The Santa Rosa Local Technology Planning Team (LTPT) will hold a public meeting in the Santa Rosa County Extension Auditorium, 6263 Dogwood Drive in Milton, on Tue., Oct. 15 from 2 to 4 p.m.
This meeting will include a recap of the deployment strategies implemented, identification of new unserved and underserved project areas, and refocusing planning efforts on service to Santa Rosa County’s industrial parks and non-deployment strategies needed to increase digital adoption and use. This meeting is intended to open conversations around the remaining unserved and underserved areas of the county, incentives to serve Santa Rosa County’s industrial parks, and emerging broadband workforce needs. For more information, email grants@santarosa.fl.gov.
The Santa Rosa County LTPT hosts public meetings to ensure compliance with the 2020 legislative mandate that created it and works to close the digital divide for all Santa Rosa County residents and businesses. The local broadband assessment and planning process focused initially on rural parts of the county including farming communities, forest communities, and Garcon Point communities. The team includes representatives from education, library science, agriculture, health, business, industry, public safety, tourism, and internet service providers.
Florida Commerce, formerly Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity, has announced through its Office of Broadband $1.1 Billion in BEAD (Broadband Equity Access and Deployment) funding for Florida. These federal funds can be accessed by private service providers with endorsement from Local Technology Planning Teams, by local governments, school districts and non-profits engaged in digital literacy training. Individuals are not eligible applicants. Applications must prove to the LTPT and the State they are connecting unserved and underserved addresses, connecting community anchor institutions, and integrating effective digital literacy, adoption and use for all covered populations.
