State Broadband Capacity Building:

This project will enhance the existing broadband state program office by continuing support for the state program director position, which serves as an employee of the Kansas Department of Commerce (DOC) and creating a program coordinator position, which will be an employee of Connected Nation whose activities will be directed by DOC. Funding will also support the needs of the new Kansas Broadband Task Force.

Technical Assistance:

This technical assistance project will support the capacity building and local regional technology planning team activities by engaging local and state-level surveys of broadband adoption and barriers to adoption. This will enable both the state and local teams to develop realistic goals and actionable strategies for broadband deployment and adoption. Through this project, the State of Kansas will also develop an Enterprise Architecture to drive performance improvements in areas such as business processes (Right-of-Way, permitting), the use of state assets to drive infrastructure deployment, and cross-collaboration among state agencies.

Local Regional Technology Planning Teams:

This project will support the formation of seven regional technology planning teams that will develop localized broadband plans to facilitate broadband deployment and adoption, under the direction of DOC. Connected Nation will fund positions within existing planning organizations in each of these regions to support the work of the teams. This project structure will improve the likelihood of project sustainability after the award period ends.

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.