening of “Beyond
All Boundaries” narrated by Tom Hanks. The museum—
designated by the u.S. congress as America’s official
national WWII museum—has for the past five years been
the number one attraction in New Orleans.
The celebration continues in mid-April at NTcA’s
Legislative & policy conference in Washington, D.c., as the
pAc hosts a private dinner at president Lincoln’s cottage.
For three summers of his presidency, Abraham Lincoln
and his family lived in a cottage on the outskirts of
Washington, D.c. During the event we’ll be treated to a
guided tour of the cottage and have dinner in the room
where Lincoln wrote the Emancipation proclamation.
Whether you attend one of the pAc’s events at an NTcA
meeting, attend a political fundraiser or present a check to
a congressional candidate, we hope you’ll make 2019
golden by being involved in NTcA Rural Broadband pAc.
Michelle Ly is advocacy program manager at NTCA. Contact her at
mly@ntca.org.
We’re Golden
in 2019
NTcA RuRAL
BROADBAND pAc
RTIME
l
By
Michelle
ly
