More than 14,000 students have enrolled, who together with their household members, represent more than 25,000 people who now have internet access through HCS EdConnect.  Students who are on free or reduced lunch or whose families receive SNAP benefits are eligible for the program, which installs internet service with at least 100 Mbps from EPB in each qualifying child’s home. 

“We love it, we don’t have to worry about the internet anymore,” said Kimberly Rios-Gonzalez, Hamilton County Schools parent and HCS EdConnect participant. “My daughter no longer worries about turning her work in on time. I can connect my phone and talk to my mom and stay on there for hours — the little things rank up to something huge.” 

“The impact of HCS EdConnect goes far beyond the benefits it provides for students,” said Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger. “The whole family can use the internet to access online services, work remotely, seek employment, and access entertainment.” 

Chattanooga is one of a handful of leaders in the United States – including Chicago, Detroit, San Antonio, and Washington, D.C. – that have launched a program in the last year aimed at closing the digital divide. Chattanooga is taking the most comprehensive approach with a commitment to continuing the program for at least 10 years while providing a connection at least twice as fast as typical educational access offerings from other providers with symmetrical speeds (same speed for uploads and downloads) and no data caps. Additionally, while other programs are heavily dependent on WiFi hotspots, which can be unreliable, HCS EdConnect delivers a fast and highly dependable fiber optic connection to the vast majority of participants, relying on hotspots for only six percent of students who live in areas that EPB cannot serve, as well as students who do not have a permanent address. 

HCS EdConnect has been recognized by, among others, Bloomberg, U.S. News & World Report, and Vox, as a model program. The program also has the chance to deepen our understanding of how internet access can impact individual learning outcomes and the local economy, as program partners have engaged researchers from Boston College to study the impact of HCS EdConnect. 

“We are showing the rest of the country what it looks like to close the digital divide in education,” said Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly. “HCS EdConnect is a comprehensive solution, and since the partners have made a 10 year commitment to the program, this will be a lasting solution.”  

The digital divide existed long before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the health crisis highlighted how severe the consequences of the digital divide can be. Initially, remote learning was extremely challenging, if not impossible, for a sizable portion of Hamilton County Schools students. However, HCS EdConnect, coupled with other efforts such as the rapid expansion of EPB public WiFi access points, improved learning for students. 

“For the next decade and hopefully beyond, HCS EdConnect will provide high-speed internet access to nearly 30,000 economically disadvantaged students as well as their families, and I’m proud to be part of a community who prioritized closing the digital divide in the midst of global pandemic” said Dr. Bryan Johnson, superintendent of Hamilton County Schools. “Private and public partnership was a critical part of this program being possible and we will continue to seek community partners who can join us in helping all children thrive and experience a future without limits.”

HCS EdConnect is possible because EPB deployed a ubiquitous, community-wide fiber optic network in 2010. As a result of this in-place infrastructure which passes every premise, the new program is able to provide the final link in delivering the service both quickly and affordably. 

Funding partners have provided $7.9 million to cover upfront infrastructure costs for the program including additional equipment, fiber optic drops and wireless routers.  HCS EdConnect is a public-private partnership made possible through support and engagement from Hamilton County, Hamilton County Schools, the City of Chattanooga, EPB, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, The Benwood Foundation, the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga, the Footprint Foundation, The Maclellan Foundation, Lyndhurst Foundation, private donors, and CARES funding from the State of Tennessee.

Each year, eligible students will be able to opt into the program, and their families will stay connected year-round, including summers, for at least 10 years or until the child is no longer enrolled in Hamilton County Schools. 

“The internet is no longer a luxury, but a necessity of modern life,” said Deb Socia, president of The Enterprise Center, which has been integral in coordinating HCS EdConnect. “Every child gets a schoolbook and when the internet is the medium for learning, every child must have access.” 

