The Blandin Foundation recently published an inclusive assessment of the last cohort of Blandin Broadband Communities. Including a segment on East Range Joint Powers…

The East Range Joint Powers Board (ERJPB) is a collaboration and partnership between the Iron Range cities of Aurora, Biwabik, and Hoyt Lakes, and the Town of White. The four communities share a school district and pool their time and financial resources toward joint services, facilities, and programs and initiatives.

Large portions of the East Range area are un- or underserved or available broadband services are prohibitively expensive, particularly outside of denser population centers or towns. To address this need, the towns served by the ERJPB have joined with fellow IRBCs Laurentian Chamber of Commerce and Tower to conduct a feasibility study to determine what options exist to expand broadband services in the region.

Enhancing public Wi-Fi was a priority for these communities. The ERJPB team installed hotspots at the Biwabik City Center and at the libraries in Hoyt Lakes and Aurora.

The ERJPB BBC team increased their region’s capacity to work better together by significantly upgrading the partnership’s website7 to include a shared community calendar and repository for information on the region’s broadband enhancement efforts.

The ERJB team is working directly with local businesses to assess and address their technology training and planning needs, including with the help of a new portable training lab developed to increase the ability of local employers, educators, economic development organizations, clubs, associations and others to offer computer, technology, community and professional education and training to individuals and groups across the region.

ERJB team also has been active in statewide broadband advocacy efforts, including by engaging their local business community in making the case for the need to improve broadband access and adoption. The Mesabi East school district is large and spread out, meaning students spend a lot of time on buses. The BBC is equipping four longer-haul buses with Wi-Fi so students can do schoolwork while traveling. They are also helping the school district better communicate with its families and community by improving its communication infrastructure.

As part of an effort to improve the region’s tech literacy and inspire knowledge workers, the team supported a project to offer STEM education for all ages. They aim to have students teach older adults how to use mobile devices. They’ll also schedule classes at the library on coding and robotics, create kits to check out with preloaded apps for robotics and coding, and will acquire and manage a supply of devices to be checked out for those who don’t have cell phones or tablets of their own.
Lastly, the ERJB team implemented a few projects centered around modernizing the region’s emergency services, including updating laptops for use in squad cars and ambulances, and for EMS training.

The Blandin Foundation recently published an inclusive assessment of the last cohort of Blandin Broadband Communities. Including a segment on Koochiching Technology Initiative…

The Koochiching Technology Initiative (KTI) coalesced in 2018 out of a longstanding and growing recognition of the importance of internet access and skills throughout the community, which includes both Koochiching County and neighboring Kabetogama region of St. Louis County.

Infrastructure is a major concern for the Koochiching County area. With a small and sparse population, affordable internet service in the region is scarce. The situation became more dire, when a major employer in International Falls decided to close their office and transition their employees to work remotely. Many of the employees did not have adequate broadband connections to work effectively at home. The community responded.

One idea that sparked enthusiasm right away was to open a co-working space for use by the town’s displaced employees, as well as by the many local tourists who increasingly want to stay connected while on vacation.

This conversation led to the creation of Ballan’s iSpace, a converted furniture store downtown. This family-run business, a long-time fixture on main street, had been up for sale for years. When the family heard about the BBC team’s interest in developing a co-working space in International Falls, they decided to convert the building themselves – without financial assistance from the BBC.  The tastefully appointed converted space today is available 24/7 to members. Amenities include Wi-Fi, printing services, dining and event space, and a variety of office space options. As a component of the BBC program, the town’s Borderland Young Professionals group is offering scholarships to income-qualifying Ballan’s iSpace patrons.

KTI funded a record total of seventeen projects during the two-year project period, many addressing public internet access, training, opportunities for education and networking around technology and marketing, and promoting the area as a technologically vibrant place to live, work and visit.

