Search our curated library of expert resources, including funding guides, policy analysis, how-to's, and more.
This press release announces a partnership between fiber provider 123NET, the Detroit Community Project, and Grace in Action Collective to bring low-cost fiber and digital literacy to a Detroit neighborhood. The collaboration is part of Project OVERCOME.
This compilation of video resources includes discussions from cities and utility companies about their partnership business models, how to build shared goals, and best practices for project implementation. The resource covers both broadband partnerships and other smart city applications.
This resource defines equity and explores how cities can align technology programs with equity goals. It also includes best practices and a resource list for communities seeking to create equitable communities through technology.
In this video, two officials from West Lafayette, Indiana—Chief Innovation and Collaboration Officer David Broecker and Vice President of Innovation and Technology Troy Hege—lay out their vision for a neutral host infrastructure in the city. They hope the project will spark competition and innovation, including building out a private cellular network and Wi-Fi access for new services.
This video features Syracuse, New York, Deputy Commissioner Jennifer Tifft discussing the city’s effort to develop a multi-year, smart city roadmap with near-term pilot projects. The projects are designed to collect data from new sensors and camera-based systems. She also describes the city’s priorities and why the local government is investing in digital infrastructure.
In this video, Philadelphia Smart City Director Emily Yates talks about data privacy, the digital divide, the need for public-private partnerships, and Philadelphia’s pitch and pilot program. She also discusses why the city is partnering with US Ignite and mentions the challenges the city is hoping to address with through technology.
In this video, Mayor David Berger of Lima, Ohio discusses the importance of railway infrastructure in Lima, but adds that railway crossings can lead to traffic congestion. Mayor Berger talks about partnering with several state agencies, network provider Spectrum, and US Ignite to create and test a system of sensors as a potential solution for rerouting vehicles and minimizing backups.
A video of Greensboro (North Carolina) CIO Jane Nickles discussing connecting unconnected households and how the pandemic exposed gaps in broadband coverage for local students. She also discusses the city’s partnerships with US Ignite and the fiber provider Segra, along with building connected cities in the Triad region of North Carolina.
This video features Matt Sayre of Onward Eugene (Oregon) explaining how his city is looking to build on three years of digital infrastructure growth, including partnering with nearby Springfield. He discusses the investments the City made pre-pandemic to keep students connected and how teaming up with multiple local entities is improving the community’s post-pandemic economic recovery.
This video from February 2021 details use cases Arlington County, Virginia’s, Safety and Innovation Zone Demonstration project will explore, and how technology could help officials respond to emergencies faster. Arlington’s Assistant CIO for Strategic Initiatives Holly Hartell discusses privacy safeguards, such as a new privacy panel the county is putting in place.
This playbook from US Ignite is a transcription of the Ignite on Air podcast, in which leaders from American cities shared their experiences with smart city small cells. They describe their interactions with wireless carriers and provide insight related to permitting, deployment strategies, and revenue opportunities.
This playbook from US Ignite shares the experiences and lessons from community leaders and on-profit partners as discussed during the Smart City Connectivity workshop on 2019. Leaders discuss how to fit connectivity into the context of community planning, how to partner with the private sector, and developing pathways for scalable projects.
This resource is a collection of lessons gathered from US Ignite's 2018 workshop on deploying wireless networking equipment, small cell sites, public Wi-Fi, and Internet of Things sensors. The playbook combines insights from local government, industry, and nonprofit organizations.
This resource announces the $20 million investment into DigitalC from Project OVERCOME, the National Science Foundation, and Schmidt Futures. DigitalC provides some of the highest wireless bandwidths to homes in Greater Cleveland’s unserved and underserved areas, along with training and access to devices. The grant will help expand capacity to provide access and accelerate adoption of broadband connectivity infrastructure throughout the city.
This resource collects examples of how Project OVERCOME helped deploy novel broadband technology solutions to underserved communities in both rural and urban settings. Implementing a technological solution is only part of the challenge, while another major piece is to encourage community engagement. The communities that benefitted from Project OVERCOME programs used different methods to engage community members, such as ice cream socials and community building projects.
This news piece details the impact of a Project OVERCOME grant in the Blue River community that was ravaged by a fire that destroyed the area's communications infrastructure. The grant allowed the community to rebuild the area's Internet infrastructure. Based on the lesson learned, the community designed a solar powered steel communications tower that is more resilient and less vulnerable to fire.
This set of recommendations proposes establishing an advanced wireless strategy to accelerate 5G deployment while developing next generation wireless technologies across America. This resource addresses the challenges of advancing 5G technologies and examines the proposed actions and necessary investments.
This resource provides an introductory overview of US Ignite's technology pilot program built for the 5G Living Lab at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego. The goal of the program is to provide experience with systems that will improve overall safety and efficiency on base. The pilot program aims to help develop a framework of best practices that will serve smart bases and smart communities across the country.
US Ignite introduces the Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) program, a program aimed at enhancing broadband connectivity across rural areas by accelerating the nation’s wireless innovation ecosystem and spreading experimental wireless communications research. Each research platform conceived under the PAWR program will enable at-scale experimentation by supporting the geographic size, technical diversity, and user density representative of a small city or community.
This guide to community engagement created by US Ignite emphasizes the importance of empowering and collaborating with the public in solving civic problems. The document focuses on three aspects of successful community engagement: understanding, planning, and operationalizing, and ensuring that efforts are meaningful. It also includes links to resources for communities.
US Ignite, through its Smart Gigabit Communities (SGC) program, describes how it supports select communities in creating local and national partnerships to provide tools for building smart community strategies, applications, Requests for Proposals (RFPs), and sustainability plans to help drive new services, startups, jobs, and innovation investments.
This press release tells of affordable high-speed internet finally being accessible to 225 households in Lexington Village, an apartment complex in Cleveland. Funding for the project came from US Ignite and the National Science Foundation.
This tool is a partnership between US Ignite and the City of Portland to provide small businesses with a free, accessible open-source tool that uses city and federal data combined with real-time data from sensors, demographic data, and traffic data so the businesses can make informed decisions about choosing their locations. The tool can deliver significant value to the development community, allow local policies to incentivize development decisions, and enhance recovery for the community.
This resource presents excerpts from a conversation between US Ignite Director of Community Development Lee Davenport and Gigi Sohn of the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy. Sohn provides an overview of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework Bill (BIF) and outlines key federal funding insights for smart communities and cities.
The Resource Library is a curated collection of expert broadband resources, including funding guides, policy analyses, how-tos, and more. Every resource has been verified by the CTC Energy & Technology team, drawing on their more than forty years of expertise. The library is continuously updated as new resources are submitted for review. Search the resource library to find analysis, explainers, and case studies to answer your broadband questions.