This isn’t intentional but I seem to be all about the ARRA grants this week. I think one reason is because the RUS and NTIA have been good about providing information (post-grant announcements). I’m hoping that flow of information will continue; it seems that we might be able to learn some tips and trick by reading about the various projects and keeping tabs on what works and what doesn’t. With that in mind, I hope that the grantees and the funders will be willing to share information on what hasn’t worked – sometimes those are the most valuable lessons.

A new report is out on the outcomes of the RUS-funded ARRA projects. Here’s the super quick take from Congress Daily National Journal’s Tech Daily Dose…

So far, the more than $1 billion in funding awarded by RUS has been used to fund 68 projects in 31 states. During a conference call with reporters, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the projects will bring broadband service to an estimated 529,249 households, 92,754 businesses and 3,332 so-called “anchor” institutions, such as schools, hospitals, libraries and other community facilities.

He also reports that first round of projects will produce 5,000 jobs.

The report (Connecting Rural America) gives some interesting stats on the RUS/BIP grants. For example, there were 13 last-mile remote projects (0 in MN), 49 last-mile non-remote projects (3 in MN) and 6 middle-mile projects funded (1 in MN). There are some nice charts that show the distribution of funding by project, by technology, by applicant type and more.

Minnesota’s Windom project is one of nine featured projects…

Minnesota
The city of Windom, Minn., a member of the Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group (SWMBG), will provide Fiber-To-The-Premises (FTTP) infrastructure to eight rural communities in southwestern Minnesota. SWMBG includes the communities of Jackson, Lakefield, Windom, Round Lake, Bingham Lake, Brewster, Wilder, Heron Lake, and Okabena. The network will consist of a 125-mile fiber ring that will connect the communities to the Windomnet network and an FTTP infrastructure within the communities. The ring will be 96 strands with a 1-gigabyte transport network that is easily upgradeable to 10 gigabytes.

The report also gives brief summaries of all funded projects listed by state.