Technical Assistance:

The Commonwealth did not request support for state broadband capacity building, and will be using its own funds, in combination with planning funds from SBDD round 1, to build a state broadband office. This office, will oversee the planned Technical Assistance Project, which has three primary goals: (1) Re-building community partnerships through the restoration of local planning teams; (2) Developing broadband adoption, usage, and/or impact studies; and (3) Providing technical support and funding to communities with the lowest broadband availability and adoption rates to support them as they reenergize their planning teams and implement their strategic broadband plans.

Data Collection, Integration, and Validation:

This project was originally funded for broadband planning activities and two years of data collection. In September of 2010, this project was amended to extend data collection activities for an additional three years and to identify and implement best practices.