“HCS EdConnect is one of the most exciting ways Chattanooga’s community-wide fiber optic network benefits the people we serve and helps enhance our area’s quality of life,” said EPB President & CEO David Wade. “HCS EdConnect leverages our smart infrastructure to support students and their families, as well as the local economy.”

Hamilton County Schools, The Enterprise Center, and EPB continue to work with their partners to add even more eligible families to the program.

About EPB

EPB serves the greater Chattanooga area by providing world-class energy and connectivity solutions as a means of promoting economic development and enhancing quality of life for our community. We deliver electricity to more than 170,000 homes and businesses across our 600 square mile service area which includes most of Hamilton County as well as parts of surrounding counties in both Tennessee and Georgia. In 2010, EPB Fiber Optics, which offers internet, TV, and telephone services, became the first provider in the United States to deliver up to 1 Gig (1,000 Mbps) internet speeds utilizing a community-wide fiber optic network which is accessible to every home and business in its service area. In 2015, EPB became the first, and to date, only American ISP to make up to 10 Gig (10,000 Mbps) internet speeds accessible to all of its residential and commercial customers as a standard offer.

EPB has also utilized its community-wide fiber optic network to deploy the most advanced and highly automated smart grid power management system in the nation. In recognition of EPB’s groundbreaking infrastructure, the Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are utilizing EPB’s smart grid as a national model for researching and developing best practices. EPB is also the first major power distribution utility to earn the USGBC’s PEER certification for having a highly automated, modernized electric power grid.

EPB is an independent board of the City of Chattanooga which began serving customers in 1939. Visit EPB.com for more information.                        

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EPB and TVA first partnered in 2015 to provide high-impact home energy upgrades to qualified homeowners with the goal of reducing their energy burden.  The result is the Home Uplift program which has been replicated in communities across the Tennessee Valley. Those who qualify receive home improvements at no cost to help them dramatically reduce their power bills. On average, EPB’s Home Uplift participants save $500 on their energy costs each year.

“I had sky high electricity bills because my son and I were using portable space heaters and AC window units,” said Young.  “My power bill has decreased, the insulation is making a huge difference in helping the house stay warmer, my air quality is better and I have more peace of mind now because I don’t have to worry about how I’m going to pay a really high power bill.”

The EPB and TVA team replaced Ms. Young’s HVAC unit, sealed duct work, added attic insulation, and installed smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, air sealing and additional renovations.

Other eligible energy efficiency upgrades Home Uplift participants may receive include duct replacement, water heater and pipe insulation, wall insulation, HVAC clean and tune, windows and door replacement, and replacing heat pumps, water heaters and refrigerators.

“TVA believes in uplifting lives and helping our neighbors feel safer and more comfortable in their homes,” said Cindy Herron, vice president of TVA EnergyRight.  “Now more than ever, EPB and TVA are focused on helping families save money by making the necessary upgrades that improve their home’s energy efficiency and indoor air quality.”

According to Elizabeth Hammitt, EPB Director of Environmental Stewardship and Residential Services, the success of the program rests on a foundation of community engagement and data-driven decisions using smart grid information to determine where the program could have the most impact.

“We started the process with a series of community input meetings in which we invited nonprofit, government, and underserved neighborhood leaders to help us design the program,” said Hammitt.  “We leveraged our smart grid data to target the areas of our community with the highest energy usage, and our findings correlated closely with areas of town with high numbers of limited income customers.”

Using third party analysis on past performance of EPB Uplift homes, Hammitt estimates that each of the 400 homes will save 5,206 kWh on average each year, for a total of two million kWh each year.  This equates to more than $500 per home per year, over $208,000 in total savings annually.

“Environmentally, the savings translate to 1,472 metric tons of carbon equivalent avoided, the environmental impact equal to 1.6 million pounds of coal not being burned or 24,345 tree seedlings grown over ten years,” said Hammitt.

