BEAD :$1 B
Treasury Capital Projects Fund: $253.7 M
Broadband Office Name:
Illinois Office of Broadband
Parent Department:
Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
The Connect Illinois program contains both short-term and long-term goals. In the short term, the plan calls for basic broadband access for homes, businesses, and community anchor institutions throughout the state at service levels of at least 25 Mbps x 3Mbps by 2024.
The program's long-term goal is access to at least one high-speed broadband provider of of 100 Mbps x 20 Mbps by 2028.
The Illinois Office of Broadband has a very extensive and thorough presence on YouTube with many Webinars explaining funding overviews, "broadband demand 101" types of explainers and coaching for broadband application development.
The state has been a leader in broadband development. It's been lucky to have had a champion in the form of Governor JB Prtizker. It also has a very dynamic and passionate broadband leader in the form of Matt Schmit, chair of the Illinois Broadband Advisory Council.
In fact, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society honored Pritzker as its “Broadband Champion” in December 2021 for his mission of ensuring universal broadband access and his leadership in establishing the Connect Illinois program in 2019.
The program was among the first to establish a $400 million matching grant fund. It's administered by the Illinois Office of Broadband, which is housed within the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
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