Charles County gets $1.1 million for rural connectivity

Secretary of Housing and Community Development Jacob R. Day presented a $1.1 million grant to Charles County commissioners on March 12 to help extend broadband services into rural areas.

The $1.1 million grant comes from The Connect Maryland: FY24 Home Stretch–Difficult to Serve Properties program that utilizes $24,223,815 of the state’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund to provide financial assistance to local jurisdictions to further the state’s digital access efforts, according to the Office of Statewide Broadband’s plan.

Many unserved locations are unserved not due to a lack of nearby infrastructure, but due to the difficulty and cost of installing service, the plan says.

Charles County received the maximum possible award to help alleviate some of these costs.

The Charles County Rural Broadband Task Force has spearheaded the efforts to help connect communities like Nanjemoy and Cobb Neck for years.

At a luncheon at Nanjemoy Community Center with county staff and staff from the Department of Housing and Community Development, Evelyn Jacobson, the chief of information technology for Charles County, gave a presentation on the progress that the Rural Broadband Task Force has made.

“Comcast and Verizon do not extend service to areas that don’t meet their density requirements,” Jacobson said, outlining a prominent issue they had to address.

However, enough progress has been made that Jacobson reported that one of the biggest problems is finding people who do not have internet access.

The county encouraged residents of rural areas to sign easements with ThinkBig Networks to create new fiber optic lines in a 2022 town hall, leading to more residents getting connected.

Day was interested to know which populations are most impacted in the struggle for connectivity, and while Jacobson did not have the data with her at the moment, she guessed that low-income individuals are harder to connect.

Day said it was important to make sure that those who live in these remote locations have the opportunity to telework, emphasizing digital equity — the concept that everyone should have equal access to digital technologies, under the Digital Equity Act.

Charles County staff gave a presentation to Day showcasing their program to help distribute free laptops to low-income households to help those who are often forgotten in one of their efforts to further connectivity.

“I’m glad we’ve been of assistance and will continue to be of assistance,” Day said about efforts to help more enter the digital economy.