A Springfield steering committee planning for the city’s expansion of affordable broadband internet services, especially for residents of the city’s north and east sides, is receiving technical assistance from a new state program.
Springfield is one of six communities selected by the administration of Gov. JB Pritzker to be in the first group served by the Accelerate Illinois Broadband Infrastructure Planning Program.
In addition to Springfield, the “communities” include the tiny Jersey County village of Elsah and the counties of Knox, Jackson, Mercer and Whiteside.
Julia Frevert, Springfield’s communications director, said the state program’s once-a-week, hour-long online informational sessions for the city’s seven-member steering committee will conclude this spring.
Conducted by the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, the sessions will help the panel come up with a broadband expansion plan for the City Council’s consideration this year, and possible full implementation by 2024, to “close the digital divide in Springfield,” she said.
“Through our previous research and data-gathering, coupled with city assets, we believe our participation in the Accelerate Illinois program will help us formulate this plan and implementation strategy,” she said.
“Connection to high-speed internet is critical to the equitable economic good for our neighborhoods and families, and we look forward to furthering conversations with our residents and stakeholders to hear how we can best make that a reality,” she said.
The city’s steering committee members are: Shelly Heideman, executive director of the Faith Coalition for the Common Good; Mike Murphy, president and CEO of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce; Kathi Lee, principal of Lawrence Education Center; Marcus Johnson, president and CEO of the Springfield Urban League; Stacy Grundy, interim director of the Office of Community Engagement for Southern Illinois University; Ward 3 Ald. Roy Williams; and Donna Davlantis, grants coordinator for Springfield’s Office of Planning and Economic Development.
The Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance is spearheading a similar effort for the entire county.
The alliance, which promotes economic development in Sangamon County, plans to award a contract in the coming weeks for a consultant who will analyze gaps in broadband internet in rural, suburban and urban areas of the county and propose solutions, alliance President and Chief Executive Officer Ryan McCrady said.
The study will be funded by a $100,000 grant from Sangamon County government, he said. The money will come from the county’s share of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The consultant will work with Springfield officials to use information that already may have been collected on specific neighborhoods, McCrady said.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted gaps in internet access that many families deal with when it comes to where they live and what they can afford, he said. Those gaps have made it hard for many people to work from home and provide a productive at-home educational environment for their children during the pandemic, he said.
The availability of affordable, fast internet service is important when a business is considering opening or expanding, especially in rural areas, McCrady said.
“Broadband is a key economic development tool,” he said.
The efforts by Springfield and the alliance could culminate with applications for state or federal assistance to pay for broadband infrastructure, officials said.
Both efforts envision the use of existing private internet providers and expanding their reach.
“We are working to get broadband to the inner city and the underserved,” Frevert said.
The Springfield steering committee’s work, she said, likely will focus on the 62701, 62702 and 62703 ZIP codes, which cover some of the city’s most economically challenged neighborhoods, she said.
Some existing internet providers offer reduced-price broadband access in certain neighborhoods, she said. The city’s future plans could include expanding that access, as well as providing internet-connected devices such as laptops and tablets and teaching residents how useful the internet can be to improving their quality of life, Frevert said.
Fast internet – beyond the internet speeds available through smartphone cellular networks – can be essential for telehealth services, employment applications, education and home security systems, according to Tom Chi, project manager of Springfield’s smart cities program.
A report on Springfield’s 2021 internet survey, conducted by the University of Illinois Springfield’s Institute for Legal, Legislative and Policy Studies, said the results “paint a complicated picture of speed, reliability, quality and importance of the internet for Springfield households.”
The survey of 635 Springfield residents found people on the north and east sides were less likely to use the internet for accessing health care, interacting with local and non-local businesses, consuming news and connecting with government than residents of the south and west sides.
Residents of the south and west sides were much more likely to report having a household member who works from home, according to the survey, which is available online at bit.ly/SPIInternetSurvey.
Dean Olsen is a senior staff writer for Illinois Times. He can be reached at dolsen@illinoistimes.com or 217-679-7810.
This article appears in Fifty years of Doc Helm’s photos.
