I’m sharing this with permission from North Span. It’s from an email that went out to their constituents that expressed an interest in broadband…
In the beginning of 2023, the MN Office of Broadband Development(OBD) asked local areas to form Digital Connection Committees(DCC’s), with the intent to gather data on digital equity and inclusion in those communities. Nine of these committees formed in Northeast Minnesota representing four of the seven counties in our region. The information will be used in the development of a statewide digital equity plan to reduce gaps in access, device ownership, and digital skills.
I am working to ensure that all of our counties and Tribal Nations in our shared geography have the opportunity to provide input into the draft of the Digital Equity Plan even if they did not form a DCC. I have been working with the DCC’s and contacting those without DCC’s to assist in gathering information on digital inclusion from a regional perspective. If you are interested in providing data from your community, I have two options for you to provide input.
- June 27th meeting of the nine NE MN Digital Connection Committees. I will send a calendar invite and the link is below for this virtual meeting. You are welcome to join us and share insights and hear what is coming out of other communities in our region.
June 27th @ 12:00PM-1:00PM Link here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81549873785?pwd=ZlExTkdnQWM0dTNBMlY1QzV2eGpTUT09- Please complete this brief survey, to provide information on your understanding of digital inclusion in your community(s)/Tribal Nation(s).
- Please feel free to forward this survey and information to anyone who may be interested in providing input.
Reports on the data are due to the OBD by June 30th and the draft will be provided for our region to review sometime this Summer.
If you are interested in completing a more intensive data gathering in the next few weeks, I would be happy to help with that in any way that I can. The State has provided a comprehensive survey template and several DCC’s have put the survey into digital format, hosted one-night focus groups, or pared down the template to a 2 or 3 question survey to make it easier to distribute and more accessible.
Let me know if you have any questions and how I can be of assistance!
Digital Inclusion / Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (mn.gov)