Tag Archives: coronavirus

DEED announces $34.6 Million Awarded in Small Cities Coronavirus Funding

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From the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development…

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) today announced $34,656,956 in grants to 15 Minnesota cities and counties across the state from the Small Cities Coronavirus Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG-CV).

As part of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), Minnesota received a special allocation to address community needs to prevent, prepare for and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most of the funding – nearly $32.2 million – will be used for broadband improvement projects. Projects under CDBG-CV are not associated with the Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant Program managed by the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development.

Other uses of this funding will include housing assistance, food shelf assistance, retrofitting buildings and commercial rehabilitation projects. These uses were determined through an open community input process and approved by the Housing and Urban Development Agency (HUD).

“The pandemic has made clear how vital broadband is to the lives of Minnesotans and to the economic vitality of our state,” said DEED Commissioner Steve Grove. “These grants will help communities fund broadband and other important projects as we write the next chapter of our economy.”

Applications were rated according to need, impact, and cost effectiveness. Funds are intended for projects that are focused on the locality and that will be used primarily for low-and-moderate income residents. You can find out more about CDBG grants on the DEED website.

The following 15 cities and counties received CDBG grants:

Aitkin County , $4,823,654
Broadband improvement

City of Appleton , $3,699,000
Broadband improvement and commercial rehabilitation

City of Benson , $678,000
Retrofitting buildings

City of Bemidji , $600,000
Retrofitting buildings

City of Bloomington , $154,430
Housing assistance and food shelf assistance

City of Ceylon , $983,105
Broadband improvement

Crow Wing County , $4,495,340
Broadband improvement

City of Dodge Center , $3,142,747
Broadband improvement

Faribault County , $2,886,206
Broadband improvement

City of Harmony , $2,245,849
Broadband improvement

City of Madison , $2,560,000
Broadband improvement

City of Slayton/Murray County , $2,822,278
Broadband improvement

Pine County , $3,743,390
Broadband improvement and retrofitting buildings

Redwood County , $1,715,607
Broadband improvement

City of Wabasha , $107,350
Commercial rehabilitation

 

A look at broadband needs in rural MN: Walnut Grove, Redwood County and Pine County

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MN Public Radio takes a look at broadband on the frontlines in rural Minnesota. In Walnut Grove…

The 31-year-old crop insurance adjuster works on a computer set up in his living room, but sometimes he has to travel to the library in a neighboring town for a steady internet connection. Other times, he uses a mobile hot spot. He gets by, Malmberg said, and others he knows, work with less.

“Up until four years ago, I think, my parents had dial-up,” he said. “They basically have dial-up still. They have 3.5 megabits per second is their [download] speed. No Netflix, no Amazon Prime. Only email, and the occasional YouTube video.”

In Redwood County…

“Internet is now as necessary as electricity and water,” said Briana Mumme, Redwood County economic development coordinator. “I mean, like these are just part of how we do life. You just have to have access to it.”

About 90 percent of households have a computer statewide, according to the Blandin Foundation, and 81 percent have a laptop; 76 percent have a smartphone and 59 percent have a tablet. But, there are many areas in Minnesota, Mumme said, where access to high-speed internet is limited and working remotely and distance learning have run into problems, which was the case for one college student she knows who moved back home during the pandemic.

“In order for him to attend school, he literally had to drive to his grandparents house, back into town where the bandwidth was bigger or more robust,” she said. “So he could actually do school.”

In Pine County…

Other rural counties are also competing for better broadband and have seen the shift in how their communities are viewing the necessity for it. Lezlie Sauter, Pine County economic development coordinator, said COVID-19 revealed a lot of disparities where better internet access was needed in northern Minnesota.

“I think that the pandemic opened up our eyes to, ‘we have to be able to pivot and do work online,’ ” Sauter said. “I don’t think our community was prepared for it. I think some people were, but most of us viewed the internet and broadband as a luxury and it’s something we use to stream video and Netflix and all those things. But, we did not see how important it would be to keep conducting business.”

