Drake State awarded $2.4M grant to connect minority communities to high-speed Internet

HUNTSVILLE — Drake State Community & Technical College received a $2.4 million grant to help increase broadband and computer access in the Madison County area.

The award is through the U.S. Department of Commerce and National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Connecting Minority Communities Pilot program. The program is to help eliminate historical broadband and computer access inequities in and around Madison County. Drake State applied for the competitive federal grant with more than 200 universities and colleges across the United States.

“We are incredibly proud to win this significant award from the U.S. Department of Commerce,” said Dr. Patricia G. Sims, president. “Drake State will use the federal funds to address long-standing digital inequities by offering laptops with broadband internet services to each and every Drake State student, and additional connectivity to their families.

“This technology will help eliminate the digital divide for our community and open doors to learning, connect working adults and students to employers, and provide economic and career mobility for Drake State’s students.”

Drake State will use the money to implement a computer and broadband access
program that includes:

• furnishing Drake students, including high school students who are dually enrolled at the
  College, with access to enabled laptops;
• increasing at-home broadband access for Drake State students and their family
  members by providing home wireless broadband kits to those eligible families within a
  15-mile radius of the college campus; and
• creating a mobile cyber-lab learning bus.

Drake State will also partner with Alabama A&M University to implement secure, online student access to learning, teaching, and research resources, such as the library, mental health services, or information on food assistance; and Western Governors University to
expand access to a National Security Agency and Department of Homeland
Security certified cyber defense degree program in cybersecurity.