NY Gives Out Broadband Grants

Thanks to Ann Higgins for sending me the article (Universal Broadband Grants for New York Announced) on the grant program in NY for public/private sector partnerships.

It’s a nice example of a state that is getting involved with broadband on a statewide level by supporting local governments to create solutions that work. (Sadly, I don’t think they’re accept an application from Minnesota – though maybe New York Mills could give it a shot.)

RBOG Funding from USDA

USDA Rural Development Rural Opportunity Grants announced last week money for training and technical assistance for business development, entrepreneurs, and economic development officials and to assist with economic development planning.

There is $50,000 for projects serving a single state, the project must be rural and funds may be provided for development of export markets; feasibility studies; development of long term trade strategies; community economic development planning; business training and business based technical assistance for rural entrepreneurs and business managers; establishment of rural business incubators; and assistance with technology based economic development. The types of projects that may be funded might include identification/analysis of business opportunities that will utilize local material and human resources; provision of leadership development training to existing or prospective rural entrepreneurs and managers; business support centers; centers for training, technology and export trade; and, economic development planning.

Applications are due March 31, 2008.

Digital Inclusion Fund Awards Announced

Thanks to Peter Fleck for sending me a heads up on the Digital Inclusion Fund. The awards were recently decided. The following organizations were award recipients:

• Minneapolis Public Library
• Phyllis Wheatley Community Center
• Plymouth Christian Youth Center
• Project for Pride in Living
• St. Paul Neighborhood Network
• The Bridge for Runaway Youth
• The Church of St. Philip (Patchwork Quilt)
• TVbyGirls
• Twin Cities Media Alliance

You can learn more about the amounts and projects on Peter’s web site.

RUS Community Connect Grant Program Deadline March 28, 2008

Thanks to Bernadine Joselyn for sending the heads up on the latest Rural Utilities Service Grants. (It was just posted yesterday.)

Here are the fast facts from the announcement. Good luck!

Deadline: Mar 28, 2008
Expected Number of Awards: 27
Estimated Total Program Funding: $13,405,500
Award Ceiling: $1,000,000
Award Floor: $50,000

Eligible Applicants: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses, and Small businesses

Description: The Community-Oriented Connectivity Broadband Grant Program is designed to provide financial assistance to furnish broadband service in rural, economically-challenged communities where such service does not currently exist. Grant funds may be utilized to deploy broadband transmission service to critical community facilities, rural residents, and rural businesses and to construct, acquire, or expand, equip, and operate a community center that provides free access to broadband services to community residents for at least two years. Grants will be awarded, on a competitive basis, to entities serving communities of up to 20,000 inhabitants to ensure rural consumers enjoy the same quality and range of telecommunications service as are available in urban and suburban communities.

Greater Minnesota Telehealth Broadband Initiative

Yesterday I spoke with Karen Welle, who was gracious enough to talk to me on the day after Christmas about the Greater Minnesota Telehealth Broadband Initiative.

Our conversation left me feeling very positive about the future of telelhealth in Minnesota and reminded me about the good, the bad, and the ugly of receiving federal funds.

A quick background:

In November (2007), the FCC dedicated more than $417 million for the construction of 69 statewide or regional broadband telehealth networks  in 42 states and three U.S. territories under the Rural Health Care Pilot Program (RHCPP).

In Minnesota, the Greater Minnesota Telehealth Broadband Initiative was submitted by an alliance of the Minnesota Telehealth Network, Medi-sota Network, North Region Health Alliance, SISU Medical Systems and Minnesota Association of Community Mental Health Programs, New Connections. Their plan was to build upon an established vision of a strong integrated rural telehealth care delivery system supported by a telecommunications infrastructure that will ultimately allow any patient in any community in Minnesota and bordering states to connect to any provider in Minnesota and beyond. The goal is to promote technical standards and operational best practices to reduce costs, boost performance, and improve user-friendliness of telehealth application.

Yassini Broadband Knowledge Center

Thanks to Ann Higgins for sending me information on a new foundation for broadband innovation…

Rouzbeh Yassini is credited with inventing the cable modem. He’s been disappointed with the current state of broadband so he’s established a new Yassini Broadband Knowledge Center and will begin funding research grants. He is putting up his own money to fund four $50,000 research grants every year, one per quarter.

