County staff told the Berrien County Board of Commissioners that support statements for a Broadband Expansion grant application are growing and urged local organizations to submit endorsements to help internet service providers’ applications.

A county staff member said the program — described in the meeting as the “Broadband Expansion Grant” — requires ISPs to submit a minimum number of local support statements to score competitively. The staff member said in the past week the county received statements from the Berrien County Board of Commissioners, BC BIT members, United Way of Southwest Michigan, the Connexus Group, Berrien County RESA, State House Representative Pauline Wenzel and State Senator Jonathan Lindsey, and that more statements are expected.

Nut graf: Staff said strong local support could help ISPs secure grant funding; they encouraged commissioners to forward potential endorsers to county staff to increase the number of statements. The staff member noted that an ISP generally needs at least 10 support statements to maximize grant points.

Details: The staff presenter said county staff had “blanketed the county Internet” with requests to community groups and partners. Commissioners were asked to share names of community organizations that might submit support statements. The staff member described the recent submissions as progress and asked the board to keep outreach going over the coming week.

Ending: The board opened the meeting to one final round of public comment and then recessed briefly for committee meetings.