About a dozen people turned out in Staples MN for Senator Schmit’s broadband following tour of rural towns. There were plenty of providers in the room (CTC, Arvig, West Central), and legislators (Rep John Ward and Rep Ron Kreshe) and some very passionate broadband leaders (Cheryal Hills and Stacy Stockdil). Fair warning to other communities – these guys are hitting the ground running.

Folks had really good questions so I thought I’d start today’s post with that you can read on for more details and video…

Questions:

Can we get around the Connect MN maps? We know they are wrong in our area.

DEED has flexibility to listen to concerns about the maps and make judgment calls. But you also have an opportunity to contact Connect MN to address any issues?

Are there issues with combining state and federal funding?

Yes. Federal funders do not like to fund areas that have received state funding so it’s important to look at your region and assess which areas are best candidates for federal funding and which are best focused for state funding.

Who can apply?

Providers, coops, nonprofits, tribal entities partnerships can apply. Region 5 will make sure the grants in this area are eligible and competitive. We will make it happen.

Who will make the decisions for funding?

The Commissioner will make the final decision. OBD has a small staff. They may decide to pull in expertise grant readers.

We think there will be dozens of applications and suspect that we’ll be able to fund half a dozen. We want to choose the best to make the case that we need more funding and broadband is a good investment.

Noted: Region Five has good connections and is prepared to go up to bat for the projects. There was clear concern that grants would be made based on politics, not necessarily a scoring system.

When will DEED be meeting in our area?

The DEED regional meeting is planned for July 28 – but the plan is to keep it to 20 people.

Will the funds be geographically dispersed?

The Legislators gave leeway to make sure that the best projects get funded, especially as this has the feel of a pilot project.

Does wireless broadband count in defining unserved/underserved areas?

Nope – although there’s always a chance that might change.

What is the current situation with broadband and bonding?

Broadband is appropriate for bonding. Broadband decision makers are leaning toward fiber as the only broadband infrastructure that would be bond-worthy. However, the State Bond Council will make the decision. Currently they say that fiber in not a long term investment. SO we need to have conversations with them to help them see the light.

DEED is planning 9-10 regional meetings later this summer but today we wanted to talk about what your community can do to prepare to apply for funding:

• Providers, coops, nonprofits, tribal entities partnerships can apply
• Qualify for up to $5 million – with a 1-to-1 match
• Projects must be scalable (not necessary to scale tomorrow – but eventually)
• Funding is technology neutral – focus on long term investment
• Looking for applications from unserved areas (can’t get 4 Mbps down and 1 Mbps); they will use Connect MN maps to gauge
• Underserved areas qualify as well (10-20 Mbps down and -10 up)
• Define the areas in your region that qualify.
• Form partnerships now.

Criteria – which will be honed by DEED

• Are you unserved? (That gets you into the priority pile.)
• Are you looking at telehealth?
• How many houses will be served?
• What anchor institutes will be served?
• Are you in an economically distressed area?

Cherayl HillsThe Office of Broadband Development has been very helpful. We want to thank the legislators for their hard work getting the funding this last session and to the Blandin Foundation and the providers for their years of hard work raising the issue to the point that legislators address it.Other state agencies see the value of broadband as a way to accomplish their goals. It gets cars off the road, it keeps people in their homes, it provides a means for remote education. Other state agencies get it and it’s a topic that brings them together. Maybe we could borrow from some other agency budgets to build broadband to make them more efficient.
StacyWe are prepared to apply within the 5 county region. We know our unserved areas. We submitted proposals to the FCC. We have formed partnerships. We have some concerns with the Connect MN maps. They are not perfect.