Press Release  Healey-Driscoll Administration Awards $4 Million in Community Compact Grants to Municipalities and School Districts

Boston — The Healey-Driscoll administration today announced $4 million in grants through the Community Compact Municipal Fiber grant program. These grants will benefit 32 municipalities and school districts across the Commonwealth, including multiple rural communities, to support the construction or completion of their municipal fiber networks.

These projects will enable centralized management of IT infrastructure, including an enterprise approach to network monitoring, cybersecurity, records management, and backup and recovery.

“Massachusetts residents rely on local government to deliver core services daily, and information technology plays a significant role in making that happen,” Governor Maura Healey said. “This grant program is one of the many ways we partner with cities and towns to better serve residents, and we are proud to be able to help them improve their municipal broadband infrastructure.”

“As a former mayor, I appreciate the challenges municipal leaders face with financing critical IT initiatives, such as constructing or building out a fiber network, and I am thrilled that we can help support municipalities in this space,” Lieutenant Governor Kimberley Driscoll said. “I want to congratulate the award winners and thank all those involved for their continued commitment to their communities.”

The Municipal Fiber Grant Program offers competitive grants to support the closing of critical gaps that exist in municipal networks. Awards are focused on connecting municipality-owned facilities and assisting municipalities in achieving critical goals associated with municipal fiber networks, including protection from the growing risk of cyber security exploits targeting local government, the expansion of remote work and meeting the expectations of constituents who enjoy the convenience of interacting with government online.

These grants can be particularly helpful to smaller and more rural communities that lack the resources and infrastructure to meet their information technology needs.

“The grants announced today will help municipalities build out their fiber network, which will empower these communities to leverage other technologies that make local government more efficient and cost effective,” Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew J. Gorzkowicz said. “We are pleased to be able to distribute funding that will help more than 30 cities, towns, and school districts with these important upgrades that may otherwise be unaffordable.”

“Closing the gaps that exist in municipal networks with the installation of fiber is a critical component to enhancing a network's cybersecurity, backup, and recovery capabilities,” Technology Services and Security Secretary Jason Snyder said. “I applaud the grant awardees for taking advantage of this funding opportunity and providing leadership in municipal cybersecurity to support the residents they serve.”

“The Municipal Fiber Grant Program is an important tool to help rural and small towns close the digital divide,” said the Executive Office of Economic Development’s Director of Rural Affairs Anne Gobi. “We are excited these grants will help communities in our state connect and improve networks for municipal organizations that provide important services to residents, such as schools, libraries, emergency response units, and police stations.” 

Examples of the grants include the following:

• Freetown - $300,000 will allow the town to create Municipal Fiber Network that connects municipal buildings to each other, as well as to the Regional School District and the Radio Towers
• Berkley - $200,000 will enable the town to connect multiple municipally-owned facilities to high-speed fiberoptic communications
• Middleton - $335,000 will allow the municipalities of Danvers, Essex, Hamilton, Gloucester, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Middleton, Rockport, Topsfield and Wenham to implement redundancy to the North Shore fiber optic network. This will allow it to become the primary means of data transmission throughout the region.
• Gardner - $200,000 will enable the city to add three locations to the City's network: a connection between the Police Department and the School Department; a connection to the radio repeater; and a connection with the Senior Center.
• Belchertown - $185,030 will allow the town to install a redundant fiber loop to public safety buildings and add fiber to 2 cell towers to finish public safety radio access

For a full list of awardees and projects, click here.

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