Illinois

Engaging the Public through Listening Tours

As part of their Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) and Digital Equity local coordination, the Illinois Broadband Lab (IBL) and Illinois Office of Broadband (IOB) conducted a statewide listening tour, holding 54 listening sessions across 40 cities, including all 10 economic development regions. In those sessions, IBL heard from residents, local government leaders and broadband and digital equity practitioners.

Engagement via the Web

With the full participation of Illinois’s broadband provider community and the BEAD funding that supports the Connect Illinois Broadband Grant Program, the state held two webinars for providers and sought feedback via a survey. Illinois will continue to seek provider input on broadband mapping in general and Broadband Serviceable Locations (BSLs) in particular.

Connecting Illinois HBCU’s and MSI’s

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Connecting Minority Communities (CMC) Pilot Program awarded three grants totaling nearly $8.5 million to Illinois’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs): 

• St. Augustine College,
• Chicago State University, and
• Dominican University. 

These grants will allow the schools to expand their course offerings, improve campus technology, promote digital literacy in students and community members, and provide devices to students and surrounding community.

Engagement with the Mapping Challenge Process

Illinois released their Five-Year Action Plan in the summer of 2023. This document serves as a data-driven guidepost to assess the state’s current connectivity and path to universal broadband coverage and adoption. The state drafted Volumes 1 and 2 of the BEAD Initial Proposal, which describe how Illinois intends to administer its requisite mapping challenge process and grant process for the $1 billion Round 4 of the “Connect Illinois Broadband Grant Program.” Both Volumes were subjected to formal public comment.

Amplifying Investments in Tech Leadership at Kennedy King College

In July of 2023, U.S. Department of Commerce Deputy Secretary Don Graves and Senator Dick Durbin visited Kennedy King College on Chicago’s South Side to learn about the Tech Launchpad program that trains the next generation of tech leaders. During the visit, Deputy Secretary Graves held a press conference celebrating Illinois’s BEAD allocation of $1.04 billion, which will connect every home and business in Illinois with affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet.

Future Proofing with Electric Grid Resilience

In June 2023, NTIA announced a $14.5 million grant through its Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure (Middle Mile) Program to Commonwealth Edison Company to build out fiber and increase electric grid resilience and reliability in Chicago’s South and West Sides. This funding will help expand Internet access to under-resourced communities and expand affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet offerings to the area.