Building community broadband: Barriers and opportunities for community-based organizations in the federal BTOP and BIP broadband development programs

Abstract

Despite $7.2 billion of recent federal investments in broadband infrastructure through the Broadband Technology Opportunities and Broadband Initiatives Programs (BTOP and BIP), questions around the effectiveness of such national-scale initiatives at the local level remain. Drawing on ethnographic interviews, observation, and documentary evidence, this paper charts the experience of twenty-seven grassroots and community-based organizations (CBOs) from around the country that have engaged the BTOP and BIP process. We explore the challenges CBOs have faced in initiating, developing partnerships, and executing BTOP and BIP grant applications. We find that CBOs often struggled to define the effective scope of potential BTOP projects; to align these with traditional organizational goals; to develop effective project partnerships, including with larger and more institutionalized partners; and to meet the formal evaluation, reporting, and management requirements of a large-scale and sensitive federal program. Despite these barriers, several community-based organizations have engaged in successful BTOP and BIP applications, which are now moving into operational stage. This paper documents these experiences, and concludes with recommendations for reform of the BTOP, BIP, or possible successor programs that could improve the inclusion and effectiveness of community-based organizations as agents of broadband development and social change.