The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) through the Office of Statewide Broadband (OSB) is administering funding for the Maryland Emergency Education Relief Grant Program (MEER).
Donor Name: Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD)
State: Maryland
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/20/2022
Size of the Grant: $50,000-$350,000
Details:
The MEER grant program is designed to provide relief to K-12 students and related school staff to close the gap for students who lack necessary internet access or the devices they need to connect to classrooms.
Funding Information
- The program provides grants of between $50,000 and $350,000 for up to 100% of the eligible program costs.
- $14 million is available for this program.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible to apply, an applicant must meet one of the following criteria:
- Schools
- Elementary/Middle/High school: a non-profit institutional day or residential school, including a public K-12 charter school, that provides elementary/middle/high school education, as determined under state law.
- Secondary school: a non-profit institutional day or residential school, including a public secondary charter school, that provides secondary education, as determined under state law except that the term does not include any education beyond grade 12.
- Libraries
- Library offering schoolwork/homework programs for K-12 students.
- Anchor Institutions
- Community Centers offering schoolwork/homework programs for K-12 students.
Eligible Uses of Funds
Funding may be requested under two categories:
- Equipment – Eligible equipment includes, but is not limited to:
- Wireless access points;
- Wi-Fi hotspots;
- Modems (including air cards);
- Routers, devices that combine a modem and router;
- Signal amplifiers/extender;
- Connected devices (laptop and tablet computers for use solely within the purchasing institution).
- Service – Eligible service includes:
- Internet services to a school, library, or community centers necessary to provide student connectivity;
- Internet service costs covered by E-rate or similar funding are not eligible for reimbursement.
- Services that deliver internet access within schools and libraries (internal connections, basic maintenance of internal connections, and managed internal broadband services);
- Construction of new networks to provide remote learning and the equipment needed for data casting services (only if the institution can demonstrate it has no existing available service options sufficient to support remote learning).
- Internet services to a school, library, or community centers necessary to provide student connectivity;
- Miscellaneous
- Installation, activation, and initial configuration costs, taxes, shipping charges, and other reasonable fees incurred with the purchase of the eligible equipment and services.
For more information, visit MEER.