In fall of 2018 KTI was invited to participate in the Feasibility Charrette activity at the Border to Border Broadband Conference. They were paired with Paul Bunyan Communications, and together over the course of two days the community team and the telephone coop staff went through a mini-feasibility study process. Conversations continued through the fall and winter.  With Blandin support, the community surveyed potential internet subscribers in the region. Based on this work Paul Bunyan applied for, and was awarded, grant funding to expand services in the Kabetogama region of St. Louis County.

Added story:

“The Blandin Broadband Community program has been a powerful catalyst and inspiration for us to form a strong and diverse team. We have allocated our Blandin funds across a strong slate of local projects which have launched us on a path to becoming our own version of an “intelligent community.” Our engagement with local leaders and stakeholders is strong and we thank you for your partnership in getting it all started.”

~James Yount, Small Town Tech, Inc. & Koochiching Technology Initiative

The Blandin Foundation recently published an inclusive assessment of the last cohort of Blandin Broadband Communities. Including a segment on Swift County…

Swift is another fiber to the premise county, having received Border-to-Border Broadband grant funding in 2015. They currently rank third in the state based on the 2026 state speed goals. Swift County applied for the BBC program to make sure their residents, businesses, and schools have the tools and knowledge to utilize broadband effectively. How can they do things better, smarter, cheaper and faster?

Swift County’s economy is heavily reliant on agriculture. Their largest employer manufactures sprayers and cotton pickers. When assessing local work force needs, the ability to offer vocational training locally, particularly welding, was identified as a major priority. The steering team investigated a variety of possible options and in the end partnered with Ridgewater College in Willmar to offer a four-week course utilizing online classes in addition to onsite training. Students were provided a computer if they needed one. There was a waiting list for the class, and 16 of the 20 participants completed the program. Welding jobs in the area start at $18-22/hour, which represents a significant improvement in wages for participants.

Youth was another focus for swift County.  The BBC team worked with Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg Community Ed to offer a summer STEM Camp for 80 students entering 2nd through 7th grade. Their goal was to provide a low-cost opportunity for kids to learn about robotics, computer coding, technology, engineering, and math. The camp was a success, in fact they exceeded their expectations when it came to registrations.

Another youth and family-focused project was creation of a Swift County 4-H Extension App. The goal of the app is to connect members and families across the county, provide quick and easy access to program updates and events, and generally promote community connectedness. Benefits of the app are wide-ranging, including easier clean-up at the fairgrounds, since fewer people will be misplacing their paper fair booklets! It will also allow for push notifications for events and schedule changes.

Swift County also helped four small cities without websites develop them, provided hands-on digital marketing consulting to seven small business owners, convened a digital marketing round-table group for community and economic development organizations, and developed a system for taking online campsite reservations.

The Blandin Foundation recently published an inclusive assessment of the last cohort of Blandin Broadband Communities. Including a segment on Cannon Falls…

Recognizing the need to adapt, evolve and take advantage of opportunities to modernize and grow, Cannon Falls Economic Development authority (EDA) applied to the BBC program and chose the school district as its physical boundary. The city is located just over thirty miles south of Minneapolis/St. Paul, making it a desirable place to visit, conduct business and reside.

One of the team’s objectives was to address the problem that not all families in the school district have access to the same level of broadband service: the city of Cannon Falls is served by a fiber-to-the-home network, while those in more rural parts of the district struggle with poor service.  BBC Steering Team members are using broadband surveys to talk with local internet providers about the need to improve internet access.

The BBC team also has successfully distributed fifty refurbished computers from PCs for People to income-qualifying families with school-age children and nonprofits in need in the area.

Recognizing that everyone in the community would benefit from an increased level of digital literacy and sophistication of internet use, the project has included community education and training classes, such as in digital marketing.

Working in partnership with many organizations across the community the EDA has built a local foods infrastructure that includes a farmer’s market, restaurants, meat processing, event space, and more.  Cannon Falls used the Blandin Broadband Community program as an opportunity to build on and amplify this success by creating and implementing a 21st century marketing and promotion plan for the initiative and brand.

