The Maine Community Foundation’s Community Broadband Grant Program has awarded $117,793 in grants to 13 communities across Maine. The program aims to increase the number of Maine people, communities, and businesses with access to high-speed internet service and improve skills, knowledge, and opportunity to effectively use the technology.
Grantees include:
- St. George Community Development Corporation, to sustain the administrative support, community education, and grant preparation efforts to address the “last mile problem” in St. George
- Alexander Broadband Project, to help offset the cost of providing high-speed internet service to residents and joining Downeast Broadband Utility, a nonprofit that is bringing high-speed broadband internet to rural Maine communities
- Town of Denmark, to engage residents in broadband goals, starting with committee outreach and ending with a network design project to expand presently poor broadband coverage.
“Increasingly, quality of life—and communication—for Maine people, communities, and businesses is improved by the ability to access reliable, affordable high-speed internet,” said Maggie Drummond-Bahl, MaineCF senior program officer. “We are proud to be one of many partners helping to boost local and regional efforts to improve connectivity across Maine.”
A complete list of 2020 grants is available at www.mainecf.org and below. The Community Broadband Grant Program will continue in 2021. Details will be available at www.mainecf.org. The deadline for applications will be October 15, 2021.