OneCommunity Announces Recipients of its Big Gig Challenge Grant

CLEVELAND, OH — The West 25th Street Corridor, the village of Glenwillow, Lorain County Community College and the city of South Euclid have been named recipients of Cleveland, Ohio-based OneCommunity’s Big Gig Challenge Grant. Funding for the grant will be made, in whole or in part, in the form of services or equipment.

The West 25th Corridor to Provide New Fiber Network
The West 25th Corridor will utilize the funding to create a fiber network through Ohio City, Tremont, Clark-Fulton, Brooklyn Centre and Old Brooklyn covering 900+ properties including 14 available development sites. Some of Cleveland’s small businesses and nonprofits in addition to its most prominent westside institutions would be impacted including The West Side Market, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, MetroHealth Systems’ Main and Old Brooklyn campuses, Nestle’s LI Minor Facility, Voss Industries, Great Lakes Brewing Company and Lutheran Hospital.

Glenwillow to Enhance Municipal Operations
Glenwillow is envisioning enhancements to its municipal operations through expansion of its network to include connections with city-owned properties. Glenwillow’s project will also incorporate partnerships with three private sector business owners and land developers. In addition to the grant, tax increment funding and developer contributions will supplement financing for the project.

Lorain County Community College to Create a Community Fiber Road Map
Lorain County Community College’s ambitious strategy involves an increase to an already-completed network connections through the creation of a community fiber road map. The road map is proposed to roll out in phases which will impact the existing infrastructure, strategic visioning and planning, identification of new opportunities for fiber applications and implementation of three pilot projects designed to inspire further growth.

South Euclid to Expand Existing OneCommunity Network
The city of South Euclid foresees the expansion of its existing OneCommunity ultra-high speed broadband network. The future proposed efforts to introduce fiber would focus on directly impacting service in South Euclid’s municipal facilities in addition to potentially building its industrial area.

OneCommunity Grant to Fund Municipally-led, Community-wide Fiber Construction Projects
OneCommunity, a Cleveland, Ohio-based ultra high speed broadband provider, pledged to make funds available in form of a grant to municipally-led, community-wide fiber construction projects. It was seeking proposals that establish creative and collaborative expansion opportunities that connect community anchor institutions, government facilities and business districts in an effort to attract and retain the innovative and entrepreneurial businesses of the twenty-first century. Funding will be provided through a public-private partnership approach with grant funding accounting for up to 25 percent of the total project costs for the awarded guarantees.