Kanabec County is one of the Blandin broadband Communities. They have been working on broadband adoption through the program for about a year now. Karl Samp has been working with them and was kind enough to send me an update. It’s great to see each community progress – but I also share it because it might spur projects in other communities.

I have continued to be impressed by the commitment and perseverance of the KBI [Kanabec Broadband Initiative] steering committee for Kanabec County. There is a consistent core group of members representing a great cross section of the community, both public and private, and regularly attended by providers. This, I feel, has led to progress for a public / private partnership to provide broadband service to the 70% of residents in Kanabec living outside of Mora and Oglivie. At the same time, the group is steadily moving forward on projects that will move their community forward in its use of broadband for community and economic development. At last week’s meeting, we heard about exciting developments for donated space for a tele-work/tele-commuting center, and the first “virtual tour” at the recently funded and equipped Life Enrichment Center. The tour will be a live streamed tour of the USS Arizona in honor of the commemoration of the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Community Wi-Fi, a community portal, and tele-health projects continue to move forward.

Great job, KBI members!