“The ROBIN Grant Program will provide much-needed funding support for the development and expansion of broadband infrastructure to underserved Michigan communities,” said Susan Corbin, director of the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO). “These grant dollars will help make internet more affordable for thousands of Michiganders, allowing them greater access to critical resources such as remote education, telemedicine, and online networking and job searching tools.” 

Project proposals were submitted through a competitive application process and reviewed by MIHI’s ROBIN Steering Committee, a group of representatives from across state government responsible for guiding the development of administrative procedures for the ROBIN Program, scoring applications, reviewing challenges and making relevant decisions and recommendations on programmatic needs.  

Out of 154 applications submitted by 40 unique applicants, 24 projects submitted by 11 applicants were selected for the initial grant recommendations and would connect nearly 106,000 homes, businesses and institutions throughout the state to high-speed internet access. More than $311 million of matching funds have also been committed by the 11 applicants to support the 24 projects which total $578 million. 

All project proposals were examined and scored on categories including experience, financial wherewithal, long-term viability of the project; readiness to build, operate and maintain the project; economic impact; locations passed; and digital equity and inclusion. Initial grant recommendations were made based on the final application score following review by the ROBIN Steering Committee. 

“MIHI is excited to announce the initial recommendations for the ROBIN Grant Program,” said Eric Frederick, Michigan’s chief connectivity officer. “ROBIN is a critical part of Michigan’s broadband expansion plan to the state’s unserved areas and will provide internet service providers and public-private partnerships the funds to develop the broadband infrastructure.” 

Not all initial grant recommendations are expected to be funded or receive their full funding pending the outcome of a 45-day comment and objection window, where anyone may file a comment or objection to one or more of the recommendations. The comment and objection window will be open from June 16 through July 31, 2023.  

To file a comment or objection and view a list of initial grant awardees, scoring criteria, and proposed grant location maps, visit the MIHI website here. 

All questions can be sent via email to: LEO-MIHighSpeedInternet@michigan.gov. 

Q&A 

How many initial applications have been selected? 

A total of 11 applicants and 24 projects are part of the initial grant recommendations. 

How many locations are projected to be served? 

A projected 106,000 homes, businesses and institutions throughout the state are included in the initial grant recommendations.  However, final locations will be determined once funding limitations are known after the 45-day comment and objection window. 

Where is the geographic distribution of funds? 

44 of Michigan’s 83 counties will be impacted by proposed projects. 

Why are certain locations not heavily represented? 

The ROBIN program was highly competitive and oversubscribed by nearly 550%. While not all applications could be funded much of highly populated areas like Detroit already have the infrastructure in place to provide high-speed internet to communities, while more rural areas in the Upper Peninsula will be able to leverage the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program to get connected. 

When initial grant recommendations receive funding? 

It is critical to understand that not all initial grant recommendations will receive funding. At the end of the comment and objection 45-day window, MIHI will validate all objections received. If objections are found to be valid and grant funding should not be deployed to one or more locations included in an initial grant recommendation, MIHI will negotiate a prorated grant amount based on the reduction in total locations to be served by the project with the applicant. MIHI will then evaluate the final grant amounts for each initial grant recommendation and determine which projects to recommend for final grant awards given the amount of funding available. Final awards grant awards are anticipated to be announced in August 2023.