The Berrien County Broadband Project, an effort by the county and several partners to expand the availability of broadband internet in the community, is this year’s recipient of the Graham Woodhouse Intergovernmental Effort Award from the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission.
The award each year goes out to Southwest Michigan projects that demonstrate exemplary cooperation between local governments, non-profits, and private entities.
Speaking to the Berrien County Board of Commissioners Thursday, the planning commission’s John Egelhaaf said Berrien County spearheaded an effort to identify precisely where broadband was lacking in the community and then secured funding to fill the gaps.
“And look at the numbers, it’s really unbelievable,” Egelhaaf said “5,700-plus unserved households will then be served. So we’re talking about households with no viable internet or speeds below 25/3, which is really, really pokey slow if that. And then the 3,500 underserved households.”
Egelhaaf said Midwest Energy and Communications became the county’s partner in building all of that fiber out, securing more than $20 million from the state’s ROBIN grant program with financial support from affected counties and townships. He added the project looked at all areas of the county that lacked broadband.
“This project was never about the head of the class among townships and villages. We knew there were going to be the Oronoko Townships that were way ahead of the curve and just pushing, pushing, pushing. It wasn’t as much about them as it was about those that were deeply under-resourced, those that didn’t have the skill sets or even sort of the recognition that broadband was a big deal and needed to be solved.”
The Southwest Michigan Planning Commission handed out awards to several partners in the broadband effort, including members of the county broadband committee, the Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber, MEC, and Merit Network, Incorporated.
Egelhaaf called the entire broadband project “extraordinary work.”
