Baltimore City plans to use $2 million in American Rescue Plan funding to expand internet access to 3,000 low-income households.

The Connect Baltimore Broadband Grant Program will award a $2 million grant to Waves, a Baltimore-based internet service provider and division of the Digital Harbor Foundation.

Waves plans to build a high-speed fiber-optic network across 12 low-income residential apartment buildings. Each household will be given a pre-configured router for private networking.

The city’s Office of Broadband and Digital Equity is awarding the grant as part of Mayor Brandon M. Scott’s plans to improve access, adoption and use of the internet in underserved neighborhoods.

Apartment buildings that will get the new fiber-optic network are located in neighborhoods that have historically faced barriers to internet access, such as Greenmount West, Mondawmin, Ednor Gardens-Lakeside, Park Circle, York-Homeland and Johnston Square.

“This grant program is more than just wires and signals — it’s about unlocking opportunity,” Mayor Brandon M. Scott said in an announcement.

The grant program is funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, the Biden administration’s COVID-19 relief program, and overseen by the Mayor’s Office of Recovery Programs. It will complement additional funding to Waves from the state Department of Housing and Community Development’s Office of Statewide Broadband, the West Baltimore Renaissance Foundation and the France-Merrick Foundation.

Chrissie Powell, Waves’ executive director, said the internet program will promote digital equity, which she said is essential for education, healthcare and economic opportunity.

Waves will also use the grant to maintain connectivity for nine additional low-income properties currently serviced by the organization.

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