For folks who don’t get the emails…

Join us! October 12-14, 2021

#mnbroadband Agenda Available!

Check out the newly released draft agenda for our our second virtual conference, Building on Broadband: Inspiring Progress. This year’s event will feature a series of fast-moving panels on digital innovations, advocacy and actions, and inspired stories from around the state. You’ll have a chance to hear from a lot of smart people, ask your questions, and be inspired by broadband champions and practitioners from around the state!

Register Today:

Here is your own personal registration link – using this link to register will be easier for both you and for conference organizers! http://blandinfoundation.tfaforms.net/104?id=003A000000vl2cJIAQ

If you’d like to share this message with colleagues new to our conference, the open link to register is https://blandinfoundation.tfaforms.net/104.

Regional Gatherings:

The eight regional meetings around the state have begun! Check out the conference webpage for a list of gatherings. You can still register to attend some of them – and for the rest you can review the notes and video.

Mille Lacs Messenger reports…

A Regional Broadband Conference is being hosted for the East Central Minnesota community on October 6 from 3-4:30pm at the Braham Event Center in Braham Minnesota to address our regional broadband challenges.

As it becomes increasingly necessary to rely on the internet to work from home, attend school, make telehealth appointments, keep ourselves entertained and visit with family, access to affordable, reliable internet service is imperative.

Who should attend? You, your family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors! Please join us for this important event as we showcase where the region stands today in regard to high-speed internet, where it can be tomorrow and what we can do to get there.

Register to attend in-person or virtually

The East Central Regional Broadband Conference is open to the public and available in-person or virtually through video conferencing (via Zoom) on October 6 at 3pm. The event is free, but registration is requested at https://bit.ly/3gFi9RY.

• If you are interested in attending in-person, join us at the Braham Event Center at 655 8th St. SW, Braham. Fall desserts, ice cream and beverages will be served.

• If selecting the option to participate virtually, registered guests will receive the Zoom link for the event by 10 am on the day of the event (Wed., Oct 6).

It’s been a great day of broadband conversations around the state. Three regional broadband conferences happened today and I’ll post on each separately. (There will be eight regional meetings leading up to statewide fall conference Oct 12-14.)

The conference set up presentations and conversation related to the following questions:

• Where do broadband service gaps exist in Southwest Minnesota?
• What finance tools do local governments have to support broadband infrastructure?
• What state and federal grant programs are out there and how do we access them?

There was a tremendous amount of info shared on funding availability.

Here are the harvest notes from the session.

The Northeast Minnesota Regional Broadband Summit happened today and I’ll post on each separately. (There will be eight regional meetings leading up to statewide fall conference Oct 12-14.) There was a huge crowd (100+) and lots of good information:

Agenda included (see PPTs):

Welcome from Duluth Mayor Emily Larson & IRRR Commissioner Mark Phillips

Office of Broadband Development Update – an update from Diane Wells (similar to the one given at previous regional conferences)

ICF Framework and Community Projects with Bernadine Joselyn. Fun to hear about a wide range of projects happening in the area:

• SBDC Tech Audits (Innovate)
• Workforce Talent Attraction – Hello Iron Range
• Koochiching County Coworking Space (Connect/Work/Include)
• Hibbing HRA Housing Wifi Project (Connect/Include)
• Local Libraries (Innovate/Include) East Range – STEM Rental

Successful Infrastructure Projects with Whitney Ridlon, at IRRR. Again fun to hear about the projects:

• French Township
• Cherry Township
• Town of Morse
• Boise Forte Tribal Government
• Paul Bunyan Communications
• CTC – Recent and Future Projects
• Aaniin – Connect. Share. Grow. (Fond du Lac)
• City of Duluth Update (CONFIRMED)

And then in small groups we got the opportunity to catch up with two Arrowhead projects out of the following

• IRTB – Casual co-working and welcoming communities (Shawn Herhusky CONFIRMED)
• IEDC – LaunchMN – Innovate 218 (Kirstie McPherson CONFIRMED)
• MN Children’s Press – Mapping Litter and Publishing (Anne Braataas CONFIRMED)
• Northspan – Welcoming Community programming (Amber Lewis CONFIRMED)
• 100 Rural Women – Coop Publishing Model (Teresa Kittridge CONFIRMED)

It’s been a great day of broadband conversations around the state. Three regional broadband conferences happened today and I’ll post on each separately. (There will be eight regional meetings leading up to statewide fall conference Oct 12-14.)

see video https://vimeo.com/607375381/247c948a57

Run of day:

• State of the state –  Diane Wells, from Office of Broadband Development gave a high level look at the funding processes in development and a quick mapping demo and resources, especially look at access in the area
• Three presenters (Todd Johnson, Traverse County, Amy Baldwin, Otter Tail County and Ann Treacy of Blandin on Broadband) will talk about broadband projects on the ground.
• Lead For Minnesota fellow, Carter Grupp, will introduce himself.
• Discussion of regional work and issues

Presentations:

It’s been a great day of broadband conversations around the state. Three regional broadband conferences happened today and I’ll post on each separately. (There will be eight regional meetings leading up to statewide fall conference Oct 12-14.)

There were 40-50 people in attendance. The run of the day:

• A panel on Mapping the Broadband Challenge looked at broadband maps and data collected by DEED’s Office of Broadband Development, the South East Minnesota League of Municipalities and the Minnesota Broadband Coalition.
• Two regional initiatives talked about how to advance broadband-fueled economic and community development in the region: Red Wing Ignite and the Le Sueur County Broadband Initiative.
• Ended with an exercise to prioritize broadband opportunities in this region, and talk about next steps.

Here are the presentations:

And chat from the day. The chat includes attendee introductions but also any resources share or questions… Continue reading →

From the Land…

A regional broadband summit will be offered as a virtual event 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

Conference speakers include representatives from Minnesota Rural Broadband Coalition, Red Wing Ignite and Le Sueur County’s Broadband Initiative. Participants will discuss access and adoption, regional prioritization and how to use American Recovery Act funds for broadband investments.

Register at: https://bit.ly/3AgekKI.

This is a regional event, leading up to the Fall Broadband Conference.

More info from the Perham Focus on West Central Initiative’s Broadening Our Broadband Regional event, which is part of a series of regional events happening before the Fall (online) Broadband Conference…

West Central Initiative will host Broadening Our Broadband, a discussion featuring a panel of rural broadband industry professionals and policy experts, on Thursday, Sept. 16, at 11 a.m. via Zoom.

The panel will focus on imagining new possibilities that come with enhanced broadband access, learning how communities can prepare for potential future funding opportunities and hearing how the region can leverage broadband access to better support students, businesses and communities. You can register for the event at wcif.org/events.

“High-speed internet access is fundamental to vibrant rural communities,” said Anna Wasescha, West Central Initiative president. “It supports economic development, high-quality health care, equitable education, and more. Broadband discussions … are particularly important in helping to form our region’s long-term, comprehensive broadband implementation strategy. Broadband is no longer a want—it’s a need.”

The panel will feature:

• Bernadine Joselyn, director of public policy and engagement at Blandin Foundation;
• Greg Wagner, director of business and economic development at West Central Initiative;
• Diane Wells, deputy director of the Office of Broadband Development at the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development;
• Amy Baldwin, community development director for Otter Tail County;
• Todd Johnson, Traverse County Commissioner;
• Ann Treacy, owner and founder of Treacy Information Services and researcher and contributor to the Blandin on Broadband blog