Broadband

From 2009 to 2012, the West Virginia Broadband Technology Opportunities Project sought to make computers and the internet more accessible and useful to West Virginians in low-income and rural communities. The project partnered with 60 fire and rescue stations and two Veteran organizations across 37 counties and provided equipment to establish community computer labs. It also trained 172 staff and volunteers as Computer Mentors with the capacity to provide peer support and instruction in computer literacy, internet skills, and accessing online education opportunities. Some of the program’s achievements include:

• Reaching more than 37,000 people with community-based training programs.
• Selling nearly 500 refurbished computers to those who could not afford to purchase a new computer.
• Increasing broadband subscribership by more than 30,500 households and businesses.
• Reaching over 1.2 million people with the Benefits of Broadband awareness campaign.

Click here to read the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Case Study Report. 

Sustained activities include providing fire and rescue stations technical assistance with their computer labs, collaborating on the Wild, Wonderful & Wired awareness campaign with Mission West Virginia and Frontier Communications, and participating in regional broadband development planning efforts.

See the map below for the computer lab locations.