The City of Kingsport is excited to announce the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development has awarded the city a $2 million Connected Community Facilities grant for the renovation of the Kingsport Public Library.

The Connected Community Facilities (CCF) grant program aims to construct and improve digital access through the creation of buildings or the rehabilitation of existing facilities. Grants cover 90 percent of eligible project expenses with a required 10 percent match and a maximum award of $2 million.

TNECD awarded $49.4 million in CCF grants to 31 local governments across Tennessee. Kingsport received the maximum award amount of $2 million.

“The CCF grant program is a highly competitive grant program and we were competing against dozens of other projects all across the state,” said Library Manager Mary Thomas. “We’re extremely thankful TDECD chose us, and these funds will go a long way in achieving our library renovation goals.”

Earlier this year, the City of Kingsport approved $7 million towards the renovation and upgrading of the Kingsport Public Library. The project will include many key improvements, such as

• Doubling the size of the children’s area.
• Creating dedicated space for children’s programming.
• Creating dedicated space and makerspace for teens.
• Installing a new elevator to ensure better accessibility.
• Adding four study rooms to provide dedicated spaces for focused learning.
• Establishing dedicated space for local history and genealogy.

At the same time, the Friends of the Kingsport Public Library, in partnership with the City of Kingsport, launched a “Library of the Future” fundraising campaign. This campaign aims to help fund the first major renovation of the library in more than 30 years.

If you would like to join with the 700 people who have already contributed to the “Library of the Future” fundraising campaign, please visit www.kptfol.org for more information.