Grants to produce more IT jobs in Boston
Posted on October 31, 2018
More grants are going towards bolstering IT jobs in Boston.
State officials announced $3 million in technology grants to 44 cities and towns across the Commonwealth through the Community Compact Information Technology (IT) Grant Program. Today’s announcement will benefit more than 49 municipal entities and brings the total number of municipal IT grants issued over the past four years to 188, assisting 250 communities with $9 million in grant funding to modernize their technology systems and deliver service to their residents more efficiently.
Lt. Governor Polito made the announcement while visiting the Cohasset Middle/High School. Cohasset will receive a $50,000 grant to develop a new Student Information System (SIS), allowing the school district to coordinate and communicate key student and school-level data in real-time, to inform decision-makers and also meet data reporting mandates. The updated system will be more efficient and provide forecasting tools that are currently unavailable.
“The Community Compact Cabinet continues to engage in important work to strengthen our role as a reliable partner for the Commonwealth’s cities and towns,”said Governor Baker. “Technology is a necessary but costly investment for our communities, and these grants enable them to take on critical projects that improve efficiency and help them deliver better service to the public.”
“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,” said Lt. Governor Polito, Chair of the Community Compact Cabinet. “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.”
Cities and towns have used the IT grant funding to upgrade their websites, implement new systems that allow residents to apply for permits and licenses online, improve the security and capacity of municipal IT systems, digitize records and develop other solutions to costly technological challenges.