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Digital Divide Grant Program

Grantor:
Public Utilities Commission
Portal ID:
15803
Status:
Closed
Opportunity Type:
  • Grant
Last Updated:
 | 
Categories:

Details

Purpose:

The California Public Utilities Commission Digital Divide Grant Program will award four grants of up to $250,000 each to eligible Community-Based Organizations on a competitive basis. The grants will fund digital projects that serve a beneficiary school located in an urban or rural, small school district. Projects may address physical gaps in local broadband networks, affordability, access to personal devices and digital skills training.

 

Description:

 

The DDGP, will provide four grants of up to $250,000 each, for a total of $1 million. The DDGP is funded by a percentage of fees collected from leasing state-owned property to wireless telecommunications service providers, pursuant to Government Code Section 14666.8. Eligible projects will serve a beneficiary school located in an urban or rural low-income small school district. Beneficiary schools must have a Free and Reduced-Price Meal participation rate of at least 50 percent.  Projects may address physical gaps in local broadband networks, affordability, access to personal devices, and digital skills training. Projects must provide a holistic solution.

Grant recipients must be a non-profit community-based organization (CBO) with a demonstrated record of work in addressing the digital divide. The CBO will partner with an eligible public school or district to deploy the project. The beneficiary of the project will be the partner public school or district. The CPUC will evaluate and score applications to the DDGP and award grants for up to four projects using the competitive process described in Resolution T-17770.

Eligible nonprofit CBOs may submit applications for grant funding.  Applicants must have a demonstrated record of successful and satisfactory work deploying community technology projects and/or projects to bridge the digital divide. Applicants must have a project established/active with a beneficiary school(s), or, at minimum, an agreement with a beneficiary school to execute a proposed project.

In the first stage of review, panelists will evaluate the baseline requirements to determine if the CBO’s application can progress to the second stage of review. The baseline requirements include:

The application must be complete and timely submitted.

The applicant is a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

The applicant must be in good standing with the California Franchise Tax Board.

The applicant must submit at least three letters of recommendation.

The applicant must have a project established/active with a beneficiary school(s), or, at minimum, an agreement with a beneficiary school(s) to execute a proposed project.

The applicant must submit at least two letters of endorsement per beneficiary school supporting the digital divide project. One letter is required from each of the following: the beneficiary school’s district office and the beneficiary school’s Parent Teachers Association.

The beneficiary school(s) must be located within the boundaries of an urban or rural small school district, as identified by the California Department of Education.

The beneficiary school(s) must have a Free or Reduced-Price Meal participation rate of at least 50 percent.

In the second evaluation stage, panelists will review the remaining applications to assign scores on each of the following categories: Scope of Work, Experience, Budget, and Overall.

The application window is open and will close on January 11, 2023.

For more information on the DDGP, including a list of eligible schools, CBO eligibility criteria, the application process, schedules, and forms, please go to: www.cpuc.ca.gov/ddgp.

 

 

Eligibility Requirements

Eligible Applicants:

  • Nonprofit
  • Public Agency

Eligible non profit CBOs must be organized and operate exclusively for one or more of the purposes described in Section 501c3 of the Internal Revenue Code. CBO applicants must have a demonstrated record of successful and satisfactory work in deploying community technology projects to bridge the digital divide. Applicants must have a project established/active with a beneficiary school(s), or have an agreement to execute a proposed project.

Eligible Geographies:

The Digital Divide Grant is for rural and urban small school districts with Free/Reduced meal participation of at least 50%. The DDGP relies on data from the California Department of Education (CDE) to determine eligibility of schools. CDE designates small school districts that have an ADA (average daily attendance) of less than 2500; medium are over 2500; large districts are over 10,000. The urban/rural designation is from Census track data

Important Dates

The date (and time, where applicable) by which all applications must be submitted to the grantmaker. Time listed as “00:00” equates to midnight.
The date on which the grantor expects to announce the recipient(s) of the grant.
After project review
The length of time during which the grant money must be utilized.
97 days

Funding Details

The total projected dollar amount of the grant.
$1,000,000
A single grant opportunity may represent one or many awards. Some grantors may know in advance the exact number of awards to be given. Others may indicate a range. Some may wish to and wait until the application period closes before determining how many awards to offer; in this case, a value of “Dependent” will display.
4
Grant opportunities representing multiple awards may offer awards in the same amount or in varied amounts. Some may wish to wait until the application period closes before determining per-award amounts; in this case, a value of “Dependent” will display.
$1 – $250,000
Certain grants require that the recipient(s) provide a letter of intent.
Yes ( see Description for details )
Certain grants require that the recipient(s) be able to fully or partially match the grant award amount with another funding source.
No
The funding source allocated to fund the grant. It may be either State or Federal (or a combination of both), and be tied to a specific piece of legislation, a proposition, or a bond number.
  • State

Funding Source Notes:

The Digital Divide Grant is funded by fee's collected from the lease of certain state owned property to wireless telecommunication providers, pursuant to Govt. Code Section 14666.8. The Digital Divide Account maintains a balance of $1.2 million that can fund projects. Payment of grant funds will be made through a monthly reimbursement process. Ten percent of the monthly reimbursement will be held back until the project is successfully completed.

The manner in which the grant funding will be delivered to the awardee. Funding methods include reimbursements (where the recipient spends out-of-pocket and is reimbursed by the grantor) and advances (where the recipient spends received grant funds directly).
  • Reimbursement(s)

Funding Method Notes:

Payment of grant funds will be made available through a monthly reimbursement process. Ten percent of the monthly reimbursement will be held until the project is completed. Payments will be based upon approval of receipts, invoices and other supporting documents showing the expenses incurred for the project are in accordance with the grants recipients' projection application, D.21-10-020, Public Utilities Section 280.5 and Resolution T-17770.

How to Apply

State agencies/departments recommend you read the full grant guidelines before applying.

Resources

For questions about this grant, contact:
Karo Serle, 1-415-703-2185, karo.serle@cpuc.ca.gov

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