How could the federal Infrastructure bill impact broadband in MN?

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KARE11 News reports…

The Senate’s infrastructure bill would bring billions of dollars in improvements to Minnesota.

The $1 trillion infrastructure package received bipartisan support in the Senate, passing 69 to 30 with 19 Republicans joining Democrats. The bill, which still needs to pass the House, includes $550 billion in new spending.

U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) both voted in favor of the bill.

For broadband in Minnesota…

The plan would bring at least $100 million for broadband internet systems in communities across the state and provide access to at least 83,000 residents currently without broadband access.

“We found out in really glaring technicolor during the pandemic that we have 144,000 households in our state that don’t have high speed broadband. The school superintendents would say in all of the rural areas something like 10% to 15% of their kids couldn’t even do their homework over the internet because they had such slow internet,” said Sen. Klobuchar, during a press conference Wednesday afternoon at Nicollet Island Pavilion in Minneapolis.

La Crosse Tribune goes into the broadband aspects…

More radical industry changes laid out in the Biden administration’s original $100 billion plan, like promoting alternatives to the dominant phone and cable industries and hinting at price regulation, didn’t survive bipartisan negotiations over a bill that had to attract Republican support. Among the bill’s big winners, in fact, are those same internet service providers.

There’s a focus on affordability…

The Senate bill would provide about $14 billion toward a $30 monthly benefit that helps low-income people pay for internet, extending a pandemic-era emergency program.

“What makes this historic is the focus on affordability,” said Jenna Leventoff of Public Knowledge, which advocates for more funding for broadband. The bill, should it become law, is “going to help a lot of people that were otherwise unable to connect.”

An existing program, known as Lifeline, aimed to help solve this affordability issue before. But it only provides $9.25 a month, which doesn’t go far for internet plans. It has also been a target of Republicans, who say it has fraud and abuse problems.

Industry groups have also advocated for a permanent broadband benefit. Broadband companies, if they choose to participate, will gain additional customers. The program is “a plus for all ISPs,” said Evercore ISI analyst Vijay Jayant.

And network deployment…

The bill provides about $42 billion in grants to states, who in turn will funnel it to ISPs to expand networks where people don’t have good internet service. Companies that take this money will have to offer a low-cost service option. Government regulators will approve the price of that service.

The bill requires that internet projects come with minimum speeds of 100 mbps down/20 up, a big step up from current requirements. But some advocates are concerned that it’s still too slow, and argue that the federal government may have to spend big again down the line to rebuild networks that aren’t up to par for future needs.

Cable companies are also happy that the funding is primarily dedicated to areas that don’t currently have broadband service. Some advocates had hoped the government would step in and fund competition to cable so that people had more choices. Others saw that as wasteful.

The Biden administration’s initial plan promised to promote local government networks, cooperatives and nonprofits as alternatives to for-profit phone and cable companies. Under the Senate’s plan now, such groups aren’t prioritized, but they can still get money from states for networks. The telecom industry has lobbied against municipal networks; about 20 states restrict them.

Senate negotiators also left loopholes in language around an attempt to end what’s known as “digital redlining” — when telecom companies provide upgraded internet service in wealthier parts of town but leave others without good service. The bill says the FCC must create rules to stop this practice, “insofar as technically and economically feasible.” But the whole reason telecoms leave some areas with subpar service is because those neighborhoods are not as profitable, said Leventoff.

Study shows need for upload increased during pandemic – and it’s likely to continue

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Gov Tech reports…

The voices of Americans seem to make this clear: If government is going to fund broadband infrastructure, it should invest in solutions with higher maximum speeds, particularly upload speeds that have become so critical in the wake of COVID-19.
A recent study, published in the Journal of Information Policy, pushes back against the perspective that the Internet, for the most part, held up “just fine” during the pandemic. Looking at consumer complaints directed to the Federal Communications Commission during the first few months of the pandemic, the study found that Internet complaints jumped up significantly after COVID-19 shut down most of the country.
The study also examines speed data showing that upload speeds in particular suffered until the last quarter of 2020, perhaps due to the increase in use of videoconferencing tools among families working and learning from home.