Local foundations Lyndhurst, Benwood and Footprint helped fund the pilot program with EPB.  The Empower program, managed by Chattanooga’s sustainability nonprofit green|spaces, was funded in partnership concurrently, targeting underserved neighborhoods with higher than average energy usage as indentified by EPB’s smart grid data. The program has grown from the 14 home pilot to more than 400 homes.  The additional Empower workshops, funded in part by EPB, the City of Chattanooga, and others, have served thousands. Additionally, in 2018 TVA, greenlspaces, Pinnacle Bank, and EPB received funding from the Federal Home Loan Bank to improve 100 homes.

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) provided a $750,000 grant to support the Home Uplift program this year along with ongoing financial support from TVA and EPB. 

Since 2018, TVA has pledged $13.8 million for Home Uplift projects across seven states.  

Visit https://epb.com/homeuplift to learn more.

About TVA

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power companies serving nearly 10 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system, and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation.

About TDEC

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation exists to enhance the quality of life for citizens of Tennessee and to be stewards of our natural environment by protecting and improving the quality of Tennessee’s air, land, and water through a responsible regulatory system; protecting and promoting human health and safety; conserving and promoting natural, cultural and historic resources; and providing a variety of quality outdoor recreational experiences.

About EPB

EPB serves the greater Chattanooga area by providing world-class energy and connectivity solutions as a means of promoting economic development and enhancing quality of life for our community. We deliver electricity to more than 170,000 homes and businesses across our 600 square mile service area which includes most of Hamilton County as well as parts of surrounding counties in both Tennessee and Georgia. In 2010, EPB Fiber Optics, which offers internet, TV, and telephone services, became the first provider in the United States to deliver up to 1 Gig (1,000 Mbps) internet speeds utilizing a community-wide fiber optic network which is accessible to every home and business in its service area. In 2015, EPB became the first, and to date, only American ISP to make up to 10 Gig (10,000 Mbps) internet speeds accessible to all of its residential and commercial customers as a standard offer.

EPB has also utilized its community-wide fiber optic network to deploy the most advanced and highly automated smart grid power management system in the nation. In recognition of EPB’s groundbreaking infrastructure, the Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are utilizing EPB’s smart grid as a national model for researching and developing best practices. EPB is also the first major power distribution utility to earn the USGBC’s PEER certification for having a highly automated, modernized electric power grid.

EPB is an independent board of the City of Chattanooga which began serving customers in 1939. Visit EPB.com for more information.

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Deb Socia, President and CEO of The Enterprise Center, and Jimmy Hall, VP of Engineering & Product Services with 3-GIS, provided insights on where the United States stands today and the challenges to providing such access to all of the Americas.

The Enterprise Center is a non-profit in Chattanooga, TN. It works with the city and the county around economic development and digital inclusion, smart cities infrastructure, innovation and the entrepreneurial eco-structure system. From Socia’s vantage point, the U.S. still has ways to go to get people, especially those in rural and underserved communities, connected.

“If you ask the FCC, they say there are at least 21 million Americans without access, but we know that number is pretty low,” Socia said. “If you ask Microsoft, they say it’s as high as 162 million. It’s a pretty wide-range between 21 and 162 million.”

If a wider swath of internet access is needed, and everyone knows it’s needed, what issues hamper the effort to bring broadband access to those who don’t have it? From a local level, Socia sees many impediments from 19 states that don’t allow local decision-making around building broadband. “I think the importance of empowering every potential way of solving this problem is important at this moment,” Socia said.

From education and remote work access to signing up to get a COVID vaccination, universal broadband internet access is something that everyone needs in all communities. And while the challenges are many, Hall said technology’s advancements in network engineering make a difference in driving cost efficiencies.

“What we’ve found, and the opportunities that have presented themselves, is how you can design and optimize a network through some of the toolsets that we have at our fingertips now,” Hall said. GIS, spatial data, and design automation play a role in achieving that universal access goal.

Listen to the full podcast here.

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