The Blandin Foundation got a nice nod yesterday from the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF). John Jung wrote about The Art of Giving in Intelligent Communities. He explains that while the ICF framework does not specify the a role for philanthropy that there is a danger that without addressing the potential for an increasing digital divide, it is difficult to create a digital inclusion policy or practice and that is a potential role for foundation support…

As broadband is deployed widely through a community, there may be serious risk that it will worsen the exclusion of people who may already be disenfranchised or marginalized on the periphery of our economy and society. We encourage Intelligent Communities to promote digital inclusion through effective public policies and seeking funding that will provide access to all members of their society to all forms of technology, high-speed broadband and training.

Blandin has been involved with broadband for several years, so as you can imagine I was interested in Mr. Jung’s observations. One of the core values at Blandin is to be inclusive and to that end we have really been trying to be even more purposeful as we reach out to potentially marginalized communities with our ARRA-funding Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (yes, there is a connection between our project and Mr. Jung’s organization). At our recent conference we heard from folks in the field about how to address the broadband gap. We learned that access means putting technology in the right hands (even if that means remembering ADA requirements to make our web sites accessible) and teaching the right people to use it – and not only teaching information consumer skills, but also helping folks to tell their stories online.

Last summer I wrote about an article that also struck a chord for me – because it too recognized the role of foundation support of broadband. In it Ford Foundation President Luis Ubinas wrote…

“The effort to ensure universal access to high-speed Internet among all citizens is a critical next step to ensuring that America realizes its great aspiration of equal opportunity for all.”

One of our goals is to ensure that broadband is a tool that removes barriers, especially in rural areas – a tool that supports equitable access to economic development, citizen participation and improved quality of life.