How States Ensure Broadband Funds Go Where They’re Most Needed

We sent a memo to state broadband offices that are participating in our broadband education and training initiative, detailing the diverse strategies that California, Iowa, Michigan, and North Carolina have employed to direct grant funding to priority areas—communities that have a substantial unmet need for investment in broadband infrastructure. Several state broadband programs have utilized mechanisms to designate specific communities as “priority areas” within the project areas eligible for grants, allowing them to target or further incentivize grant funding to those communities. Key takeaways from the states include:

• Grant mechanisms to designate priority areas can help states direct awards to communities or regions that meet their state policy priorities.
• Because several of the prioritization mechanisms included in this memo were codified by state legislatures, they may not necessarily reflect the policy priorities of the state’s executive branch.
• The process for selecting priority areas and how those areas are incorporated into grant programs has varied among states; these different approaches have their own benefits and drawbacks to consider.

Critically, each of these approaches relies on the quality of the underlying data or evidence used to select the priority areas. As states consider utilizing priority area designation mechanisms in their grant programs, the benefits and drawbacks of these different approaches should be weighed within the context of existing state practices and the requirements of any applicable federal program.