Woodstock, IL, the winner of the inaugural T-Mobile Hometown Techover contest, will be the recipient of technology upgrades and other support, which the carrier values at $3 million.
Among the prizes:
- A $200,000 T-Mobile Hometown Grant and technical assistance services from Smart Growth America (SGA). SGA will develop and deliver analyses and a workshop to support Woodstock’s economic vibrancy.
- A Little League field refurbishment including a tech upgrade and T-Mobile Little League Call Up Grant support
- Upgrades to public spaces
- Concierge enrollment in T-Mobile’s Project 10 Million and Connecting programs
- Prize packs for 100 Woodstock households that will include free wireless service and home Internet for a year, new 5G phones and an HDTV.
- A free concert with the duo Florida Georgia Line.
T-Mobile says its commitment to rural America will continue with T-Mobile Home Internet — which is available to 10 million rural households — creation of 7,500 jobs supporting rural wireless and $25 million in grants during the next five years.
“Choosing a Hometown Techover winner was no easy task, with so many fantastic entries across the nation … but the people of Woodstock, Illinois are primed and ready to become the 5G model for small towns nationwide,” Jon Freier, T-Mobile’s Executive Vice President of Consumer Group, said in a press release. about the T-Mobile Hometown Techover contest winner. “They’re going to show Small Town America all the ways 5G can transform and more deeply connect a community, and we’ll be here every step of the way through this massive technology upgrade.”
The other finalists, which were announced in July, were the borough of Stroudsburg, PA; Dunn, N.C.; Girard, KS; Guadalupe, CA; Hopkinsville, KY; Kalispell, MT; Wareham, MA; Washington, MO and Tipton, IN.
Communities with populations of 50,000 or less were eligible for the contest, which was announced in early April of this year. At the time, T-Mobile said that the 7,500 jobs created in rural areas would include 5,000 at retail outlets it would open and 2,500 Hometown Experts who would not report to a physical work location.
