It’s a busy week – leading up to an even busier week next week I’m sure. As you may know Blandin is participating in the conference tomorrow talking to communities about the Google Network plan. I am pleased that Bernadine Joselyn was able to give us a little sneak preview of tomorrow’s event by telling us more about the people and organizations involved…
I think it’s terrific for Minnesota and public radio listeners across the land that Minnesota’s-own American Public Media and Minnesota Public Radio (APM|MPR) has hired Joaquin Alvarado to fill a new position as senior vice president for Digital Innovation. Joaquin comes to APM|MPR from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), where he was senior vice president for Diversity and Innovation. In his new job, Joaquin will be responsible for helping APM|MPR strengthen its capacity to catalyze innovation and inclusion within public media as well as for broadening the reach and diversity of public media’s audience.
These are important goals for APM|MPR, and Joaquin’s unique personal story and professional background uniquely qualify him to take them on; he holds a B.A. in Chicano Studies from U.C. Berkeley and an M.F.A. from the UCLA School of Film, Television, and Digital Media, and along with an impressive professional resume, is an award winning writer, producer and film director.
I first met Joaquin (virtually) earlier this year when we co-presented on a webinar sponsored by Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media (GFEM) to help and encourage communities to respond to the federal funding opportunities for increasing broadband access and utilization in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Tomorrow’s APM|MPR’s webinar, in partnership with the National Center for Media Engagement, is one of Joaquin’s early projects in his new job. It has a similar purpose, this time focused on helping communities respond to Google’s plans to build new high-speed fiber-optic broadband networks. Besides Joaquin, presenters for the workshop now include Minnie Ingersoll, product manager of Google’s Access team, who will explain Google’s experimental fiber network. I’ve been asked to speak briefly about the role of foundations in promoting community engagement and collaboration in broadband. I expect we’ll also hear more about Duluth and Dakota county bids to catch Google’s attention.
