Northern Macomb County Broadband Infrastructure

Supervisor Sam Previti was proud to co-host with County Commissioner Don Brown for Macomb the Broadband Town Hall to Address Connectivity and Infrastructure in Northern Macomb County on Tuesday, January 16th from 4-7p.m. at Washington Twp. Hall

County Commissioner Don Brown has been working on bringing more Broadband to northern Macomb County along with myself and other Township Supervisors and we are ecstatic to hear from Comcast Government  & Regulatory Affairs Manager Jerome Record, he informed and explain new Broadband infrastructure being installed in the Northern Macomb County. Comcast was on hand and explained to residents the timeline of infrastructure and to alert residents that Comcast personnel will be installing new wire lines and installing additional poles to handle the infrastructure. This program is expected to be $250M of infrastructure covered by Comcast.

This Town Hall aims to address crucial issues related to broadband connectivity in Northern Macomb County, including Washington Township, Bruce Township, Armada, Richmond, and Ray Townships.

Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP): One of the highlights of the Town Hall is the introduction of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). This government program offers a credit of up to $30/month towards internet and/or mobile services for eligible low-income households. Residents who participate in the National School Lunch Program, SNAP, Medicaid, Federal Public Housing Assistance, Lifeline, Federal Pell Grants, WIC, and other qualifying benefit programs are eligible. For more information, please see attached documents along with visiting www.acpbenefit.org

I thank all that attended this event! If you missed it, please visit www.wbrwtv.com to watch the recording at the following link:
https://wbrw.viebit.com/player.php?hash=N8mdmdLI9BD3waeb

Additional resources provided by SEMCOG (Southeast Michigan Council of Governments):

• SEMCOG/MAC Broadband Framework: https://www.semcog.org/desktopmodules/SEMCOG.Publications/GetFile.ashx?filename=SEMCOG_MAC_RegionalBroadbandFramework_February2022.pdf
   
  This is our guiding framework for how we approach broadband issues as a region. I also would give additional credence to our goals, policies, and actions that apply to community planning

• Southeast Michigan Broadband Navigator: 
  https://broadband-semcog.hub.arcgis.com/

   
  The Broadband Navigator is an ArcGIS Hub website that provides many different pieces of information about broadband, digital equity, and resources to maximize the reach and connectivity to high-speed internet. This helps educate about broadband and digital literacy, and also points to different resources and organizations to get homes, businesses, and institutions connected.

• Southeast Michigan Broadband Availability and Usage Tool:
  https://maps.semcog.org/Broadband/

   
  The Broadband Availability and Usage Tool is a geospatial dashboard that uses information available from the 5-Year American Community Survey (currently 2017-2021) and Connected Nation Michigan to give a snapshot of the availability of providers and broadband internet, along with data on who has or lacks a broadband connection or internet-enabled devices. The link above is for the tool as a whole, but the one here goes directly to Washington Township: https://maps.semcog.org/Broadband/?community=3135.