Another focus for the community is senior engagement. The BBC group helped purchase Virtual Reality (VR) headsets and software subscriptions for two senior care centers in the area, enabling residents to take virtual field trips around the world. VR systems are being used for wellness, stress reduction, and for the calming effect that guided imagery and ambient sound can have on improving quality of life. There is growing research to show virtual reality helps the elderly cope with depression and anxiety.

Other projects funded for implementation in the Cannon Falls area include a (digital) relaunch of the elementary school newspaper and a new co-working center downtown.

Yesterday I joined the Blandin crew in Rock County (Luverne, MN) to hear about fun activities happening in the area related to Rock County’s participation in the BBC (Blandin Broadband Communities) initiative. What’s interesting is the budgets that Rock County has been able to provide to us; some budgets are actual and some are planned. You can probably figure out which is which by context.

It’s been great to hear what’s going on in terms of getting everyone access where they need it. It’s funny to think of broadband on the campgrounds and parks but the age of wanting to go off the grid are gone. People want/need broadband for weather reports, safety into and in parks to allow vendors to sell items (for example at an art festival.) You can watch the meeting as it happened or read my notes below.

Library Hotspots (Total Budget $3,240) Continue reading →

The Blandin Foundation just released an assessment of the Blanidn Broadband Communities (BBC) initiative from January 2017 – June 2018, which is the period of one cohort experiencing the program. This cohort was a little different from past groups in that they were all from the Iron Range: Aitkin County, Chisholm, Ely, Grizzlies (Bois Forte, Cook, Orr), Hibbing and Mountain Iron-Buhl (in St Louis County).

The assessment of the 2017-18 cohort of six Iron Range Blandin Broadband Communities and associated broadband-related activities was written by staff as part of the foundation’s overall efforts to build an assessment system that answers the basic question: “What do we need to know to do better?” The report uses the foundation’s Mountain of Accountability framework to help discern and apply what they are learning.

You can check out the report from specifics and fun stories from each of the communities. Many of not most of the stories have already been shared in the blog, so I won’t repost here. Instead I think it’s interesting to look at their lessons learned. I am lucky to be a part of the broadband team. From inside the team I see how the frontlines, education and advocacy pieces fit in well together; there’s often a disconnect between those facets but when brought together I think they are most powerful…

Some lessons learned from bringing the lens of this Opportunity Statement to our work:

Building upon proven practices: Based on positive community feedback we continue to use an intense community engagement process that brings communities from goal setting to action within about 90 days, and likewise have retained the Intelligent Community Framework14 as a model for helping community leaders think holistically about technology-based economic and community development.

Leveraging Our Reputation and Relationships: We continue to recognize reputation and relationships as two of our program’s most valuable assets. Reputation for attracting additional resources (human, financial) and relationships as the force field that keeps people engaged.

Attracting Additional Passionate Partners: In adding these words to our statement, electric coops were top of mind. However, staff has had only modest success inspiring and supporting electric co-ops to play a bigger role in addressing Minnesota’s broadband needs. In looking ahead to 2019 we will revisit whether further investments in building relationships with electric co-ops is advisable, given limited progress made to date. One factor that argues against standing down, especially in light of the magnitude of the opportunity, is the simple notion of “if not us, who?”

Drive Collaborative Approaches: Where possible, Blandin staff seeks to fill a supporting rather than leading role in the work, understanding that everything we do is one more thing the community is not doing for itself (as in the regional policy meetings, where partners were conveners and hosts, and Blandin provided content expertise and gravitas).

Continue to influence and Inform Statewide Policy and Messaging: This element of the Opportunity Statement is key to Minnesota’s long-term success in meeting its broadband goals. Foundation staff are optimistic that the Minnesota Rural Broadband Coalition will step ever more competently into this role, so that Blandin can be part of the choir, rather than the leading voice.