The track three types of users…

The researchers suggest there are three types of Internet users in America.
“The Internet made it easy for some people to work, go to school, and interact with loved ones safely without leaving their homes,” the article reads. “Those lucky individuals maintained an extraordinary degree of normalcy and safety despite a pandemic that in some regions disrupted nearly every aspect of daily life. At the other extreme were those who normally used the Internet outside the home. Their access to the Internet was severed just when they needed it most … In between were households that did have Internet access, but not at the quality of service that would make all of these activities easy.”

They take a look at what’s happening in Minnesota…

Angie Dickison, executive director of broadband development for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, said inquiries from citizens without broadband at all have remained constant since the onset of the pandemic, but more people than usual have contacted the state about “access to better upload speeds.”
Dickison also noted that the Internet needs of senior citizens have become quite apparent over the last year and a half. She recalled a letter that her office received from an elderly woman.
“Through the pandemic, she was diagnosed with cancer and talked about how important it was for her to have broadband, not just to have access to health care but to stay connected with family and friends,” Dickison said.
To further illustrate the newfound importance of upload speeds, both Ivey and Dickison mentioned the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s interim final rule for spending American Rescue Plan dollars on broadband. The rule states that broadband projects should result in “symmetrical upload and download speeds of 100 Mbps.” If that standard can’t be met immediately, the download speed must still be at least 100 Mbps, and the upload speed must hit 20 Mbps and be scalable to 100 Mbps.

The report itself goes into greater detail and recommendation for policymakers…

These changes also substantially increased Internet traffic. The Internet remained usable under this load, but performance was degraded, primarily for upstream traffic. ISPs were accustomed to carrying streaming video to tens of millions of homes every evening, so there was already capacity to handle much of the downstream traffic for videoconferencing, but not the upstream. That is presumably why upstream data rates at midday fell by roughly a third during the pandemic, and why complaints about speed increased by 176%. These increases were much greater in services that offer highly asymmetric service, for example, 291% for cable and 213% for satellite, whereas the increase for slow but symmetric DSL was just 15%. Today, people tend to focus primarily on the downstream capabilities of Internet services, as if the upstream did not matter. The implications for ISPs are obvious. Even after COVID-19 has been tamed, we will probably see more people working and going to school from home than before the pandemic. To prepare for that possibility, ISPs that offer asymmetric services should reevalu[1]ate their plans for upstream capacity, or risk becoming less competitive. The implications for policymakers are at least as important. When upstream is poor, some of the Internet uses that should be priorities for policymakers are especially impaired. As too many students and parents learned the hard way during the pandemic, upstream capacity is often required for effective distance learning. It is also critical for many tele[1]health applications. For example, the pandemic forced policymakers and insurance companies to allow and pay for mental health services delivered over the Internet. As a result, some rural areas that have been chronically underserved by mental health providers for decades could finally access these services, but effective interactions with a psychologist often require enough upstream capacity for two-way video. Policymakers can help. The FCC defines a service as “broadband” if the downstream is at least 25 Mb/s and the upstream is at least 3 Mb/s. The majority of households that contain people working from home are far better off with a service that is 20 Mb/s down and 20 Mb/s up than a service that is 100 Mb/s down and 3 Mb/s up, but only the latter would meet the FCC’s current definition of broadband. As a result, a company building out infrastruc[1]ture that can offer the service with just 3 Mb/s up is far more likely to obtain government subsidies. If people continue to work from home in significant numbers, as seems likely, the FCC should reduce the down/up ratio in its broadband definition from the current value of 8 to 1. The focus on downstream at the expense of upstream is even more apparent in how Internet services are marketed, especially from ISPs that offer asymmetric services, such as cable companies. If the largest cable pro[1]viders (Comcast, Charter, and Cox) put any information whatsoever about upstream data rates on their websites, we could not find it. Moreover, the customer service representative we spoke to on the phone was happy to tell us the downstream rate of each Internet service his company offered, but was similarly unable to provide any information about upstream. This lack of information has two unfortunate consequences. First, many consumers will unknowingly choose a service that is inferior for their pur[1]poses, even when that inferior service costs more. Second, ISPs have far less incentive to improve their upstream capabilities, because doing so will do little to lure customers away from competitors. Competition drives quality improvement, but only when customers know what they are buying. The FCC could solve this problem simply by changing transparency rules to require ISPs to provide meaningful information about upstream capabilities.

