MC Council - Council News

ROCKVILLE, Md., September 21, 2010—Montgomery County will share in $115,240,581 in federal grant funding that Maryland’s One Broadband Network had been awarded to expand provision of high-speed Internet to County schools and Housing Opportunity Commission (HOC) locations that will enable low-income residents the opportunity to stay competitive in improving their situations. The funding will enable some projects to advance five-to-seven years sooner than previously scheduled.

U.S. Senators Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin Cardin and Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley were joined by members of the Maryland Congressional delegation on Sept. 17 to announce the funding approvals through the U.S. Commerce Department's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. Funding was provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and was the second largest broadband grant awarded to date. Montgomery County is expected to be eligible for at least $10 million in reimbursement funding for projects it will undertake.

In Montgomery County, the funding will help provide broadband to 78 elementary schools, 18 HOC housing locations that are home to some of the County’s most impoverished residents and the Takoma Park Library. Statewide, the funding will be used to build more than 1,200 miles of infrastructure to provide high-speed Internet to more than 1,000 community institutions and to enable more broadband to be delivered to homes and small businesses throughout the State.

"This infrastructure will pave the way for high-speed Internet service, expand economic opportunities, create jobs, increase our ability to provide public safety and health services, and strengthen our small business communities," said Governor O'Malley.

"This is great day for Maryland and a great day for Montgomery County," said County Executive Isiah Leggett. "The Governor and our Congressional delegation worked hard, and our staff worked even harder, to win this award through a very competitive process. This grant will generate new jobs, economic development, and most importantly, help bridge the digital divide among our youngest school students."

"This grant will enable us to provide cost-effective high-speed broadband to 78 elementary schools in the County," said County Council Vice-President Valerie Ervin. “Less than one-third of County elementary schools have broadband access. At more than a third of these schools, at least 50 percent of the students qualify for free and reduced meals. For many of these children, school is the primary place where they can access the Internet."

Council President Nancy Floreen said the Internet is an integral part of today's teaching curriculum. “Teachers use the Internet to provide real-time instruction to students at remote sites,” she said. “They use the Internet to provide parents with daily and weekly information about their children's progress and to provide video field trips to places that children could not otherwise visit."

"Today's grant is the culmination of over a year and a half of hard work by the County," said Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg, chair of the Council’s Management and Fiscal Policy Committee that oversaw work performed by the County throughout the grant process. "In today's budget climate, without this grant, we would not have been able to provide broadband to our youngest students for another five to seven years."

Councilmember Nancy Navarro, a member of the Management and Fiscal Policy Committee, said that providing broadband to HOC locations helps residents who need equal access to resources—such as broadband—that more fortunate residents already have. "Access to high speed internet is a matter of equity, given that more than ever we rely on the Internet for job searches, homework, school notifications and online bill payment,” she said. “This is a great step forward in helping the economic recovery reach the people who need it most."

Montgomery County initially joined with 10 other central Maryland counties and filed a grant application that competed against a separate application filed by eastern and western Maryland counties. Both applications were unsuccessful in the first round.

“We learned a lot from our first application, came together with the State and the other counties, rolled up our sleeves and worked together to create a state and local application that would provide broadband for education, public safety, healthcare and economic development," said E. Steven Emanuel, Chief Information Officer for Montgomery County. "The success of this application shows the power of enterprise solutions and the benefit of sharing resources to work together toward a common goal."

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