How Small and Rural Cities Can Boost Grant Funding

To take full advantage of online local government services, healthcare and other resources, residents need robust connectivity capabilities—which still aren’t available in some areas of the U.S. An established fiber backbone can enable a fast, reliable connection; yet while 91 percent of state and local leaders said their agencies would benefit from modernizing IT infrastructure in a recent EY survey, only 40 percent identified it as a top priority. Connectivity-related upgrades may seem particularly out of reach for sparsely populated areas and smaller cities. Fiber providers’ deployment efforts have traditionally focused on denser regions where better returns can be realized, due to lower costs per location. The expense involved in installing fiber, for instance, can be beyond the scope of local governments’ budgets. Other funding sources, however, may be an option, including federal grants, says Curtiss Strietelmeier, public sector funding manager at CDW.