Gov. Tony Evers, together with U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA), and the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC), today announced that the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) approved the state’s plans to utilize $140 million of federal funds from the Capital Projects Fund (CPF) provided by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The funding will be used to support two new grant programs, the Flexible Facilities Program and the Digital Connectivity and Navigators Program, to support high-quality multipurpose community facilities and help address high-speed internet access, affordability, and adoption in the state.
Since 2019, Evers has allocated more than $345 million in state and federal funds to expand high-speed internet, including the largest state investment in state history, ensuring that more than 395,000 homes and businesses will have new or improved service.
Under the Flexible Facilities Program, DOA will award up to $107 million for local and Tribal governments to construct or improve buildings and purchase digital connectivity equipment. Eligible facilities include public libraries, community centers, and other anchor institutions designed to jointly and directly enable work, education, and health monitoring located in communities with critical need for capital projects.
The grant announcement and associated application materials are expected to be available in early 2024. Interested parties can sign up to receive email updates for the Flexible Facilities Program by emailing FlexibleFacilitiesProgram@wisconsin.gov.
Under the Digital Connectivity and Navigators Program, the PSC will award up to $33 million to nonprofit organizations and other eligible entities to deploy computing devices, install Wi-Fi equipment in targeted apartment buildings, and provide digital navigation services to make use of the devices and Wi-Fi for work, education, and health monitoring.
