$115M To Boost High-Speed Internet Across IL: Pritzker

ILLINOIS — Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday announced $115 million in funding to make high-speed internet available to more than 26,000 homes, businesses and institutions in Illinois.

The state funneled $50 million in grants to the Connect Illinois program, which aims to ensure basic internet access is available everywhere in the state by 2024. The state’s grants were more than doubled by $65 million raised through other sources, Pritzker said at a press conference in Geneseo.

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"Connect Illinois is about the right of all of our communities to access health care and education and economic opportunities, because in the 21st century, all of those rights are tied in some way to digital connectivity," Pritzker said.

The first round of Connect Illinois funding is set to support more than two dozen projects to bolster high-speed internet infrastructure and access throughout Illinois, officials said. Just $1.8 million of the more than $115 million in funding will go toward projects in Cook County, with a vast majority set to support projects in western and southern Illinois.

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Under Pritzker’s Connect Illinois program, the state is set to allocate $420 million for broadband expansion projects over the next four years. The program requires internet service providers to match grants, allowing officials to leverage a further $400 million in funding.

"When we are done, everyone — and I mean everyone — everywhere in Illinois will have access to high-speed internet," Pritzker said.

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Michael Negron, the acting director of Illinois’ Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, said high-speed internet could have a "truly compelling" and "transformative" impact on farms by allowing them to monitor markets operate more efficiently. The investment in rural broadband projects can help "make our industries and our communities more resilient and sustainable," Negron said.

"Making broadband universally available to farms, biz, hosp, unis and residents, well that creates an environment where future innovations that we haven’t even thought of can bloom," Negron said.

To see the full list of broadband expansion projects, click here.