The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), recently announced the availability of $25 million in funding for Fiscal Year 2011 for its Community Connect Broadband Grant program.
The Community Connect program specifically seeks to improve broadband service in rural communities to improve quality of life. The awarded funds can be used to build broadband infrastructure, as well as to provide free public access to broadband by creating a community center. Areas eligible for the grants are communities without broadband which are located outside cities with a population of 20,000 or more. Grants are available to private, non-profit, and government organizations.
The deadline to submit applications for the Community Connect Broadband Grant program is May 3, 2011. For more information on this program, visit http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/utp_commconnect.html.
The most recent Ohio awardees of the Community Connect grant were GMNTri-County CAC, Inc. and Chillicothe Telephone Company in 2007. GMNTri-County CAC received $316,840 to deploy wireless broadband in Monroe County, as well as equip the Graysville Volunteer Fire Department and Bethel Ambulance Service with free Wi-Fi access. Chillicothe Telephone Company was awarded $603,200 to deploy a fiber-to-the-home system in Pickaway County, as well as to provide a new computer lab with free Internet access to those unable to afford computers or home broadband service.
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