The American Connection Project is playing a big role in getting rural areas better broadband and mentoring emerging leaders to develop the skills to make it happen. Borrowed from their year-end report, here’s more info..

The American Connection Corps (ACC) is the nation’s largest fellowship program focused on bridging the digital divide. Led by Lead for America and The American Connection Project, this initiative addresses broadband development and digital inclusion while strengthening our country’s next generation of civic leaders.

The American Connection Corps (ACC) is the nation’s largest fellowship program focused on bridging the digital divide. Led by Lead for America and The American Connection Project, this initiative addresses broadband development and digital inclusion while strengthening our country’s next generation of civic leaders.

Their goals in 2021:

• Grow awareness that the digital divide remains an urgent issue
• Grow understanding that speed, quality, and literacy matters
• Start a dialogue on how digital access can free every place of its limitations

The report details the outcomes of the program in its first three months. They highlighted the work of Amber Lewis, working with The Northspan Group…

Having grown up in the Iron Range of northeast Minnesota, Amber Lewis, experienced firsthand the workforce and education challenges that come with a lack of digital access. Through ACC, she has returned to serve her community throughThe Northspan Group, Inc., a nonprofit community development organization that provides services to businesses and local governments across counties in the Arrowhead Region of Minnesota, and across the border into Northwest Wisconsin. Amber has spearheaded a region-wide data collection process, gathering resident surveys, feasibility reports, and other broadband data across Northeast MN, and cross-analyzing them with demographic data. This data collection process is the region’s first and most comprehensive approach to understanding demographic inequities around digital access.