News from the Blandin on Broadband Blog

Blandin Broadband Grants Available: Deadline April 4, 2014
The Blandin Foundation offers grant opportunities to communities interested in pursuing better broadband. http://wp.me/p3if7-2w5. The following grants are available:

• Robust Broadband Network Feasibility Fund – $25,000 – $40,000      for broadband feasibility studies
• LightSpeed – Up to $50,000 for advanced application      deployment
• Digital Inclusion Community Partnership – Up to $25,000 for      efforts to increase computer ownership and broadband  adoption among      low-income populations
• Broadband Innovation – Up to $10,000 for community projects      that support enhanced culture of  broadband use

Border to Border Broadband: A Call to Action
The time is ripe for Minnesota legislators and residents to have a “So What? Now What?” conversation about aspirations for Border to Border Broadband by 2015. Join the conversation at the Minnesota Broadband Conference February 4-5 in St Paul http://wp.me/p3if7-2vQ. Leading up to the conference, Senator Matt Schmit is hosting a Listening Tour in several cities to get the conversation started. http://wp.me/p3if7-2vj

City Planners Not Interested in Broadband
A recent survey by the American Planners Association indicates that most city planners are not involved with broadband in their community. http://wp.me/p3if7-2vB It sounds like an opportunity to promote and educate city planners on the role broadband can play in economic development; there are opportunities for economic developers who are involved. At a recent broadband conference sponsored by FTTH Council, Patricia Shorter of federal EDA in Commerce spoke about broadband funding opportunities through local Economic Development Districts. http://wp.me/p3if7-2vd

Latest Broadband Reports & Surveys
The latest Akamai reports indicate that the US is still lagging behind world leaders when it comes to broadband speeds and penetration. Minnesota does not make the top ten rankings for broadband-savvy states. http://wp.me/p3if7-2v0 Low rankings should help make the case that it is time to invest in broadband, especially in rural areas. http://wp.me/p3if7-2vq

Connect Minnesota Broadband Summit
Connect Minnesota hosted a broadband summit that looked at public-private partnerships for broadband services from the perspective of both the public and private sector. The conference included keynote from Thomas Cohen, from Kelley Drye & Warren, LLP, on the value of a Fiber to the Home network. http://wp.me/p3if7-2u0

Minnesota Broadband Task Force
In December, the Task Force discussed the latest draft of their upcoming broadband report. Affordability, speeds and the telecom sales tax exemption were hot topics. http://wp.me/p3if7-2tO Governor Dayton is already talking about reinstating the tax exemption. http://wp.me/p3if7-2ub The next Task Force meeting is January 9, in St Paul. http://wp.me/p3if7-2vh

Local Broadband News

Bemidji
Paul Bunyan Communications doubles speeds for customers, offering speeds up to 150 Mbps in some areas. They current serve most of Beltrami County and portions of Cass, Hubbard, Itasca, Koochiching, and St. Louis County.  http://wp.me/p3if7-2vb

Lake County
Lake County, which received ARRA funding to build a fiber network, clears the latest project hurdle as a judge rules in favor of Lake County in a $5 million lawsuit involving bond money used in the installation of broadband internet services. http://wp.me/p3if7-2uK

Mora
Nearly 60 people assembled at the Eastwood Life Enrichment Center in Mora to view an interactive, live presentation from the grounds of the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. http://wp.me/p3if7-2uG

Kanabec County
Kanabec County, a Blandin Broadband Community, plans for a telework center and works on public-private partnership for improved broadband access. http://wp.me/p3if7-2ug

Northwest Minnesota
IMPACT 20/20 looks at how businesses in Northwest Minnesota are using broadband. They found that the cost‐benefit ratio of using broadband appears to be high when comparing the amount of time and money invested and the perceived return on investment. http://wp.me/p3if7-2u4

Renville and Sibley Counties
RS Fiber is forming a private cooperative to move forward with a community network, using $15 million in public investment. http://wp.me/p3if7-2w0

Twin Cities
Target uses Pinterest to encourage holiday shopping. Target has seen a 70 percent increase in traffic from Pinterest to Target.com since rolling out Rich Pins earlier this year. http://wp.me/p3if7-2ue

PCs for People provides low cost wireless Internet access to low income families through a partnership with Mobile Citizen. http://wp.me/p3if7-2w8

Over the holidays, Best Buy experimented with Google’s new Google Plus-enabled ads with a shoppable Hangout for those seeking last-minute holiday gifts. http://wp.me/p3if7-2v3

Various Communities
Blandin Broadband Communities met to discuss broadband adoption projects. Communities involved include: Kanabec County, Mille Lacs County, Lake County, Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwe, Lac qui Parle Valley, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Lake of the Woods, Itasca area and Southwest Minnesota. http://wp.me/p3if7-2uq

Midcontinent Communications offers reduced broadband services to low income households. http://wp.me/p3if7-2v5

Minnesota is selected to test smart plows; they combine sensor measurements with satellite and radar observations and computer weather models to give officials a near-real time picture of road conditions. http://wp.me/p3if7-2vf

Most Minnesota public libraries have broadband access, but at very different speeds and at very different costs. http://wp.me/p3if7-2uO

Events

JANUARY 8, 9:30 am
Senator Schmit Broadband Listening Tour (Park Rapids) http://wp.me/p3if7-2vj

JANUARY 8, 12:00 pm
Senator Schmit Broadband Listening Tour (Park Rapids, MN) http://wp.me/p3if7-2vj

JANUARY 8, 3:00 pm
Senator Schmit Broadband Listening Tour (Long Prairie, MN) http://wp.me/p3if7-2vj

JANUARY 9, 10:00 am
Minnesota Broadband Task Force meeting (St Paul, MN) http://wp.me/p3if7-2vh

JANUARY 9, 8:30 am
Senator Schmit Broadband Listening Tour (Aitkin, MN) http://wp.me/p3if7-2vj

JANUARY 9, 3:00 pm
Community Centers of Innovation (Free Webinar) http://wp.me/p3if7-2vN

JANUARY 9, 4:00 pm
Senator Schmit Broadband Listening Tour (Annandale, MN) http://wp.me/p3if7-2vj

JANUARY 10, 9:00 am
Senator Schmit Broadband Listening Tour (Ortonville, MN) http://wp.me/p3if7-2vj

JANUARY 10, 1:30 pm
Senator Schmit Broadband Listening Tour (Slayton, MN) http://wp.me/p3if7-2vj

JANUARY 31
New Ulm Social Media Breakfast https://www.facebook.com/smbnewulm

FEBRUARY 4-5
Border to Border Broadband: A Call to Action (Saint Paul, MN) http://wp.me/p3if7-2tA

Looking for more events? Check out TechDotMN’s calendar http://tech.mn/events/. Many events are based in the Twin Cities but it is a comprehensive list. (If you have an upcoming event, consider submitting it.)

Stirring the Pot

By Bill Coleman, Community Technology Advisors

It has been fun for Karl Samp and me to work with the nine Blandin Broadband Communities as they developed partnerships and project plans for another round of BBC grant applications. Critical to their success are the teams that are functioning well in bringing the right people and groups – economic development, schools, chambers, ISPs, health care providers, social service agencies and others – together to address community opportunities.

Through MIRC and BBC, Blandin Foundation has helped communities form these teams and fund projects. The communities have demonstrated that they can both leverage and stretch these funds for widespread impact. The change is real and positive.

Imagine if we had many more of these teams in rural Minnesota? And why not in suburban communities and urban neighborhoods too? Enhanced digital literacy, smarter workers, more innovative companies all making effective use of wired and wireless networks. Why not?