 

Mayo’s video visits up 5000 percent but how does that impact Rochester’s local economy?

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The Post Bulletin reports…

“We’re currently touching, caring for more patients on a given day now than they were pre-pandemic when you add in telemedicine activities, plus the patients coming on site for care here,” said Dr. Steve Ommen, a cardiologist and the medical director for experience products for Mayo Clinic’s Center for Digital Health.

Video visits skyrocketed more than 5,000% from 278 visits in February 2020 to 16,532 in December at Mayo Clinic-Rochester. Phone telemedicine visits also soared from 169 to 7,590 in the same timeframe, peaking at 24,670 visits in April 2020.

A looming question remains: How will this affect Rochester’s economy when much of the downtown and the largest private-public economic partnership in state history has been built with the presumption that many of Mayo’s patients will be visiting the city in person?

Sounds like the local economic developers aren’t too worried…

Holly Masek, executive director of the Rochester Downtown Alliance, said her team hasn’t specifically studied how telehealth use could affect the downtown. The general consensus is that there are enough patients traveling to Rochester for extended stays and more specialized care that businesses will not see a significant decrease in income because of telemedicine use.

There are pluses and minuses with remote working too…

Fewer Mayo Clinic employees are working downtown than before the pandemic, though telemedicine certainly can’t be pinpointed as the sole cause of this shift.

“Approximately 2,900 staff who were previously based in downtown Rochester will now work off campus a majority of the time,” Mayo Clinic spokeswoman Ginger Plumbo said to the Post Bulletin’s Jeff Kiger in early July. “This number evolved as Mayo Clinic continued to assess the workforce beyond the initial group of non-clinical administrative staff.”

The number went up from the 1,500 figure Mayo Clinic reported in October 2020.

It looks like the Mayo, more than the city, will need to look at the impact…

Preliminary studies from other healthcare institutions across the country provide a picture into how telemedicine use affects revenue. An April 2021 study by the Department of Orthopaedics at the University of Pennsylvania found that the adoption of telemedicine services resulted in just a -.8% hit to the department’s revenue.

“Given that the nation’s health systems are operating on thin margins amid rising payment and cost pressures, the findings of our study underscore the need for thoughtful examination to ensure telemedicine is used and supported effectively and sustainably,” read the study.

Legislative changes makes it easier to offer and afford telehealth…

Legislation passed in June 2021 as part of the Health and Human Services bill made these changes part of law, not just part of the emergency powers declaration.

For Mayo Clinic campuses in Arizona and Florida, the number of patients receiving care via telemedicine may differ. Arizona recently passed similar protections to Minnesota, while Florida rolled back telehealth regulations passed during the pandemic.

Even if Mayo Clinic’s bottom line isn’t greatly affected by telemedicine use, the patient’s pocketbook may be.

A 2014 study found that the average estimated cost of a telehealth visit is $40 to $50 compared to average cost of $136 to $175 for in-person acute care.

Minnesota legislation regulates the cost of telemedicine services to not surpass what the in-person cost would be.

Kandiyohi County to focus federal funding (ARP) on broadband

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West Central Tribune reports…

he main focus of the EDC committee is the Federated Telephone fiber broadband project for Dovre, Mamre, St. Johns and Arctander townships. So far, about 681 properties could receive high-speed broadband through fiber if the project is completed.

“This is good news for the people in this area,” Schmoll said.

