A Q&A with Adrianne Furniss, executive director of the Benton Institute, and Matt Schmit, deputy director of the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity
Within months of its inception in September 2019, the Illinois Office of Broadband (IOB) forged a strategic partnership with the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. As a very lean operation with just two dedicated staff, IOB needed to expand our capacity if we wanted to do more than simply administer Connect Illinois, which at $400 million is the largest state matching grant program ever. Schmit believed that Benton would be the perfect partner to work with us to fulfill Governor J.B. Pritzker’s commitment to broadband ubiquity, the Connect Illinois investment, and the promise of serious and sustained digital equity programming.
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Expanding broadband access is a complex task, and often state officials benefit from the counsel of experts and community leaders in order to effectively implement it. The Illinois Office of Broadband has partnered with the Evanston-based Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, a nonprofit organization focused on deploying open, affordable, high-performance broadband connections to everyone in the U.S. The partnership has led to innovative new programs that address key broadband issues and may offer lessons for other states looking to harness the knowledge of external partners to close the digital divide.
This interview with Adrianne Furniss, executive director of the Benton Institute, and Matt Schmit, deputy director of the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity, has been edited for clarity and length.
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Pritzker, Preckwinkle announce initiative in Illinois to expand digital access for low-income households
By FOX 32 Digital Staff
Published
Toni Preckwinkle announced an initiative in Illinois on Wednesday that would expand digital access for low-income households throughout the state.
Through a partnership with PCs for People, a national nonprofit providing refurbished devices, Cook County, and other community partners, the State of Illinois will launch a statewide network to deploy refurbished computers, digital literacy programming and workforce development, officials said.
The new Connect Illinois Computer Equity Network aims to put computers and other mobile devices into the hands of Illinois residents.
Additionally, Gov. Pritzker issued a call to action to public, private and philanthropic sectors to donate used equipment and build on a network that is set to deploy at least 20,000 refurbished computers annually for Illinois families.
Dec 11, 2020 | STATESCOOP
Through a new partnership with the nonprofit National Digital Inclusion Alliance, Illinois officials next year will deploy a team of volunteers to assist residents of low-income and rural communities with digital literacy skills.
The program, called the Connect Illinois Digital Navigator Network, will train applicants to provide “comprehensive digital literacy coaching” to people across the state that are unsure how to connect to the internet, use their devices and access applications on those devices, Matt Schmit, the head of the Illinois Office of Broadband, said during a webinar Friday.
The program is based on a model that the National Digital Inclusion Alliance launched earlier this year in Appalachia and Salt Lake City to foster technology help for people who were stuck at home, said Paolo Balboa, a program manager at the organization. Cities like Philadelphia have also launched digital navigator programs of their own, s