Governor Charlie Baker and Lt. Governor Karyn Polito announced $3 million in technology grants today to 44 cities and towns throughout the Commonwealth via the Community Compact Information Technology (IT) Grant Program. The announcement this week will support more than 49 municipal entities and brings the cumulative total of municipal IT grants distributed over the last four years to 188, helping 250 communities receive $9 million in grant funding to upgrade their technology infrastructure and deliver services to residents with greater efficiency.
Chelsea was awarded $50,000 to implement a comprehensive communication and project management package designed to enhance service delivery, documentation practices and knowledge sharing.
Lt. Governor Polito made the announcement.
According to Lt. Governor Polito, Chair of the Community Compact Cabinet, “Community Compact IT grants are a valuable way for the Community Compact program to provide access to resources for major technological projects that might otherwise be unaffordable,” “A great example is Cohasset’s plan to upgrade its Student Information System for greater productivity and the sophisticated tools that a school district requires to help meet its administrative obligations and its students’ educational needs.”
Municipalities have utilized IT grant funding to enhance their websites, deploy systems enabling residents to submit permit and license applications electronically, strengthen municipal IT security and capacity, convert records to digital formats and create additional responses to expensive technology-related problems.
Beyond the IT grants, the Baker-Polito Administration has distributed $7.3 million in technical assistance grants and $4 million in efficiency and regionalization grants since establishing the Community Compact Program in 2015.