Maryland allocated $69M for ‘Home Stretch’ to connect underserved people to the internet

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund (CPF) was set forth to address various challenges brought to light by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Maryland, digital inequity had been a rising concern that the public health emergency illuminated.

Now, the state’s Office of Statewide Broadband (OSB) is working with its parent Department of Housing and Community Development to administer the new Home Stretch for Public Housing and Home Stretch for Difficult to Serve Properties programs, which Gov. Wes Moore announced this week.

This is not OSB or the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development’s first dealing with a CPF project. In its last annual reporting period, the Maryland Network Infrastructure (MD-NI) Grant Program was approved and tasked with distributing $95 million for internet service providers (ISPs) and jurisdictions to provide broadband service to unserved homes and businesses. The newly announced programs are just for homes.

Brandi Bottalico, a director in one of the administering offices at the Department of Housing and Community Development (within the Office of Public Information in Lanham), explained in an email to Technical.ly the possible benefactors for these new application-based programs.

“These programs are designed specifically for underserved communities,” she said. “We monitor their progress based on the objectives and schedule they outline in their application to ensure they complete what they applied for.”

The Home Stretch for Public Housing program received $45 million to aim at addressing the affordability, access and service issues of broadband internet in Maryland’s public housing. Meanwhile, the Home Stretch for Difficult to Serve Properties program nabbed over $24 million in funding to aid folks whose homes might be located a significant distance from any existing internet provider, or where there are challenges for installation — for instance, in places like wetlands.

Bottalico couldn’t immediately confirm which ISPs would partner with the OSB for the new programs. However, she did say that applying jurisdictions would need to identify what service providers they plan to work with.

“Once the application period has closed, and the awards are made, we will have information on which service providers are participating in the programs,” she said.

Both application links are available below under the drop-down for the different broadband programs:

Check out the application

What this could mean for Baltimore and its connectivity plans?

Last summer’s restructuring of Baltimore’s Mayor’s Office of Broadband and Digital Equity (BDE) elicited a range of perspectives from stakeholders. However, the new federal funding and programs appear to be in harmony with the priorities outlined by the OSB for 2022.

In 2021, broadband was a top focus for Baltimore when Mayor Brandon Scott announced his intention to allocate part of the $641 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to community organizations. About a month after that announcement, Mayor Scott, in the City of Baltimore’s digital equity plan, said that the pandemic “showed us that internet access has become fundamental to our daily lives.”

“Ensuring digital equity is not a choice, but an imperative,” he said. “We will not wait. Baltimore will take an active role — not just to bridge the digital divide, but to close the digital divide, once and for all.”

Earlier this year, Mayor Scott directed $1 million in ARPA funding to 22 community-led digital inclusion organizations.

Learn more about the city’s Digital Equity Framework

While the new funding and projects’ objective is to provide internet access to underserved communities in all of Maryland, Baltimore City is one of the jurisdictions that could apply for the award and further its efforts to close the digital divide by 2030.