Big Win for the Schools, Health and Library Coalition!

Created by Wendy Wigen (EDUCAUSE) on December 17, 2009

Today the White House National Economic Council (NEC) announced the first of the broadband grant awardees in the Recovery Act’s BTOP and BIP programs. As exciting as that is, equally important for the work of the SHLB (Schools, Health and Library Broadband) Coalition, the NEC clearly and succinctly revealed their priorities for their award decisions. In an accessible 14 page document with well-designed graphics and in-depth explanations, the NEC described a plan that closely matches the SHLB proposals put forward over the past weeks and months. EDUCAUSE is proud to have been a part of those proposals, and is extremely pleased by the emphasis placed on middle mile projects that focus on connecting anchor institutions as a way of promoting broadband deployment and adoption. Many of our longtime members and colleagues will be heartened to see that the NSFNET was used as an “historical precedent” for this type of investment, citing how the NSF seed funding for regional or mid-level networks “unleashed the phenomenal growth of the Internet service provider industry that we know today”. The document can be found at: Recovery Act Investments in Broadband: Leveraging Federal Dollars to Create Jobs and Connect America.

We would like to congratulate the award winners announced today, and share in the anticipation of those awardees yet to be announced over the coming months. Happy Holidays!!

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Community Community Blogs Constituent and Discussion Groups Member Directory Affinity Finder Collaborations and Affiliations Wiki		Big Win for the Schools, Health and Library Coalition! Created by Wendy Wigen (EDUCAUSE) on December 17, 2009 Today the White House National Economic Council (NEC) announced the first of the broadband grant awardees in the Recovery Act’s BTOP and BIP programs. As exciting as that is, equally important for the work of the SHLB (Schools, Health and Library Broadband) Coalition, the NEC clearly and succinctly revealed their priorities for their award decisions. In an accessible 14 page document with well-designed graphics and in-depth explanations, the NEC described a plan that closely matches the SHLB proposals put forward over the past weeks and months. EDUCAUSE is proud to have been a part of those proposals, and is extremely pleased by the emphasis placed on middle mile projects that focus on connecting anchor institutions as a way of promoting broadband deployment and adoption. Many of our longtime members and colleagues will be heartened to see that the NSFNET was used as an “historical precedent” for this type of investment, citing how the NSF seed funding for regional or mid-level networks “unleashed the phenomenal growth of the Internet service provider industry that we know today”. The document can be found at: Recovery Act Investments in Broadband: Leveraging Federal Dollars to Create Jobs and Connect America. We would like to congratulate the award winners announced today, and share in the anticipation of those awardees yet to be announced over the coming months. Happy Holidays!! Policy Update \| BIP \| broadband grant awards \| BTOP \| National Economic Council \| Recovery Act \| SHLB Wendy's blog Login or register to post comments 21 reads Bookmark/Search this page with:
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