• Help ensure that the FCC’s broadband map is accurate by participating in the challenge process
• Apply for the Affordable Connectivity Program
• Learn about how to improve digital inclusion in your community 
• For organizations: Take the statewide digital inclusion survey
• Find a free WiFi hotspot near you

• Michigan Infrastructure Asset Map: Through a partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, MIHI is mapping the location of high-speed internet infrastructure in each of Michigan’s 83 counties. This map is different than anything that has been done before: until now, we have relied on internet service providers to tell us where service is available. It is widely acknowledged that this information has been incomplete and inaccurate.
  
  This new map will be put to use in two important ways:
  • Michigan will be uniquely positioned to file a statewide Tier 1 (“knowledge of infrastructure”) challenge to the Federal Communications Commission new broadband coverage map – which will be critical in maximizing the funds awarded to Michigan through the Broadband Equity, Access & Deployment program.
  • We will launch a new geospatial platform alongside the ROBIN program that will support potential applicants for those grants.
    
    
• ROBIN: Michigan invested the resources provided by the federal Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund into the Realizing Opportunity with Broadband Infrastructure Networks (ROBIN) grant program. Applications will open in early 2023 for grants to bring high-speed internet access to unserved locations (homes, businesses, and institutions without internet service of at least 100/20 Mbps from at least one internet service provider). Up to 35% of ROBIN funds can be awarded to middle-mile projects and the remainder is dedicated to last-mile service projects.
  
  
• MI Connected Future: Every region and every community in our state is unique, and MIHI needs input from them all. We will host multiple on-the-ground community engagement meetings in each of the state’s 10 prosperity regions and provide “Community Meeting In A Box” support to those that wish to host their own meetings. In addition, we will convene a series of virtual roundtable discussions with partner organizations. All of this feedback will be used to guide our plans for using the once-in-a-generation resources that Michigan will receive through the federal Broadband Access, Equity, and Deployment Act and Digital Equity Act.

The Michigan High-Speed Internet Office was established in June 2021 by Executive Directive 2021-2. An additional Executive Directive 2021-12 has ensured that Michigan is poised to make effective use of the once-in-a-generation resources that are being made available through the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist have tasked MIHI with bridging our state’s digital divide and set two key statewide goals:

• Ensure that high-speed internet access is available to every home, business, institution, and community
• Ensure that 95% of Michigan households adopt a permanent home internet connection

Our work includes coordinating the Connecting Michigan Task Force, which was established align the work being done by state agencies and departments related to high-speed internet access.

In November 2021, MIHI released an Update to the Michigan Broadband Roadmap, which described the progress that has been made since the 2018 Michigan Broadband Roadmap and the 2016 21st Century Infrastructure Report. One key example: the Michigan Infrastructure Council has launched a “Dig Once” project portal that is designed for infrastructure asset owners to document infrastructure and utility work. This is something that was called for in both the 2016 Report and the 2018 Roadmap.

MIHI recently released a Digital Inclusion Playbook and set of Digital Inclusion Playbook and set of resources that can help Michiganders improve digital equity in their communities. Creating a more digitally equitable Michigan was Goal 2 of the 2021 Update to the Michigan Broadband Roadmap and was recognized by the 2021 Michigan Poverty Task Force Report as the pathway to lifting 1.4 million Michiganders out of poverty and reducing our Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed population.

Gov. Whitmer signed into law both the Broadband Expansion Act of Michigan, which codified the state-funded Connecting Michigan Communities (CMIC) grant program, and the Building Michigan Together plan, which invested the funds our state is receiving from the federal Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund in the ROBIN grant program.

During the Whitmer-Gilchrist Administration, internet service providers have secured:

• $34M through the CMIC grant program
• $363M through the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Auction
• $70M through the United States Department of Agriculture's ReConnect Program
• $4.8M through the FCC's COVID-19 Telehealth Grant Program
• $3M through the CARES Act Recovery Assistance grants from the Economic Development Administration within the United States Department of Commerce

More than 212,000 households in our state lack the opportunity to access a high-speed internet connection and another additional 865,000 households face barriers related to affordability, adoption, or digital literacy. Taken together, this means that approximately 31% of Michigan households do not have an affordable, reliable high-speed internet connection that meets their needs.

The consequences of being unconnected or underconnected can be measured:

• Students with high-speed, home internet access have an overall grade point average of 3.18. This is significantly higher than the average 2.81 GPA for students with no home access and 2.75 average for student with only cell phone access.
• Increased access to the internet can help address issues of isolation among older adults. Studies have shown that isolation is associated with worse health outcomes and even premature death among adults age 50 and over.
• Effective use of telemedicine can reduce hospitalizations of nursing home patients and reduce health care costs.
• Small businesses that have websites have higher annual revenues and are more likely to have recently hired one or more employees than similar businesses that aren't online. Those that use social media weekly are three times more likely to have hired recently than those that don't.
• A study of manufacturers found that 40% said they were able to add new customers and 57% said they saved money because of their high-speed internet connection.
• Farmers who gain high-speed internet access experience an average 6% increase in farm revenue.
• Having a home broadband connection gives households an estimated economic impact of $1,850 per year.

Executive Directive 2021-2 and its 6/2/21 press release 

Executive Directive 2021-12 and its 11/29/21 press release

Digital Inclusion Playbook and digital inclusion resources