How to Organize Your Broadband Plan
Download the Broadband Toolkit
Review this document to understand why and how to provide access to broadband internet in your region.
Identify a Digital Navigator and Organize a Broadband Team
Pinpoint a leader and the instrumental stakeholders to start planning.
Gather Information
Collect data surrounding broadband access, affordability and digital literacy to execute the master broadband plan for your community.
Broadband Toolkit
After countless visits with parish and community leaders throughout the state, reccurring questions kept being posted to our office. Stakeholders wanted to know what exactly we meant by broadband access and why it was important to them. Everyone wanted to know how they should organize themselves to help bring this added benefit to their communities. The first step toward eliminating the digital divide is to bridge the knowledge gap and quickly address the questions. Thus, the Broadband Toolkit was created with direct input from the community. This toolkit is a step-by-step guide designed to explain why and how to get everyone in your community or region access to broadband internet. This guide is for community leaders, elected officials, business owners and concerned citizens who will work with local governments and internet service providers for universal access to broadband.
EXCELLENT TOOLKIT! GREAT INFORMATION! Very thorough, understandable, explicit and reader friendly for all levels in layman’s terms! GREAT QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED! Great “WHAT IF” situations. The toolkit has all the information for all of us to take away a NEW & EASIER WAY of UNDERSTANDING BROADBAND and all the possibilities and how to get started on making those possibilities come true in our communities! - Mayor Jennifer Vidrine of Ville Platte
DRA Speed Test
The Delta Regional Authority recently launched its Delta Broadband Mapping Project. Rural areas lack adequate digital infrastructure to support access to critical services such as healthcare, distance learning and remote work. Through an innovative online crowd-sourcing platform, DRA has launched this effort to gauge broadband accessibility. As many residents as possible are needed to take this internet speed test to develop an accurate representation of availability.
Organize Your Stakeholders
Establish Your Digital Navigator
It’s critical to have local leadership support for broadband planning and investment relating to access, affordability, and digital literacy. Collectively, our state needs to solve the digital divide by 2029. Leaders should understand how an investment in broadband infrastructure will positively impact the longevity of their communities. The key to achieving universal broadband is identifying a Digital Navigator. This should be a local government leader who has the authority to make official requests of local government departments, believes in and can clearly articulate why the community wants and needs better broadband and can help educate elected officials of the value of universal broadband. It is essential that at least a portion of this person’s time be dedicated to keeping track of and following through with all the necessary steps of the broadband initiative. To achieve universal coverage throughout a local area, it’s imperative to ensure the presence of a champion within that local government.
Parishes that have established Digital Navigators:
- Bossier
- Calcasieu
- Concordia
- DeSoto
- East Carroll
- East Feliciana
- Evangeline
- LaSalle
- Livingston
- Natchitoches
- Ouachita
- Plaquemines
- Sabine
- St. Helena
- Tangipahoa
- Washington
Municipalities that have established Digital Navigators:
- Goldonna
- Monroe
- Slidell
- Stonewall
- Ville Platte
- West Monroe
Create Your Broadband Team
The Digital Navigator should establish a broadband management team. These folks won’t be working on broadband full-time, or even most of their time, but they’re supposed to support the Digital Navigator in their areas of work and expertise and know what’s going on. The broadband management team will oversee the daily activities associated with development of the parish's or municipality’s broadband plan to achieve functionally universal broadband coverage by 2029. The broadband management team will also work with local staff involved in broadband-related policies (internal policies, zoning ordinances and parish or municipal codes.)
