About

A team of 4 people were instrumental in securing the California Public Utilities Commission CASF grant and submitting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funding grant application for the Nevada County Connected project. Chip Carman and John Paul, co-owners of Spiral Internet Services located in Nevada City, were key in initiating the project in fall of 2008 upon recommendation by Nevada County CIO Steve Monaghan. When Federal broadband development stimulus funds were announced, it was determined that it would be best to funnel the grant applications through the non-profit Nevada County Economic Resource Council (ERC). Gil Mathew, President/CEO of the ERC, was brought into the grant-writing process, as was Kasey Allen of KBA Geography for project mapping and statistics. Hundreds of hours of work went into the application processes. Ongoing news about the project can be found at http://www.nevadacountyconnected.com
Nevada County Connected (NCC) is the project name for the state and federal middle-mile infratructure grant applications for American Recovery and Re-investment Act (ARRA) stimulus funding. The Nevada County Economic Resource Council (NCERC) applied for California PUC grants under the CASF program and federal grants under the BIP/BTOP programs.

A working group within NCERC, Nevada County Broadband Leadership Council (NCBLC), was formed to examine the availability of Broadband within Nevada County, look for technological and financial solutions to expand broadband accessibility in Nevada County, and look towards future broadband sustainability in the County to provide the greatest availability, access, and competitive pricing for our residents, businesses, and government services.

Nevada County

• NCC – Nevada County Connected
• NCBLC – Nevada County Broadband Leadership Council
  
• NCERC – Nevada County Economic Resource Council

State

• CASF – California Advanced Services Fund
  $100M funded under CPUC to provide state grants to “telephone corporations”
  
• CETF – California Emerging Technology Fund
  $60M funded from ATT/Verizon to expand broadband adoption
  
• CPUC – California Public Utilities Commission

Federal

• ARRA – American Recovery and Re-investment Act of 2009
  Title VI – Broadband Technology Opportunities Program
  $7.2B appropriated for broadband stimulus
  
• FCC – Federal Communications Commission
  
• NTIA – National Telecommunications and Infrastructure Agency
  Department of Commerce
  BTOP – Broadband Technology Opportunity Programs
• RUS – Rural Utility Services
  Department of Agriculture
  BIP – Broadband Initiative Program