Connect Ohio Awarded $6.9 million in Recovery Act Funding to Advance Sustainable Broadband Adoption Throughout the State
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chris Pugh
614-220-0190 or cpugh@connectohio.org
Grant will provide more than 200,000 Ohioans
with computer training and encourage broadband use
COLUMBUS, OH – Connect Ohio’s Public Adoption Through Libraries/Every Community Online Adoption Project will receive $6.9 million in federal funding in an effort to increase sustainable broadband adoption for millions of state residents. The program offers free computer training sessions provided at public libraries and community colleges throughout Ohio and will introduce new users to a wide range of communication, education, and healthcare tools available online.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) matching grant is awarded by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). BTOP provides grants to support the deployment of broadband infrastructure, enhance and expand public computer centers, and encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service. The overall project cost is just under $10 million.
“Access to high-speed Internet is increasingly essential for businesses and is a gateway to connecting our students and residents with the world,” Ohio Governor Ted Strickland said. “I want to thank the Obama administration and our Ohio Congressional leaders for their continued support of our goal to make sure that every part of Ohio has access to high-speed Internet services."
Connect Ohio’s two-year program provides the necessary equipment, training, technical support, and public awareness components to create publicly accessible training sessions in Ohio’s public libraries and community colleges, educate new computer users and help them take advantage of the powerful social and economic tools available through high-speed Internet service.
The project is expected to immediately create 136 jobs, train 209,000 consumers over two years, and inspire a total of 75,000 new households to adopt broadband in their daily lives. Public computing capacity will also be enhanced by the placement of more than 2,000 new public computers that will be distributed to dozens of public library and community college locations across the state along with the necessary curriculum to be used in the training program.
Connect Ohio will produce marketing and advertising for the project in order to educate state residents about the benefits of home-based broadband service and to encourage attendance at the free training sessions.
"This project will provide more than 200,000 Ohioans with free hands-on computer training to prepare them for a technologically-driven society," Connect Ohio Executive Director Tom Fritz said. “Currently, just 66% of Ohio households subscribe to broadband service, leaving more than three million Ohioans on the wrong side of the digital divide.”
Connect Ohio will be facilitating the $6.9 million grant as an extension of their ongoing work to expand broadband, established by Strickland in 2007 and funded by the state since 2008. The $10 million program is enabled not only by the federal grant, but also through more than $3 million in assistance and contributions from a number of primarily non-profit partners, including The Ohio Public Television Stations, Ohio Public Radio, The Ohio Association of Broadcasters, State Library of Ohio, the Ohio Public Library Information Network, 202 local library systems, and more than 530 individual branches. Columbus State Community College, Central Ohio Technical College, Sinclair Community College, Rio Grande Community College and Belmont Technical College are some of the educational partners committed across the state.
Connect Ohio is encouraging broadband service providers across the state to join the effort by providing special new-subscriber incentives to participants.
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Connect Ohio, a division of Connected Nation, is a nonprofit, technology-neutral public-private partnership that works with telecommunications providers, business and community leaders, information technology companies, researchers, public agencies, libraries and universities in an effort to help extend affordable high-speed Internet service to every Ohio household. For more information about what Connect Ohio is doing to accelerate technology in Ohio's communities, visit http://www.connectohio.org
Related Links: Connect Ohio Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ConnectOhio
Connect Ohio Twitter page: http://www.twitter.com/ConnectOH
# # #
Contact: Chris Pugh
614-220-0190 or cpugh@connectohio.org
Grant will provide more than 200,000 Ohioans
with computer training and encourage broadband use
COLUMBUS, OH – Connect Ohio’s Public Adoption Through Libraries/Every Community Online Adoption Project will receive $6.9 million in federal funding in an effort to increase sustainable broadband adoption for millions of state residents. The program offers free computer training sessions provided at public libraries and community colleges throughout Ohio and will introduce new users to a wide range of communication, education, and healthcare tools available online.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) matching grant is awarded by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). BTOP provides grants to support the deployment of broadband infrastructure, enhance and expand public computer centers, and encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service. The overall project cost is just under $10 million.
“Access to high-speed Internet is increasingly essential for businesses and is a gateway to connecting our students and residents with the world,” Ohio Governor Ted Strickland said. “I want to thank the Obama administration and our Ohio Congressional leaders for their continued support of our goal to make sure that every part of Ohio has access to high-speed Internet services."
Connect Ohio’s two-year program provides the necessary equipment, training, technical support, and public awareness components to create publicly accessible training sessions in Ohio’s public libraries and community colleges, educate new computer users and help them take advantage of the powerful social and economic tools available through high-speed Internet service.
The project is expected to immediately create 136 jobs, train 209,000 consumers over two years, and inspire a total of 75,000 new households to adopt broadband in their daily lives. Public computing capacity will also be enhanced by the placement of more than 2,000 new public computers that will be distributed to dozens of public library and community college locations across the state along with the necessary curriculum to be used in the training program.
Connect Ohio will produce marketing and advertising for the project in order to educate state residents about the benefits of home-based broadband service and to encourage attendance at the free training sessions.
"This project will provide more than 200,000 Ohioans with free hands-on computer training to prepare them for a technologically-driven society," Connect Ohio Executive Director Tom Fritz said. “Currently, just 66% of Ohio households subscribe to broadband service, leaving more than three million Ohioans on the wrong side of the digital divide.”
Connect Ohio will be facilitating the $6.9 million grant as an extension of their ongoing work to expand broadband, established by Strickland in 2007 and funded by the state since 2008. The $10 million program is enabled not only by the federal grant, but also through more than $3 million in assistance and contributions from a number of primarily non-profit partners, including The Ohio Public Television Stations, Ohio Public Radio, The Ohio Association of Broadcasters, State Library of Ohio, the Ohio Public Library Information Network, 202 local library systems, and more than 530 individual branches. Columbus State Community College, Central Ohio Technical College, Sinclair Community College, Rio Grande Community College and Belmont Technical College are some of the educational partners committed across the state.
Connect Ohio is encouraging broadband service providers across the state to join the effort by providing special new-subscriber incentives to participants.
# # #
Connect Ohio, a division of Connected Nation, is a nonprofit, technology-neutral public-private partnership that works with telecommunications providers, business and community leaders, information technology companies, researchers, public agencies, libraries and universities in an effort to help extend affordable high-speed Internet service to every Ohio household. For more information about what Connect Ohio is doing to accelerate technology in Ohio's communities, visit http://www.connectohio.org
Related Links: Connect Ohio Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ConnectOhio
Connect Ohio Twitter page: http://www.twitter.com/ConnectOH
# # #
Labels: broadband stimulus, Connect Ohio
posted by Connect Ohio at
12:56 PM
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