Universal Broadband Grants for New York announced

Mar 19: New York Governor David A. Paterson announced that nine public/private sector partnerships will be the first recipients of grants from the New York State Council for Universal Broadband. The funds are targeted to help promote the research, design and implementation of innovative solutions to create affordable broadband Internet access for underserved urban and rural communities throughout the state.

Amongst the recipients were an initiative to bring broadband over power lines (BPL) to Onondaga County and a program to bring a year's free access to residents of the Mount Hope community housing project in the Bronx. Naturally our illustrious chairman is to be congratulated on the latter.

In 2007, the New York State Legislature appropriated $5 million to provide seed money to be awarded through the Council. To leverage the funds, the Council required a minimum dollar-for-dollar match in the form of cash, in-kind goods and services, or a combination of the two. The value of the matching cash and in-kind services from the nine award recipients totals more than $15.1 million.

More than 50 applications were received for the first year of funding and the proposed 2008-09 budget includes $15 million to continue the program.

Press Release: http://www.ny.gov/governor/press/press_0319082.html

Grant Recipients: http://www.ny.gov/governor/press/pdf/press_0319082.pdf

ISOC-NY: New York State Council for Universal Broadband