Lebanon and Jeffersonville are set to receive funding from a $1 billion campaign announced last week by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The funding pledge was part of a 6,500-word manifesto Zuckerberg published titled “The Future is for Everyone: The Path to a Positive AI Future.”
The article in part detailed the economic benefits the company says its AI data centers have generated for communities. That includes teachers in Richland Parish, Louisiana, receiving $50,000 bonuses this year because of the increased tax revenue from a data center there.
“We call these local benefits our community compact, and we are launching a Future Is For Everyone Fund to support each community we work in directly,” Zuckerberg wrote.
Details are scarce
Francis Brennan, a public affairs manager at Meta, said the fund is a $1 billion pledge that will be available in every U.S. community where Meta owns and operates a data center.
He said the company will begin working with communities to create customized investments and programs shaped by local needs, and “will have more to share on this soon.”
In Lebanon, where Meta is building a massive 1,500-acre data center campus, local officials don’t have many details about the funding, according to Andrea Kern, CEO of the Boone Economic Development Corporation.
“Meta has already invested in our community and demonstrated its commitment to being a good community partner, and we look forward to continuing to deepen that relationship,” she said.
Details are also scarce in Jeffersonville. The company is on track to open a 617-acre data center there later this year, representing an $800 million investment. City officials did not respond to emails seeking comment.
Previously announced investments
In Lebanon, the company in February announced a slate of investments as part of the $10 billion project. That includes donating $1 million per year for 20 years to the Boone County Community Trust to provide direct energy cost assistance to families in need.
Meta is also investing over $75 million in public water and wastewater infrastructure projects there, and approximately $45 million in public road improvements.
In Jeffersonville, the company has already provided a combined $150,000 investment split between two local nonprofit organizations to expand hands-on learning, tech accessibility and workforce training.
Meta in June also awarded its first major wave of annual Community Action Grants to several local schools and nonprofits across Clark County, including Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Jeffersonville High School Band Boosters. The company did not disclose the grant amounts.
Data center opposition remains strong
But those investments haven’t slowed fierce pushback from local residents.
The Jeffersonville City Council this month passed a one-year moratorium on new data center development after neighbors complained of loud noises, light pollution and heavy traffic from ongoing construction.
Council members said the moratorium would allow time to develop new planning and zoning rules for any new facilities.
Clark County followed suit days later when its plan commission voted in favor of a one-year data center moratorium in unincorporated areas. County commissioners must still vote to approve it.
In Boone County, commissioners in June also approved a one-year moratorium to evaluate the potential impacts of data center development and decide whether to update the county’s planning and zoning regulations.
This article was written by FPI News reporter Carson Gerber.
