Many current Smart Chicago projects involve the administration of the grants received by the City of Chicago under the U.S. Department of Commerce – National Institute of Standards and Technology under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) for Sustainable Broadband Adoption and the support of Public Computer Centers.
There are many projects falling under these two programs. The SBA program (otherwise known as the Smart Communities program, run by LISC/ Chicago) is a demonstration of how deeply investing in technology, education, and content in five Chicago neighborhoods can help achieve digital excellence. The PCC program (falling under the broad name of Connect Chicago) provides broad investments in free access to the Internet for people in every area of the city.
As you can see in each of the project pages for our BTOP work, we are delivering on the promise of this important Federal money. Beyond BTOP, however, lies the central challenge for Smart Chicago– to create a funding and innovation framework for making sure every Chicagoan has sustainable access to the Internet and have access to meaningful applications that make their lives better in concrete ways.
Read more about the two grants administered in partnership with the City under this program on the SBA and PCC project pages.
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