The project is estimated to cost around $9.7 million and funding is coming from a variety of sources. Federated is funding 25% of the project, and each individual property being hooked up to the new service will have to pay around $1,246, based on current cost projections.

The county has already approved two different funding requests for the project. The first was a $25,000 grant, available to any township in the county expanding broadband access. The second pot of money was $1.3 million from the county’s American Rescue Plan allocation.

More details…

The Kandiyohi County Board of Commissioners has already decided to focus most of the county’s share of the federal funding to broadband, bringing a big lift to the work being done by the Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission broadband committee.

“They are giving us the opportunities to get the funds we need to make these projects possible,” said Connie Schmoll, broadband planner, at Thursday’s meeting of the EDC Joint Powers Board.

Large swaths of Kandiyohi County, and the state as a whole, are considered underserved or unserved, meaning properties don’t have access to 100 megabits per second download and 20 mbps upload internet speeds. During the pandemic, it became obvious for many that working and learning from home just wasn’t possible without high-speed, reliable internet.

Schmoll said she heard stories of parents going into the office, when they should not have done so, because they needed to save whatever internet speed they had at home for the children’s distance learning.

Here’s info on their main focus…

The main focus of the EDC committee is the Federated Telephone fiber broadband project for Dovre, Mamre, St. Johns and Arctander townships. So far, about 681 properties could receive high-speed broadband through fiber if the project is completed.

“This is good news for the people in this area,” Schmoll said.

The project is estimated to cost around $9.7 million and funding is coming from a variety of sources. Federated is funding 25% of the project, and each individual property being hooked up to the new service will have to pay around $1,246, based on current cost projections.

The county has already approved two different funding requests for the project. The first was a $25,000 grant, available to any township in the county expanding broadband access. The second pot of money was $1.3 million from the county’s American Rescue Plan allocation.

And a few smaller projects…

In addition to the Federated projects, the committee is looking at other projects across the county. At the July 20 meeting of the Kandiyohi County Board, the commissioners approved sending $35,000 in American Rescue Plan funds to a Charter project in the 141st Avenue Northeast area in New London Township. A small project, it would bring services to 37 unserved homes in the area.

A $1 million project, developed by Arvig, could hook up 510 premises in Prinsburg to high-speed internet. Potential funding sources for that project include American Rescue Plan money from both the county and city of Prinsburg, along with $450,000 from Arvig and another $175,000 from a mix of the school, city and residents.

Telemedicine gains momentum during pandemic and policy changes will keep it going

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The Pine Journal reports…

Behavioral and mental health treatment was ahead of other specialties in terms of telemedicine use before the pandemic, but patients have still increasingly turned to those services over the past year.

One study found that telemedical care for mental health or substance abuse disorders increased from 1% of visits before the pandemic to 41% in October 2020.

For most people providing and receiving medical care, the escalated adoption of telemedicine is one of the silver linings amid the devastation of the pandemic. The funds funneled into the technology reflect its increased use. Investment in telehealth technologies in the first half of 2021 was greater than all of 2020, according to an analysis from management consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

While the benefits of telemedicine have been especially appreciated among people who live with physical disability or mental illness, telehealth has also created new barriers for users during a time when medical support was vital.

Telehealth was an important tool…

A NAMI survey found that telehealth visits provided connection in a time when people were starved for it, especially while grappling with mental illness.

“Great to be able to connect with services right from my home. Being able to continue to be in visual connection with my therapist during the most isolated days/weeks of this pandemic was crucial. Nice to see people without masks on!” one respondent wrote.

Several respondents stated that they appreciated the relief of not having to figure out transportation for in-person appointments. Others wrote that they thought it was the safest option for themselves and their families during the pandemic, and it allowed them to stay in a comfortable environment on days they weren’t feeling well.

Unfortunately access to technology was a barrier to some…

“The elderly and kids are the ones who probably lost the most ground in terms of the pandemic and having to move to telehealth,” Abderholden said.

A survey conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health also found that these were the groups most affected by barriers with technology.

