Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke today announced the award of two grants totaling $2,264,232 to Tincan under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). Tincan’s funding will enhance connectivity to the Spokane Public Library’s public access computers, establish or upgrade public computer centers at four city community centers, establish a training facility for Tincan programs, and increase public access computing through 7 non-profit partners.

The project stands on a strong foundation of existing partnerships. “We did not come together solely for this proposal” said Karen Michaelson, Tincan’s Executive Director, “we have been working with many of these organizations for over 15 years.”

Tincan’s partners in this project include the City of Spokane, Spokane Public Library, Northeast Community Center, East Central Community Center, West Central Community Center, Peaceful Valley Community Center, the YWCA, YMCA, Volunteers of America, Contract-Based Education, Crosswalk, Martin Luther King Jr. Family Outreach Center, SNAP’s business programs, and Internet Expressway (a local Internet provider).

The ALA Washington Office today released a document to guide members of the library community who have a serious interest in applying to the Public Computer Center (PCC) funding category of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP).

The paper, Public Computer Center Funding Category and Library Proposals, includes text about the PCC funding category from several National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) documents, provides library-specific examples to stimulate the thinking process for applicants from the library community, and reviews the overall BTOP objectives.