Examples of members represented on local broadband teams:
- Sabine Parish
- Police jurors
- Aldermen
- Local higher education deans
- CEOs of local companies
- Mayor's staff
- School board members
- Bossier Parish
- Police jurors
- IT personnel
- Chamber of commerce members
- Parish engineers
- Economic development representatives
State Grants
GUMBO Program
The Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities grant program aims to help private providers facilitate the deployment of broadband service to unserved areas of the state. Any local government in Louisiana can partner with a private provider and apply for GUMBO grants. The initial round of grants was awarded July 25, 2022. Over $130 million was awarded to projects in 50 different parishes, with over 66,000 locations to be served. In addition, a second wave of grants was awarded on August 31, 2022, where $38 million was awarded to an additional set of projects in 10 different parishes. View recent awards below
Federal Grants
Federal grants are great tools to look into for additional support. They tend to work differently from state programs in that the local government does not always need to be involved—or even consulted. In most cases, internet service providers work on projects by themselves. Several federal programs have been established to directly fund broadband expansion and affordability. There may be federal funding already invested and at work in your community for broadband. Outside of GUMBO, the following resource from the National Telecommunications Information Agency does a great job in helping a variety of constituents understand what federal grant programs are best available to address your local access, literacy and affordability challenges.
Federal funding matrix - low bandwidth option
Grantor: Federal Communications Commission
Website
The schools and libraries universal service support program, commonly known as the E-rate program, helps schools and libraries to obtain affordable broadband.
Eligible schools, school districts and libraries may apply individually or as part of a consortium. Funding may be requested under two categories of service: category one services to a school or library (telecommunications, telecommunications services and internet access), and category two services that deliver internet access within schools and libraries (internal connections, basic maintenance of internal connections, and managed internal broadband services). Discounts for support depend on the level of poverty and whether the school or library is in an urban or rural area. The discounts range from 20% to 90% of the costs of eligible services. E-rate program funding is based on demand up to an annual Commission-established cap of $3.9 billion.
Grantor: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Website
The Farm Bill Broadband Program is designed to provide loans for funding, on a technology neutral basis, for the costs of construction, improvement and acquisition of facilities and equipment to provide broadband service to eligible rural communities.
Grantor: Federal Communications Commission, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, other
Website
The Federal Communications Commission compiles and lists several funding sources for telecommunications and broadband services for eligible health care providers. They are as follows:
- FCC’s Rural Health Care Program
- Includes Healthcare Connect Fund
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Programs
- Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
- National Institutes for Health
Grantor: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Website
The Rural Business Development Grants combines the Rural Business Opportunity Grant program and the Rural Business Enterprise Grant program. USDA Rural Development is currently working on a rule to implement the program.
Grantor: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Website
The Telecommunications Infrastructure Loan Program makes long-term direct and guaranteed loans to qualified organizations for the purpose of financing the improvement, expansion, construction, acquisition and operation of telephone lines, facilities or systems to furnish and improve telecommunications service in rural areas. All facilities financed must be capable of supporting broadband services.
Mapping Tools
There are numerous resources available to identify broadband access, federal programs and mapping tools that stakeholders can use to investigate what is available and coming to your community.
The FCC Fixed Broadband Deployment Map, built off of Form 477 – a form which internet service providers must provide to the federal government indicating areas in which they provide service, is a great starting point for local governmental units. While not exact, this map can give local leaders a directional sense of the areas within their communities that may lack access to broadband service
The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund is a federal program that awarded funding to internet service providers who committed to providing broadband service to unserved areas. These locations are important to local governmental units for two reasons. First, as a community works to solve its digital divide, it may be beneficial to communicate with RDOF winning companies that will be deploying broadband in areas near your community. Secondly, if a community would like to participate as a partner in the GUMBO grant program, it is important to know that RDOF areas are not eligible.
The Connect America Fund was a comprehensive reform of the Universal Service Fund (USF) and Intercarrier Compensation (ICC) systems to accelerate broadband build-out to the approximately 23 million Americans (as of December 31, 2013) who lacked access to infrastructure capable of providing 10/1 Mbps fixed broadband.
The Connect America Fund Phase II was part of the FCC’s reform and modernization of its universal service support programs. In 2018, 103 bidders won $1.49 billion over 10 years to provide fixed broadband and voice services to over 700,000 locations in 45 states.
The ReConnect Program offers unique federal financing and funding options in the form of loans, grants, and loan/grant combinations to facilitate broadband deployment in areas of rural America that don’t currently have sufficient access to broadband.
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s NTIA released a new publicly available digital map that displays key indicators of broadband needs across the country. This map links poverty usage and broadband access by compiling data sets to show where high-poverty communities are located with relation to internet usage patterns and access to computers and related equipment.