Although many communities found some solutions…

The SEMCIL [Southeastern Minnesota Center for Independent Living] team offered a repository of 20 iPads and 50 Chromebooks to those in need during the pandemic, fueled largely by CARES Act dollars.

But access wasn’t the only issue…

Older patients seeking treatment for mental illness often encountered technological issues, sometimes only accessing their telehealth services after a provider walked them through how to download the software. Some users stuck with audio-only services, a lifeline for those living in areas with poor internet access.

Even for technology savants, telehealth posed a different problem: screen-time burnout.

School-age children who spent all day in front of their computers engaging in remote schooling would often not feel like diving into emotional issues in the same setting.

“The technology worked fine, but my child was burnt out on doing everything via video and started ending the sessions early. I’m not sure how to make the engagement better though,” wrote one respondent to the NAMI survey.

There were also privacy concerns for people who shared spaces with family members and couldn’t find a discreet area to candidly express their struggles with a mental health professional. Bastin found herself moderating what she said and when, even as she logged into her therapy sessions in the privacy of her room, because she worried family members might hear through the walls.

Regulations have been changed to make telemedicine easier now and in the future…

For years, advocates have tried to loosen restrictions surrounding telemedicine access. When the pandemic prompted widespread use of telehealth services, legislative changes finally followed.

The location where patients are eligible to receive telehealth services broadened in spring 2020 under emergency power authorization, enabling in-home care, and not solely in-hospital or clinic care. A second change allowed for audio-only care, a shift from previous regulations that restricted telehealth visits to video.

Legislation passed in June 2021 as part of the Health and Human Services bill made these changes part of law, not just part of the emergency powers declaration. The coverage of audio-only services is still in question due to concerns regarding quality of care, Renner said, but it is protected for at least the next two years.

Sen Klobuchar proposes bill to help social media channel misinformation

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Broadband Breakfast reports…

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, introduced a bill Thursday that would remove online platforms’ Section 230 liability protections when the platforms are used to spread misinformation about coronavirus vaccines or other public-health emergencies.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects online platforms like Facebook and Twitter from civil liability for third-party content posted on their platforms. The measure has come under intense scrutiny over the past year, with prominent figures from both major political parties calling for reform.

Klobuchar said she decided to pursue new legislation because previous attempts to persuade Facebook to regulate the content have not been successful, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Interesting to hear some of the reasoning…

The bill’s introduction cites a report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which says that only 12 social media pages are responsible for a significant amount of false information being circulated about vaccines.

Last week, President Joe Biden said that Facebook was “killing people” by spreading misinformation about coronavirus vaccines. Biden later clarified his statement, saying that he wasn’t accusing the company of murder, but wanted them to “do something about the misinformation.”

The following day, Facebook rejected Biden’s criticism in a blog post, saying that 85 percent of its U.S. users either want to be or already have been vaccinated, citing this as evidence that Facebook was not the reason Biden’s goal of a 70 percent vaccination goal by July was not Facebook’s fault. Facebook said it was helping efforts to vaccinate the country by operating vaccine clinics in low-income communities in several states.

EVENT July 29-30: 2021 Knight Smart Cities Lab

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This event is intriguing…

As communities continue to rebuild and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, how can they harness the lessons they’ve learned in the past year to build resiliency and prepare for future challenges?
At the 2021 Knight Smart Cities Lab on July 29-30, we’ll convene community leaders and technologists to explore how to leverage federal funding, data and digital technology to help make equitable decisions and improve quality of life for residents in 2021 and beyond.

Knight Smart Cities Lab 
Thursday, July 29 to Friday, July 30, 2021
RSVP

Speakers will include:
Mara Balestrini, IDB Lab
Vishaan Chakrabarti, Practice For Architecture And Urbanism (PAU)
Hana Creger, Greenlining
Lilian Coral, Knight Foundation
Henry L. Greenidge, NYU McSilver Institute
Kelly Jin, Knight Foundation
Katherine Lusk, Initiative On Cities At Boston University
Onica Makwakwa, World Wide Web Foundation
Gigi Sohn, Georgetown Law Institute For Technology Law & Policy
Jordan Sun, City of San Jose
Juan Marcos Vilar, Alianza For Progress
Cori Zarek, Beeck Center For Social Impact + Innovation At Georgetown University

We hope you’ll join us for this important event. For questions, contact smartcities@kf.org.

