Announcement of a new planning and capacity building program to help Illinois communities leverage historic broadband infrastructure funding for community-driven broadband expansion was made by Governor Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity on December 1, 2021.

The Accelerate Illinois Broadband Infrastructure Planning Program, a collaborative effort by the Illinois Office of Broadband, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and the University of Illinois Extension is made possible through the financial support of Heartland Forward and its Connecting the Heartland initiative.  The Accelerate Illinois program will offer an intensive 14-week planning session for communities leveraging federal and state infrastructure dollars.

The Accelerate Illinois 'Notice of Collaboration Opportunity' is open now and accepting applications through December 30, 2021.

For more information, read the full DCEO News Release here (December 1, 2021).