This interactive map from Microsoft and the FCC shows, at a parish level, the percentage of residents with broadband access, the percentage of residents with a broadband subscription and the median household income.
Other Resources
National and state nonprofit organizations have historically provided grants for broadband providers and municipalities working toward broadband access for unserved and underserved populations.
Education Superhighway’s mission is to upgrade internet access in every public-school classroom in America so that all students can take advantage of the promise of digital learning. They have identified and offer resources to communities to overcome three primary barriers to having adequate broadband speeds in the classroom, awareness, expertise and affordability.
Grantor: EveryoneOn
Website
EveryoneOn is working to eliminate the digital divide by making high-speed, low-cost internet service and computers, and free digital literacy courses accessible to all unconnected Americans.
The national nonprofit does so through partnerships with local internet service providers and offers free or $9.95 home internet service in 48 states and the District of Columbia. They work with device refurbishers, so individuals and their families can purchase discounted devices, including $150 tablets and $199 laptops. Citizens can directly interact with the organization and receive the benefits.
A Facebook-led partnership with the mission to “connect the two-thirds of the world that don’t have internet access.”
TechSoup Global is one of the most comprehensive technology resources for non-governmental organizations around the world. Working with corporate donors, including Microsoft, Adobe, Cisco and Symantec, TechSoup provides non-governmental organizations, nonprofits, libraries and community-based organizations with the latest professional hardware, software, and services they need. These information and communication technology (ICT) donations are available alongside educational content, such as articles, webinars, and tech community forums.
Louisiana's Veteran Initiative (LAVETBIZ) is a certification program that is designed to help eligible Louisiana Veteran-owned and Service-Connected Disabled-Veteran-owned small businesses gain greater access to purchasing and contracting opportunities that are available at the state government level. Search for companies here.
A sample letter of intent can be found here.
A recent webinar on the program can be found here.
Louisiana's Hudson Initiative is a certification program that is designed to help eligible Louisiana small businesses gain greater access to purchasing and contracting opportunities that are available at the State government level. Search for companies here.
A sample letter of intent can be found here.
A recent webinar on the program can be found here.
Louisiana has a variety of internet service providers available who serve residential and commercial customers. Updated contact information for each company is included in this document.
Relative to in-kind contributions, this guidance is meant to assist applicants, internet service providers and co-ops, and partnering municipal governing authorities through the Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities grant program application period. Should any portion of this guidance be in conflict with the Emergency Rule, the Emergency Rule will take precedent.
ConnectLA recognizes barriers to deployment and the inherent need for stakeholders to work with the proper entities to facilitate and expedite permitting processes for their projects. As a state level partner, LA DOTD has been instrumental in assistance in this area. Specifically for broadband permitting projects, the following points of contact have been assigned to help providers in this area:
- Toby Picard, Assistant Road Design Engineer
- Bryan Hitt, HQ Right-of-Way Permits Engineer
Additional right-of-way permitting information can be found here. The website includes pertinent details for this unit, permitting forms and instructions, as well as contact information for all DOTD districts.
Railroad operators also play a large role in ensuring projects can be completed in a timely manner. Permit forms should be completed as required by each operator, and state funded broadband projects should be notated to ensure proper expedited processing. Details are listed below for each operator:
Union Pacific Railroad - Drew Tessier, Senior Director Public Affairs - 225-338-2937
Acadiana Railway - Jarrett Mankin & Chris Cline
Delta Southern Railroad - Jarrett Mankin & Chris Cline
Norfolk Southern - Tim Harrison, System Manager
Canadian National - Stacey Lyons, Manager, Government & Public Affairs
BNSF Railway - Michael Garriga
Arkansas, Louisiana & Mississippi Railroad - Donna Killingsworth - 904-900-6286
Louisiana & Delta Railroad - Donna Killingsworth - 904-900-6286
The high cost of internet service is a significant problem for many people. Though plans can be costly, there are still options available to those on limited incomes and even fixed incomes!
This guide explains different types of internet access for limited-income families and provides avenues for government assistance if need be.