Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Opens New $50 Million Broadband Expansion Grant Round

One week after funding 24 projects to expand broadband infrastructure in Minnesota, the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) announced it is accepting applications for another $50 million in broadband development grants. This grant round is the 10th time DEED has released funding through the Border-to-Border Broadband Program. Bree Maki, Executive Director of DEED's Office of Broadband Development (OBD), announced the new grant round at a conference celebrating the 10th anniversary of OBD on Tuesday, March 12. Since its creation in 2014, OBD's flagship Border-to-Border Grant Program and Low Population Density Grant Program have awarded nearly $350 million in grants to expand service to more than 112,000 homes and businesses statewide. This grant round includes $30 million for the Border-to-Border program, through which broadband provider grantees are reimbursed for up to half the eligible cost of deploying broadband infrastructure, with funding for a single project capped at $10 million.