Homewood medical clinic gets $2 million broadband grant

By Kris B. Mamula / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority has approved $45 million in grants to expand high-speed internet access to community facilities, including a Homewood medical center that was among the two biggest grant recipients in the state.

Primary Care Health Services’ new Wilford A. Payne Medical Center on Hamilton Avenue received $2 million to bring public broadband access to the facility, matching the award given to Cambria County Library in Johnstown. The new 44,112-square-foot medical center and office building in Homewood, valued at $19.2 million, is the community’s biggest development in years and it will be built on a parking lot next to the existing Alma Illery Medical Center.

PCHS, the biggest Federally Qualified Health Center in Allegheny County, operates nine clinics, including Alma Illery. Medical, dental, behavioral and pharmacy services are offered at the Homewood clinic.

In all, the state broadband authority funded 49 projects in 26 counties.

“Public places like our libraries, health centers and nonprofit organizations are the fabric of our communities and this funding will help them better serve Pennsylvanians,” Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority Executive Director Brandon Carson said in a prepared statement.

The grants come from a portion of the $279 million in capital projects’ funds that were awarded to Pennsylvania in 2022 under the American Rescue Plan Act. In addition, the authority secured $20 million in federal funds to provide laptops for schools, libraries, municipalities, workforce training organizations and other nonprofits, which will make them available to people who otherwise would not have internet access.

Applications are now being accepted for the American Rescue Plan Capital Projects Funding.

In 2023, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced that Pennsylvania will receive more than $1.16 billion in federal funding to expand broadband in unserved and underserved areas. The money is coming to the state from the federal BEAD program, which is designed to help bring internet access to every home and business in the U.S.