FFC Announces Funding for Rural Broadband Experiments, NTIA Releases Reports on Impact of Broadband Grants

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced a round of funding for rural broadband experiments in price cap areas that will deploy new, robust broadband to consumers. The FCC intends for these grants to be the next step for the Connect American Fund program. Grants will be made to support rural broadband experiments to explore how to structure the Phase II of the Connect American Fund’s competitive bidding process in price cap areas and to gather information about interest in deploying next generation networks in high-cost areas.

Via the announcement, the FCC intends to commit $100 million in proposed funding to support projects across the country. Applicant eligibility is unrestricted domestically for projects that have the feasibility to meet the requirements outlined in the announcement. However, the proposed effort must be in a price capped rural area. Applications are due on or before November 4. Read the announcement…

NTIA Broadband Program Reports Released
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released a series of reports on its broadband grant programs. Provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, grants were made to establish or upgrade public computer centers and initiate innovative broadband adoption programs in underserved communities. These centers are tasked with helping unemployed and under-employed people learn to use computers and the Internet for job searching, skill-building, resume development and networking.

Prepared by an independent contractor, ASR Analytics, the reports look at the effectiveness of more than $450 million in matching grants. NTIA has released four reports that assess grantees in four rural areas:

• Workforce West Virginia  (WFWV) — WFVW upgraded 19 workforce centers and 75 additional centers in locations such as libraries and veterans’ support organizations, with new computers and Wi-Fi. The authors found that in addition to serving thousands of low-income and unemployed patrons each week, the WFWV centers experienced measurable productivity gains as a result of patrons’ ability to search for jobs, prepare resumes and practice computer skills more independently.
• South Carolina Technical College System (SCTCS) — according to the report, SCTCS provided more than 150,000 training hours during the project, one-third of them focused on workforce readiness. In 2012, more than 50,000 people visited these centers each week to pursue post-secondary education, take digital literacy classes, and search for jobs.
• C.K. Blandin Foundation — the Blandin Foundation, a private foundation that serves rural Minnesota, reported the project increased broadband subscriptions in rural areas by more than 56,000 households and helped revitalize participating rural communities.
• Las Vegas Urban League  (LVUL) — a nonprofit organization that serves lower-income residents of southern Nevada, LVUL established or upgraded 33 public computer centers in housing developments, community organizations and senior centers.

In addition to the four reports already released, NTIA plans to release several more in the coming weeks. The reports are intended to serve the needs of research and policy communities and help practitioners apply the lessons learned to build the nation’s broadband capacity and create economic prosperity in regions across the country. Read the reports…

Learn More at SSTI's 2014 Annual Conference!
Join us for Embracing Your Region’s Roots: Supporting Innovation in Rural Communities. During this interactive session, our panel will share best practices from across the country on rural communities supporting entrepreneurship, spurring innovation, and connecting regional innovation assets to support economic growth. For more information about this session and many other visit the conference website: http://ssticonference.org/