Hennepin County board authorizes $10M toward eliminating digital divide

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From Hennepin County – big investment in the future and an opportunity to keep an eye on Office of Broadband and Digital Inclusion for good ideas…

On Tuesday, July 20, the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners authorized the use of up to $10 million in federal funding to continue the county’s efforts in eliminating the digital divide. A newly created Office of Broadband and Digital Inclusion will take action to reduce disparities in access to broadband internet and support for digital literacy.

Digital equity

“We believe digital equity is foundational for strong post-pandemic society,” said Chela Guzmán-Wiegert, Assistant County Administrator for Disparity Reduction. “We intend to leverage all available resources to meet this need in our most impacted communities.”

The COVID-19 pandemic magnified a longstanding gap between connected communities and areas that lack the infrastructure to participate in an increasingly digital world. With input from community, local government, business, and non-profit partners the Office of Broadband and Digital Inclusion will create a Digital Equity Plan to guide efforts to eliminate the digital divide.

Connecting Hennepin

In 2020, Hennepin County leveraged CARES Act funding to launch Connecting Hennepin, an initiative to address three critical areas of the digital divide: devices, connectivity, and digital literacy. With the help of community organizations and distribution partner PCs for People, the initiative provided more than 8,000 laptops to residents who lacked reliable access to technology. Connecting Hennepin also piloted a program to help residents secure internet hotspots or subsidized internet services.

Infrastructure, devices, and education

The Office of Broadband and Digital Inclusion will pursue opportunities to deepen broadband penetration throughout Hennepin County and leverage the county’s existing fiber-optic infrastructure to help resolve broadband gaps through public-private partnerships with internet service providers.

Federal funding through the American Recovery Act will also support:

  • Community-based digital navigation and technology adoption
  • Education for digital literacy, privacy, and internet safety
  • Free, low-cost, or loaned computers for county clients and other prioritized residents

Emergency Broadband Benefit

Connecting Hennepin is currently promoting the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB), a federal program designed to reduce internet costs. The program provides discounted or free internet to many households. Learn more about the EBB and other Connecting Hennepin programs at hennepin.us/tech.

Senator Carrie Rudd mentions broadband funding as a highlight

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The Pines and Lakes Echo offered Senator Carrie Rudd an opportunity to recap the 2021 Legislative session…

This was a long legislative year – under the trying circumstances Minnesota has faced, we were able to accomplish a great deal, and the highlights are a small part of the story. Most importantly, we reaffirmed our commitment to all Minnesotans, and ensuring the best quality of life our state offers.

With notes on broadband funding…

The pandemic made it very clear that broadband is no longer a luxury, but a necessity, and we have work to do in that area. Therefore, included in the agriculture budget was important funding for broadband expansion.

Last year we provided a large investment for expansion efforts to our rural communities, and we again this year invested in broadband expansion thanks to federal funding from the American Recovery Plan. This continuous investment shows our commitment to ensuring Greater Minnesota is no longer left behind in broadband expansion.

Access to broadband isn’t just a rural issue!

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The Minneapolis Star Tribune has highlighted McKinsey & Company’s recent survey of 25,000 Americans about their view of the future, the pandemic and their identity. The Twin Cities overall surveyed in slightly better shape that other areas but there was a disparity gap…

The racial disparities are particularly stark. Only 29% of Blacks in the Twin Cities region believe that most people can find good jobs — many fewer than among Black Americans as a whole (40%) or compared with their fellow Minnesotans (46%). Moreover, 56% of Blacks in the Twin Cities say their race hurt their job prospects, a level 15 percentage points higher than the national average and the highest of any city surveyed. Blacks and Hispanics in the Twin Cities were also much more likely to have lost income over the course of the pandemic; Blacks in particular were feeling much more vulnerable economically. Both groups cite affordable health insurance as a significant barrier to their well-being at much higher rates than the U.S. average.

