Peoria County reports 93 households approved for digital equity pilot; rural infrastructure barrier highlighted

Peoria County staff reported on Jan. 9 that the county’s digital equity pilot received 348 initiated applications and that roughly 93 households have been approved to participate in an initial enrollment round.

The update, delivered to the Peoria County Board by Mr. Allen, a Peoria County staff member, said 95 applications were complete and scored, 94 were initially selected, and one of those was later found ineligible because the household lived outside Peoria County. “Of those 348 applications, we had 95 that were complete,” Mr. Allen said. He added that one otherwise-eligible household could not be served because a service-provider site visit showed it would cost about $70,000 to install the necessary infrastructure.

The pilot’s applicants come from across the county, including Peoria, West Peoria, Bartville and Princeville. Mr. Allen said staff worked with the county GIS team to map in-progress and completed applications and that representatives from 18 county board districts applied; at the time of the report, districts 12, 13 and 15 had no approved participants.

Why it matters: the pilot is intended to test enrollment processes and service delivery before the county expands the program. Mr. Allen told the board the pilot will focus first on getting the currently approved applicants onboarded with local…