ARRA Resources

The ConnectingALABAMA initiative continues to develop important information and insight in support of ARRA Applications with the NTIA and RUS. As presented in the Maps section of this web site the Alabama Broadband Service maps are key inputs to ARRA applications. In addition to the maps we encourage all ARRA applicants to become familiar with the following material as they work thru the ARRA application process.

VISION – important insight into Alabama broadband priorities and how communities are looking forward to advancing the quality of health care, educational opportunities and public safety through broadband technologies. Provided is a full report on the Alabama visioning process and a summary / highlight view of the Alabama broadband vision

SURVEY – the Alabama Broadband consumer survey provides important statistical data on how Alabamians use the internet today. This material is available here.

PLAN 2010 – the overarching Alabama priorities are articulated clearly in Governor Riley’s Plan 2010. It will be important that ARRA Applications are well coordinated with the longstanding Alabama public priorities set forth in Plan 2010. Visit the Governor’s web site to learn more about Plan 2010.

APPLICATION HINTS – a brief piece on helpful hints and suggestions when preparing and submitting an ARRA application relevant to your Alabama Broadband development initiatives.Specific to BTOP/BIP Round 2 application filings there are three important additional application support points to keep in mind.

First, as they did in support of Round 1 the NTIA and RUS are organizing a set of workshops around the country to explain the program and to help inform and support Round 2 filings. A schedule of these workshops is available at broadbandusa.gov.

Second, the ConnectingALABAMA team is organizing an Alabama-specific workshop currently targeted for February 18. Check back to this web site for exact time and location detail. On Monday, February 8, the connectingALABAMA team hosted a webinar to introduce important background information regarding the NTIA (BTOP) and RUS (BIP) Round 2 funding opportunities. The slides used during this webinar are available for download here.

Third, the NTIA/RUS launched a web site to help BTOP/BIP applicants connect with others around the country with similar interests and needs. This supporting material and process can be found at broadbandusa.gov.

MAPS – as noted above, the Alabama Broadband Service maps are a critical input to ARRA applications. Please visit the Maps page to download maps relevant to your application.

ALBI ADVISORY BOARD – standing behind the ConnectingALABAMA initiative and serving at the favor of Governor Riley is the Alabama Broadband Initiative (ALBI) Advisory Board. The ALBI Board member roster is provided for reference.

BROADBAND INITIATIVES: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT - As a part of their ongoing efforts to identify and encourage broadband development programs that are likely to succeed in Alabama, the ALBI Board commissioned a whitepaper to assess broadband initiatives, mostly rural, across the U.S. and abroad. The results of this research can be found here. This paper is not intended to be an exhaustive inventory of broadband initiatives, but rather an economic evaluation of programs relevant to Alabama’s current broadband initiative. Any conclusion one draws from this research and related report must begin (and end) with the recognition that filling broadband (supply and demand) gaps in a sustainable way is a long term proposition. To paraphrase a well known truism: we didn’t get here overnight and working thru a solution is going to take some time. This is the reason this research and report is grounded in the economic rationale for when and why one would intervene in a market. Sustainable solutions (on both the supply side and the demand side) must endure - and anything that endures must be economically rational (and good public policy) in the long run.

See also the PROVIDER EVENTS page and the GRANTS FOR PROVIDER page for additional information on the BTOP/BIP Round 2 ARRA program.

To view a 3 minute educational broadband video please click here:Broadband Video.