Our Work

Cook County recently completed the first phase of its current broadband expansion efforts, which connect several municipal anchor institutions in this region to high-speed broadband, including the Palos Heights Police Department, Tinley Park Public Works, Moraine Valley Community College, Thornton School District 154 and others (Cook County, 2023). Cook County can leverage its own infrastructure to attract new partners for last-mile access, and to support the Chicago Southland Fiber Network and HACC Broadband Expansion projects (Tate, 2023). Cook County is evaluating public-private-partnership ideas to leverage this infrastructure to provide service to residents. For example, Cook County can make its network open access to allow local internet providers to use or allow partners to build community Wi-Fi using existing infrastructure. To identify innovative ways to expand the network, Cook County and its partners will work to: conduct market sounding with broadband providers to see how they can leverage the infrastructure to provide residential access; connect additional anchor institutions; and research funding programs and connect with state officials about forthcoming opportunities. Cook County and its partners can also crowdsource examples of innovative projects across Cook County or elsewhere that could be replicated or expanded, and develop technical assistance resources for communities seeking solutions.

Many locations in Cook County are shown as “served” on all provider data submitted to the Federal Communications Commission, but that is often not people’s experience. Poor performance is common in areas where internet providers have not upgraded infrastructure or have stopped maintaining legacy infrastructure like copper digital subscriber lines (DSL). Mapping efforts are underway to try to resolve this data inconsistency, both at the local and state level, and nationally as part of the mandate of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. This process is iterative and relies on careful data collection and refinement to provide the clearest picture of infrastructure availability possible. As Cook County maps our local infrastructure, it will interact and contribute to other mapping efforts to validate findings. The County and its partners may also consider running a local public challenge process where residents can report their internet conditions to further refine and validate data provided by internet providers. As part of this effort, Cook County and its partners will work with municipal governments and school districts to take stock of assets like buildings, poles, and conduit that can be potentially used for expanding broadband infrastructure; align with state and city efforts; and leverage a public map challenge process to understand pockets of need and poor service, and to check available maps and data for accuracy.

Community Conversation participants asked for public agencies to take a more active oversight role in improving infrastructure in underserved areas, addressing poor service due to a lack of competition, and ensuring that plans offered under internet affordability programs are of high quality. The County can advocate with other government stakeholders and the industry in order to encourage accountability for pricing and service commitments, including meeting established standards for service and privacy. Cook County and its partners will also invest in the ecosystem described in this plan to educate residents about service providers and broadband systems.