Kurt DeMaagd , an assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media and the director of the project , is working to coordinate the purchasing and installation of the broadband, as well as studying the economic effects it has on the cities involved.

“We’re trying to target economically challenged urban centers to allow people that need to get online to access government resources and search for jobs,” DeMaagd said.

Computer centers will be installed at facilities including libraries, public housing centers and community colleges.

The grant, which MSU received in mid-August, was funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 as part of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.

So far the program has given out 114 grants and will continue distributing them through September, said Moira Vahey, spokeswoman for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Media and communication technology senior Jeff Nash was one of a group of MSU students that traveled to Marquette earlier this summer to install computers and desk chairs at a low-income housing facility and a children’s center .

“Everyone uses the Internet for so many things,” Nash said.

“We take it for granted here at State because almost everyone has a laptop, but connecting people to a more expansive knowledge base is always good.”

The Michigan Department of Information Technology, Library of Michigan, regional broadband providers, state and local government agencies and representatives from communities statewide are partnering with the university to coordinate the computer center installation, according the statement.

Clifton Walker, a grant writer for the city of Pontiac, has been working as a volunteer for broadband projects that will be installed in Oakland County. He said the broadband access can help across a wide spectrum of ages.

“This just scratches the surface of curing the defect, this digital divide that’s been created and exists in our community,” Walker said.

“It has the potential to allow community members to have access to this phenomenal technology to search for jobs, for seniors — the opportunity to open up the world and teach them new things, and to help join seniors with young adults.”

More than $300,000 of the grant also is being used to install 12 to 14 computers at Community of Christ facilities in Detroit, Lansing, Flint, Riverview, Muskegon, Highland Park, Charlotte, Saginaw and Burton.

Community of Christ is a network of churches and mission centers.

Janeen Wiltse, an accountant for Community of Christ, said the facilities hope to use broadband access to provide job training for the unemployed and those that can’t afford higher education.

“At public libraries, there’s only so many seats at computers,” Wiltse said. “This will help provide more sources for broadband access for those that can’t afford it on their own.”