An impressive number of groups have banded together to push for building the Internet out in a particular way.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) laid out an impressive $7.2 billion for building out broadband infrastructure, much of it going toward communities that until now have not been connected or have been underserved. Part of the money is supposed to extend the infrastructure to community institutions, like libraries, schools and healthcare providers.

Earlier this month, some organizations representing these institutions formed the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition with the mission of highlighting their urgent need for high-speed, affordable broadband.

Members of the Coalition include the American Association of Community Colleges, American Hospital Association, American Library Association, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Center for Media Justice, Center for Rural Strategies, Consortium for School Networking, EDUCAUSE, International Society for Technology in Education, Internet2, Microsoft, National Alliance for Media, Arts and Culture, National Hispanic Media Coalition, National Rural Health Association, and many others.

One aspect of the coalition's platform is actually one of network architecture. The group espouses the view that schools, libraries and healthcare providers should get fiber-optic connections, becoming technology hubs and boosting affordable broadband access for everyone in their communities. The coalition calls these "anchor institutions" and wants fiber to these institutions to be the top priority of the ARRA.

The coalition advocates interconnecting the anchor institutions to other "critical community entities." Non-profit groups, religious institutions and social service centers are all included under this umbrella. Clearly, the coalition is looking to get the maximum benefit to as many people in each of these communities as possible.

Jeff Caruso is site editor at Network World.