Project Title:
The ASU BRoadening Access through Community, Connectivity, and Education (BRACCE) initiative
Funding Program:
Connecting Minority Communities Program
Project Purpose/Type:
The Alabama State University (ASU) BRoadening Access through Community, Connectivity, and Education (BRACCE) project aims to expand broadband internet access designed to (a) expand online courses and programs, (b) improve the campus digital experience, and (c) develop collaborative community endeavors through broadband access.
City/Town/Service Area:
State(s):
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$2,999,695.37Funding Amount$2,999,695.37Total Project Cost0.00Non-Federal Cost Share
- Establish a hybrid cloud infrastructure and maintain a cybersecurity program that provides comprehensive strategic planning, governance, and advisory consulting support.
- Provide extended wireless network coverage to campus locations that have limited, unreliable, or no wireless access.
- Provide the surrounding anchor community with an innovative digital technology center to provide residents with access to both digital technologies and digital navigation services.
- Develop a campus-based mobile application that creates a central point of access for students, faculty, staff, and alumni to interact with the University’s systems and activities.
Improve the digital literacy skills, through practical experience, of residents in the surrounding anchor community through the following:
- Creation of a community digital technology center
- Expansion of the campus' wireless network
- Development of the data center technology enhancements (hybrid cloud infrastructure)
- Development of mobile application that receives alerts, receives and facilitates information, schedules appointments, connects with other stakeholders, and receives and makes payments.
- Create an infrastructure of internet-based devices that produce various outcomes
- Digitize learning experiences
- Foster a digital culture that emphasizes data
- Improve operational efficacy
- Connect students, faculty, and staff
- Reduce online learning isolation
- Enhance online student campus experience.
Students, faculty, and staff at ASU will benefit from the expanded broadband internet access and programs on campus. Additionally, the Paterson Court anchor community in Montgomery, Alabama will benefit from the development of the digital technology center. Managed by the Montgomery Housing Authority, Paterson Court is a 200-unit public housing complex. Eighty-two percent of Paterson Court’s residents are designated as low income, living at 0%-30% below the median household average. At Paterson Court, 40% of families include children and 39% of those households are headed by women.
The recipient does not intend to subaward funds.
The applicant does not fund a consortium. The applicant’s activities do occur in the surrounding anchor communities. Details of community involvement are described below.