Thompson School District secures $737,000 in grant funding to connect underserved students through Pulse
We are excited to share some news with our partner Thompson School District (TSD).
TSD has been awarded $737,000 from the Connecting Colorado Students Grant program to expand reliable internet service to families in two areas within the Loveland community where connectivity is significantly limited or not available. With this grant, the district plans to partner with Pulse, the City’s community-owned communications utility providing high-speed internet and voice services, to build out infrastructure to students in parts of the Big Thompson Canyon and the Lago Vista Mobile Home Park.
These two locations are among TSD’s most underserved areas as they pose geographic challenges that limit access to cabled internet service and strong enough cell phone service necessary to make hotspots a viable option.
“Over the last year, our district has worked diligently to assist families who haven’t had adequate access to the internet by offering and facilitating connection options; but we quickly recognized that for some areas of the community there weren’t viable options,” said Dr. Matt Kuhn, TSD chief technology officer. “This grant money directly addresses the issue for families in these areas – we now have the resources to bring reliable internet to them so that access to learning and information will no longer be a barrier.”
“Pulse was formed to address, among other things, the disparity of access to reliable high-speed internet access within our community,” said Loveland City Manager Steve Adams. “As a local internet service provider, and TSD partner, we have the ability, desire and duty to support the educational needs of students within our district who don’t have sufficient access to the internet.”
The Connecting Colorado Students Grant program was created in 2020 after Colorado state lawmakers passed House Bill 20B-1001 moving $20 million from the general fund to this new grant program aimed to increase access to broadband services for students, educators, and other staff who lack stable, reliable internet access for online learning.
We will work with TSD to begin the planning process with property owners and other stakeholders in preparation for network installation. More information, such as timeframe, are forthcoming.
