Vermont organizations file for over $130 million of broadband stimulus funds | Vermont Business Magazine

Chief Recovery Officer Tom Evslin announced today that five Vermont organizations have applied for over $130 million of stimulus grants and loans for last mile broadband projects that could, in the aggregate, reduce the number of Vermont households without available high speed Internet to less than 5% of the total. Technologies proposed by the various applicants include fiber to the home, DSL, and wireless.

In addition the Vermont Council for Rural Development has requested $2.5 million for a sustainable broadband adoption program to help assure that Vermonters in 24 pilot communities have the equipment, training, and motivation to use broadband. The Vermont Center for Geographic Information has applied for a $1.96 million grant to continue and extend Vermont’s broadband mapping effort. The Department of Libraries has applied for 80% stimulus funding of $754,000 for a public computing center project to assure that computers are available in selected libraries for those who do not yet have equipment or broadband connections available at home...