The Illinois Connected Communities Grant Program seeks to provide qualified Illinois communities with resources and programming to engage in community broadband planning and capacity building for improved broadband access, adoption, and/or utilization.

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Public Act 101-0029

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To maximize the impact of the Connect Illinois broadband investment, this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is designed to engage individual communities, inspire and support community involvement in broadband planning, and build capacity in local leadership, resources, and informed engagement. Specifically, the competitive grant program will target funding and related programming to improve community planning and capacity building through cross-sector collaboration among the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (the Department, DCEO), the Illinois-based Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and various philanthropic partners. Grantees will comprise the 2020 Illinois Connected Communities cohort, which will participate in a combination of focused community-specific and cohort-wide activities throughout a period of six to 12 months. Due to public health concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, engagement may be entirely web-based. Whether online, in person, or a combination of the two, these activities will build toward creation of a community-driven Broadband Strategic Plan, and may include additional work in the following areas, with focus dependent upon a community’s unique needs and interests: - Community broadband leadership education - Community and broadband provider market evaluation and/or engagement - Discussion of technology choices, broadband funding and local-match options, and/or approaches to community-driven broadband access, adoption, and/or utilization.

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Government Organizations; Education Organizations; Nonprofit Organizations; For-Profit Organizations; Other;

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Project Grants

Economic Development

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The Illinois Office of Broadband will award grants to projects that help advance the Connect Illinois vision through community broadband planning and capacity building. Applications will be reviewed and evaluated by a merit-based review Committee led by the Illinois Office of Broadband and consisting of other program Team members. This Committee will use the following criteria and associated point values (100 points possible) to assist in systematically scoring applications and awarding grants. These criteria will be applied to information provided by the Applicant in response to the requirements of this NOFO. To ensure that an application receives the highest possible scoring, please be sure to provide complete and comprehensive responses for all information requested. The team will strive to achieve geographic balance throughout the state in awarding grants. As a result, applications may be considered on a regional basis per the 10 designated state economic development regions of Illinois, a map of which is available at: https://www2.illinois.gov/dceo/ConnectIllinois. To be considered a qualified applicant, an organization must comply with all of the specifications and respond to all items listed within the application instructions. Assistance Considerations Applications will be graded using the merit-based review process and scored on the criteria specified in Section E.1. The Department will designate a merit-based review Committee to grade each application received for this funding opportunity. The final score of each Committee member will be calculated and an average of all scores will be the final grantee score. Each applicant will then be ranked by their score. Applicants may utilize the appeal process as stated in the merit-based review policy available in the Resource Library at www.grants.illinois.gov.

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At any point during the program and in pursuit of a broadband community plan or the implementation thereof, Illinois Connected Communities may invest their grant funding toward one or more of the following areas, which may require additional local or nonstate funding to complete in full: - Additional broadband-related support, technical assistance, or consultative services - Connected Community project manager and/or Steering Committee overhead - Broadband asset mapping, needs assessment, and/or deployment feasibility study - Other planning and preparation for broadband access, adoption, and/or utilization.

1. Periodic Performance Report (PPR) and Periodic Financial Report (PFR). Grantees funded through this NOFO are required to submit in the format required by the Grantor, at least on a quarterly basis, the PPR and PFR electronically to their assigned grant manager. The first of such reports shall cover the first three months after the award begins. Pursuant to 2 CFR 200.327, Periodic Financial Reports shall be submitted no later than 30 calendar days following the period covered by the report. Pursuant to 2 CFR 200.328, Periodic Performance Reports shall be submitted no later than 30 calendar days following the period covered by the report. Any additional reporting requirements will be disclosed in the Notice of State Award (NOSA). Grantees are required within 60 calendar days following the end of the period of performance to submit a final closeout report in the format required by the Grantor (See 2 CFR 200.343). 2. Monitoring. Grantees funded through this NOFO are subject to fiscal and programmatic monitoring visits by the Department in accordance with 2 CFR 200.336. They must have an open-door policy allowing periodic visits by Department monitors to evaluate the progress of the project and provide documentation upon request of the monitor. Program staff will also maintain contact with the participating businesses and monitor progress and performance of the contracts. The Department may modify grants based on performance. 3. Audit. Grantees shall be subject to Illinois’ statewide Audit Report Review requirements. Terms of the Single Audit Act Amendments of 1996 (31 USC 7501-7507), Subpart F of 2 CFR Part 200, and the audit rules set forth under the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act shall apply (See 30 ILCS 708/65(c)).

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500 East Monroe, Springfield IL 62701

https://www2.illinois.gov/dceo/ConnectIllinois/Pages/default.aspx

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10/19/2021

FY 2020 : $150,000