EAGLE-Net Alliance

On September 13, 2010 then-Colorado Governor Bill Ritter announced that the state had received a $100 million federal grant to create an affordable broadband network that would allow underserved schools, libraries, colleges and communities access to the main artery that now connects the world: high-speed internet. Nearly a year earlier, El Pomar Foundation's Northeast Regional Council learned of a developing effort to provide rural communities with internet access, with a particular emphasis on distance learning. The Council recommended a $25,000 grant to Centennial BOCES, then in charge of building the infrastructure. With the huge federal grant, the project took on a new name (EAGLE-Net Alliance) and gained steam.

That is why Denise Atkinson-Shorey, now president of EAGLE-Net Alliance, says emphatically that the "little grant" paved the way for the big one. Today, Atkinson-Shorey is part of an effort that aims to serve all 178 of Colorado's K-12 school districts, along with the community anchor institutions that support them.

GRANT DETAIL

$25,000 recommended by El Pomar Foundation's Northeast Regional Council

DID YOU KNOW?

At the time the grant was awarded, Colorado ranked 42 out of 50 states in broadband connectivity, with broadband service costing 10 times that of neighboring states.