[OPLINTECH] Preparing for ARRA broadband grants

[Stephen Hedges]

On Friday, the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) will open the application process for $50 million
of a $200 million earmark in the Recovery Act for expanding computer
center capacity under their Broadband Technology Opportunities Program
(BTOP). This is the first of three rounds of funding releases;
applications for this first $50 million round of funds are due by 5:00
p.m. EDT on August 14, 2009.

At a recent NTIA workshop in Los Angeles, participants were told that
larger, more aggregated applications are the most desired in order to
more effectively manage the review process for NTIA.  Single applicants
or applications under $100,000 are probably not worth pursuing.

OPLIN, OLC, the State Library, the Board of Regents, and Connect Ohio
have been working together for several weeks to develop an aggregated
application for expanding public computer centers in Ohio. While these
working sessions will continue through the next week, it is important to
let you know now how we see including public libraries in this statewide
application.

Connect Ohio is requesting BTOP funds for a program to provide a basic
statewide curriculum to be used at public computer centers for training
the public to use the Internet effectively, focusing on education in the
use of some common computer software. They also propose running a
statewide public awareness campaign to promote the availability of this
training in public computer centers. See their attached "ICTC Letter"
for more information.

Libraries can take advantage of the statewide Connect Ohio BTOP
application in three ways:

1) If a library has plans to expand its public computing capacity and
has funds available to cover 20% of the cost, it is to the library's
advantage to "attach" its application to the statewide Connect Ohio
application. This not only will please NTIA, it will also leverage
additional training and public relations resources to strengthen the
library's application. Specific instructions for filling out the
application to take advantage of this partnership with Connect Ohio are
at http://www.oplin.org/applyBTOP.

2) If a library has no plans to expand its current public computing
facilities, but would still like to take advantage of the statewide
training and PR, simply email a letter of support to Connect Ohio at
info at connectohio.org with the subject "PCC letter of support." A sample
letter of support is attached to this message.

3) If a library wants to expand its public computing capacity but does
not have the funds for a 20% match, Connect Ohio is also requesting NTIA
funding for its new "Every Citizen Online" program. Should this request
be successful, libraries might receive free computers from Connect Ohio.
Libraries interested in this option should email a letter of support to
Connect Ohio, this time with the subject "ECO letter of support."

Tomorrow (Thursday July 30) Connect Ohio will be hosting a webinar at
2:00pm to provide more information about the statewide proposals. See
the attached "ICTC Letter" for registration information.

If you have questions about the BTOP program, please email me at
hedgesst at oplin.org and I will do my best to answer them and will post
both the question and my answer to the OPLINlist and OPLINtech email
lists.

Stephen

-- 
Stephen Hedges, Director
Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN)
2323 W. Fifth Avenue, Suite 130
Columbus, Ohio  43204
614-728-5250    AIM: hedgesst
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