His goal is to get people to come up with innovations to help everyone enjoy the Internet. By everyone, he gives as examples people with visual disabilities or creating applications such one that would allow people with diabetes to monitor sugar levels.

The Yassini Broadband Knowledge Center, based in Boston, will be the support center for the grant recipients. Other activities planned for the center are:

• New technology research and innovation with anticipated industry impact within five years;
• An executive scholar and broadband policy center;
• A broadband “Think Tank” for entrepreneurs, scientists, consumer electronics researchers, and service provider executives; and
• Weekly educational tours to share the tools and power of a next-generation, broadband work force.

You can learn more in the Cable Digital News.

Open Network Feasibility Fund 2 Grants Awarded

The Blandin Foundation recently awarded grants to two communities through their Open Network Feasibility Fund. The goal of the fund is to provide grants to communities to study the feasibility of an open network in their community.

(Quick note: feasibility funding is still available.)

The two recent recipients are Lakefield and Northfield. I want to thank Mark Erickson from Lakefield and Melissa Reeder from Northfield for sending me updates on their project plans:

Digital Inclusion Fund 2007

For our Minneapolis readers, the Minneapolis Foundation is looking to support qualified organizations with financial resources to promote technology access and literacy for low-income people, people of color, people with disabilities, immigrants and refugees, displaced workers, seniors, and other new users of technology.

Approximately $200,000 will be available for grants in 2007. The Digital Inclusion Fund will make single year grants. The Fund will make grants of various sizes, however grants will typically range from $5,000 to $30,000 for project, program or operating support.

Sorry for the short notice, I just learned about this – proposals are due September 14, 2007. (Learn more)

How Did Japan Leap Ahead?

Jim Baller of the Baller Group sent around an interesting article yesterday (Japan’s Warp-Speed Ride to Internet Future).

It talks about how and why Japan is doing so much better than the US is doing. The indisputable reason is:

The copper wire used to hook up Japanese homes is newer and runs in shorter loops to telephone exchanges than in the United States. This is partly a matter of geography and demographics: Japan is relatively small, highly urbanized and densely populated. But better wire is also a legacy of American bombs, which razed much of urban Japan during World War II and led to a wholesale rewiring of the country.

They also say:

Japan has surged ahead of the United States on the wings of better wire and more aggressive government regulation, industry analysts say.

I didn’t know much about the history of broadband in Japan so I found it interesting. Apparently the Japanese government urged the phone companies to open up their lines to local ISPs, which installed lots of DSL. DSL is faster in Japan because the phone lines are generally shorter. It was very popular. (Apparently the early version of the Open Network was a good idea.)

The phone companies saw the potential and decided to install fiber to the home and premises – and that too has been popular.

Vince Cerf is quoted in the article. He is worried about the US being left in the dust. Clearly that is a real concern – I think one lesson we can take from Japan is the early success of the open network structure, for the vendors who opened the network, for the resellers, and the end customer.

NOAA Announces New Funding For Environmental Literacy Projects

I got the following from my favorite TIES list. I thought that it would help spread the word - but also I just found it fascintating to read about the spherical display systems.

Title: Spherical Display Systems for Earth System Science-Installations and Content Development

The NOAA Office of Education has issued a request for applications from institutions with interest in developing exhibits featuring spherical display systems showing Earth system science, or developing science modules for these display systems. Spherical display systems are sphere-shaped “screens” onto which global data and other imagery can be shown. Awards will be offered in two priorities, with priority 1 supporting installation of spherical displays systems into public exhibits and priority 2 supporting development and evaluation of Earth system science modules for the spherical display systems. The purpose of these awards is to support the incorporation of spherical display systems and compatible, educationally effective environmental data products into public exhibits. The goal of this program is to build environmental literacy among the general public through increased use of NOAA and NOAA-related data and data products in informal education institutions. See NOAA’s Education Plan for more details on this goal and strategy: http://www.oesd.noaa.gov/NOAA_Ed_Plan.pdf. It is anticipated that recommendations for funding under this announcement will be made by January 30, 2008 and that projects funded under this announcement will have a start date no earlier than April 30, 2008, and possibly as late as March 30, 2009.

The deadline for applications is 5:00 PM EDT on October 30, 2007.

Visit http://www.oesd.noaa.gov/funding_opps.html for the full announcement and additional information.