Dr. Colin Rhinesmith, Associate Professor and Director of the Digital Equity Action Research (DEAR) Lab in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will work closely with the Devon Braunstein, Director of the Illinois Office of Broadband and her team housed in the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), in partnership with the Illinois Broadband Lab, on a year-long research project in 2026-2027 to evaluate the social and economic impacts of the Connect Illinois (Rounds 1-3) grant program. The goals of the project include: (1) quantitatively measuring broadband adoption and usage in funded regions; (2) qualitatively assessing community experiences through focus groups in regions where broadband investments have been made; and (3) developing a replicable model that can be applied to evaluate future broadband initiatives. The project is supported through the Partnerships for Evidence-Based Public Policy Fellowship program, which is funded by the Social and Behavioral Sciences Institute and the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois.