The county joins the Village of Elsah, Jackson County, Knox County, Mercer County and the City of Springfield in the inaugural cohort of the Accelerate Illinois Broadband Infrastructure Planning Program.
Accelerate Illinois — a collaboration between the Illinois Office of Broadband, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and University of Illinois Extension — offers local governments an intensive 14-week community engagement and planning program with expert support provided by the Benton Institute. The collaboration opportunity is made possible through the financial support of Heartland Forward and its Connecting the Heartland Initiative.
These communities will be working from now until mid-May getting prepared for historic broadband infrastructure funding made available through Connect Illinois and federal broadband programs — most notably through the American Rescue Plan Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act —as well as learning about local finance tools. The training is designed to guide communities through the process of establishing and implementing a full-scale broadband connectivity vision.
With more than 30 hours of no-cost, expert counsel provided by the Benton Institute, the program provides structured education and engagement for communities to identify broadband goals, gather information and analyze opportunities, understand available funding options, and target capital dollars to support implementation.
“Robust, reliable internet connectivity for every resident, business and organization in the county has been a challenge we’ve wrestled with for some time,” Whiteside County Board Chairman James Duffy explained. “The pandemic really brought this challenge to the forefront as remote work, education and telemedicine became necessities. It is obvious that many residents, businesses and organizations in Whiteside County do not have quality internet access. The number underserved and unserved locations is unacceptable, and the Connect Illinois and federal broadband programs will be our chance to rectify this.”
The first cohort of Accelerate Illinois kickoff meeting was Feb. 3, with well over 70 participants representing the six different Illinois counties and local governments. Over 14 weekly sessions, participants will learn the basics of broadband, develop and distribute broadband surveys and speed tests, prepare for interviewing potential service providers, learn about funding opportunities, and prepare plans for their communities.
“Bringing fiber broadband internet access to the county will be a massive project for the county — engaging with the right partners, installing hundreds of miles of fiber, costing millions of dollars, and spanning several years,” said Joel Horn, Whiteside County administrator. “We want to get this right, and the initial planning process going on now is a crucial step. We will be communicating progress and next steps as warranted, and will be engaging the community as we move forward.”
“My family owns an agricultural business, I know about the broadband challenges and frustrations facing many of us in Whiteside County, and this is a very exciting project,” Kim Ewoldsen, Morrison resident and ConnectWhiteside.org committee member, said. “From an economic and quality-of-life basis, this will be a game changer for Whiteside County.”
Residents encouraged to take broadband survey
ConnectWhiteside.org, the 17-person committee working on the planning process for Whiteside County, released a user survey on March 31. The survey will be available online at connectwhiteside.org/survey. A Spanish language version of the online survey can be accessed at conecterwhiteside.org/encuesta, and paper version will be available. A paper version of the survey in both English and Spanish will also be available for those with no internet or poor internet service and will be available at several locations around the county. The survey is scheduled to end on Friday, April 29, at the end of the business day.
Paper survey locations — Fulton: Fulton City Hall, 415 11th Ave. — Prophetstown: Henry C. Adams Memorial Library, 209W Third St. — Morrison: Odell Library, 307 S. Madison St; St. Peter's Lutheran Church, 601 N. Jackson St; Whiteside County Courthouse, 200 E. Knox St. (use Cherry Street entrance); — Rock Falls: Rock Falls Library, 1007 Seventh Ave.; Rock Falls Chamber of Commerce, 601 W. 10th St.; Whiteside Area Housing Authority, 401 W. 18th St; Tri-County Opportunity Council, 405 Emmons Ave.; Blackhawk Hills Regional Council, 309 First Ave; Whiteside County Health Department, 1300 W. Second St. — Sterling: Whiteside County Senior Center, 1207 W. Ninth; Illinois Extension Office, 12923 Lawrence Road; La Laguna, 301 Ave. G; El Vaquero, 1219 W. Fourth St.; Sterling Public Library, 102 W. Third; Sterling Courthouse, 101 E. Third St. ; Whiteside Area Career Center, 1608 Fifth Ave. E; Sterling Rock Falls YMCA, 2505 Ave E. — Dixon: Sauk Valley Community College, 173 IL-2.
© 2022 the Clinton Herald (Clinton, Iowa). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
