T-Mobile has announced Mount Vernon’s Bijou Theatre as one of its latest 25 Hometown Grant recipients. The $50,000 grant will go toward renovating the Bijou Theatre’s indoor and exterior space, adding an outdoor reception and screening area and updating the front façade and more, just in time for the theater to celebrate its 50th anniversary with the community.

“I wish I could tell you what this grant means to our little town and to our one and only movie theater,” said Joe Jennison, community development specialist for the City of Mount Vernon. “Small business owners on Main Streets such as the Lane family could not complete a project of this magnitude without support of community development grants such as this one offered by T-Mobile. Thank you! Your support of Mount Vernon’s Main Street is greatly appreciated! Movies are always better in an updated theater.”

Through Hometown Grants, people in communities nationwide are kickstarting projects that make a real difference and help their towns thrive. Since launching its five-year commitment to small towns in April 2021, T-Mobile has awarded a whopping 375 communities across 48 states and Puerto Rico and over $16 million in funding. Across Iowa, T-Mobile has awarded over $550,000 to 13 towns through the program.

T-Mobile teams up with Main Street America — a nonprofit organization that works to advance shared prosperity, create resilient economies and improve quality of life through place-based economic development and community preservation — to bring Hometown Grants to life. Grant applications are reviewed based on their level of detail, community impact, feasibility and other considerations.

Each quarter, T-Mobile awards 25 Hometown Grants to small towns with populations of 50,000 or less. To apply for a Hometown Grant, visit https://www.t-mobile.com/brand/hometown-grants.