In December, the Blandin Broadband Community team is meeting with the nine new Blandin Broadband Communities. I have been able to attend some of the meetings and wanted to introduce folks to the new communities when I could.

We met with Beth Thorp and Marc Johnson, two of local champions who then brought us around Mora to meet other stakeholders and potential champions. Kanabec schools and government agencies have very good broadband access, local businesses and residents aren’t as lucky. (Kanabec County is part of a region-wide effort to improve broadband access.) Part of the challenge for the community will be separating adoption from access – but working on both should set them on a path to long term success.

Several folks we spoke to seemed to feel as if there were a few steps behind what has happening in the Twin Cities. The goal is to close that gap. There is interest in getting more businesses online. Local government has hired some new staff members that are ready to increase applications available online. Finally the local school Superintendent was enthusiastic about increasing any opportunity to use technology.

Below Doyle Jelsing from the bank outlines their hopes for broadband success in the community…