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Press Release:
Ohio Receives $11.7 Million to Expand Broadband Access to 14,000 Ohioans
Project to Focus on Connecting Disadvantaged Ohioans in Northeast, Appalachia Regions
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland today announced that the Ohio non-profit OneCommunity has been awarded $11.7 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act resources to expand broadband adoption by more than 14,000 disconnected Ohioans in Cleveland, Akron and several Appalachian counties."Connect Your Community" will create 58 direct new jobs in Ohio.
OneCommunity has received a total of $18.5 million in ARRA resources for the "Connect Your Community program, which will also facilitate projects in Florida, Michigan, Mississippi and Kentucky.
In this increasingly technologically-driven economy, we are committed to expanding broadband access to all Ohioans and eliminating the digital divide Strickland said Broadband creates educational opportunities for disadvantaged Ohioans in urban, suburban and rural areas. I applaud the work of OneCommunity and its partners for their dedication to accelerating broadband adoption across Ohio.ÿÿ
OneCommunity is a non-profit that is committed to accelerating the adoption of information technology to drive economic development. OneCommunity connects more than 1,000 public and non-profit institutions via its regional fiber-optic broadband network, one of the fastest in the world. OneCommunity and its partners in Akron, Cleveland and Zanesville will lead the implementation "Connect Your Community" in Ohio.
The organization collaborates with public and private sector partners to lead innovative 21st-century programs in health care, education, government and economic development.
OneCommunity applied for the ARRA resources through the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP).
The Broadband Technology Opportunities Program supports OneCommunity's intensive two-year effort to:
Fund partnering agencies' capacity and ability to hire and train local residents to serve as a coordinated Connected Community Corps;
Engage, train, equip and support thousands of disconnected community residents to become sustainable broadband adopters;
Collectively develop and share effective broadband adoption and use strategies to serve as a national model.
In 2008, the Strickland Administration created Connect Ohio, a plan to compile and map broadband availability in Ohio, including location, available speed and type of technology delivering the service.
In December last year, the State of Ohio was awarded a $1.8 million federal grant from NTIA to help gather broadband availability data to support the development of a National Broadband Map.
Cleveland
The Cleveland Housing Network will work with Cuyahoga Community College, the Famicos Foundation, Ashbury Senior Computer Community Center, Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation and Esperanza Inc.
These agencies will plan and implement the deployment of 18 Connected Community Corps members as well as significant investment in new training center capacity and capabilities to directly assist more than 5,000 neighborhood residents. OneCommunity will provide free wireless Internet access for a large share of these new broadband adopters.
Akron
The Akron Urban League will serve as an outreach and education center and is a partner with the city of Akron and OneCommunity for wireless and community broadband efforts.
Appalachian Ohio
Zanesville-based ACCEL will lead the effort in Appalachian Ohio. ACCEL covers a broad area with outreach, training and connection assistance efforts including Muskingum County, Coshocton County and least eight other counties.
Launched in August 2010, TheMetropreneur.com is a local online resource devoted to small business development and entrepreneurship. Its aim is to tell the stories of Central Ohio's business community, foster regional economic development and assist entrepreneurs with its resource-heavy focus.