Broadband was listed as a tool that could help lift people to a better place…

Across race, gender, income and education, COVID-19 exacerbated existing inequalities; it would be a shame if the emerging recovery resulted in more of the same. Improving racial and social equity is a national concern, but there is wide scope for local action. In the Twin Cities, many businesses have pledged to do more, and indeed the private sector here has a long track record of constructive civic action. But how? The survey offers some hints.

Looking specifically at Black Minnesotans, more than half said that lack of experience, training or education was a barrier to changing jobs — 23 points more than the national average; 57% were interested in training programs or acquiring new skills. They were much more likely than other Black Americans — and three times as likely as their white neighbors — to cite a lack of financial services as a problem, and also considerably more likely to say they cannot afford internet access. Providing training, expanding access to broadband and offering affordable financial services — these are all things where the private sector can lead.

Broadband levels the playing field whether you’re in Grand Portage or North Minneapolis.

Emergency Broadband Benefit has enrolled just 1 in 12 eligible households

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The Benton Institute is keeping an eye on Emergency Broadband Benefit…

Two weeks ago, the Federal Communications Commission released data on how many households have signed up for the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB), a program created by Congress in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program offers eligible households a discount of up to $50 per month on broadband service. The data, available through the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) which administers the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, shows that over 3 million households have signed up for the new program. The downloadable spreadsheet shows that 3,125,066 households have enrolled for the benefit.

A close look at the data reveals some highlights:

  • The first wave of data indicates that, thus far, the Emergency Broadband Benefit has enrolled about one in twelve eligible households.
    • Analysis of 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) indicates that 31.7 million households are eligible for the FCC’s Lifeline program. Data on the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) shows that 4.3 million more households used SNAP in 2021 than in 2019. This suggests that 36 million households are Emergency Broadband Benefit-eligible (using Lifeline qualification as a guide).
  • Places where wireline broadband adoption rates are low have exhibited above-average rates of households signing up for the Emergency Broadband Benefit.
    • Puerto Rico and New Orleans stand out as places with high rates of Emergency Broadband Benefit enrollment, along with cities such as Detroit, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Philadelphia – all of which have high rates of poverty and residential segregation.

EVENT: July 8th Webinar On Emergency Broadband Benefit hosted by USAC

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An announcement from the FCC…

Over 2.8 million households have already enrolled to receive the Emergency Broadband Benefit, but there are many more households that qualify.

To help increase awareness about the Emergency Broadband Benefit, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) will be conducting a webinar for grassroots advocates, navigators, and others helping their local communities get connected.  The webinar will cover program basics, a walk-through of the online application process, and resources available to help drive enrollment.  It is free to attend, but you must register: register.gotowebinar.com/register/3756757869582626574

What:  USAC Webinar on the Emergency Broadband Benefit

Date:  Thursday – July 8, 2021

Time:  4:00 – 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time

A recording of the event will be posted to USAC’s Emergency Broadband Benefit webinar and trainings page.

OPPORTUNITY Starting Jun 29: Schools and libraries can apply for FCC broadband relief funds

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C|Net reports…

The Emergency Connectivity Fund, the program run through the Federal Communications Commission to subsidize broadband connectivity and devices for schools and libraries in response to the coronavirus pandemic, will begin accepting applications for funding starting Tuesday. This program is designed to help narrow the digital divide and homework gap that has left out millions of Americans, including school-age children and other vulnerable populations, who have traditionally relied on public libraries for internet access.

The $7.17 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund Program, created through President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, will provide funding for schools and libraries across the country to buy laptops, tablets, Wi-Fi hotspots and broadband connections to help students and teachers access the internet for distance learning. Unlike traditional federal E-rate dollars, which are provided to schools and libraries through the FCC’s Universal Service Fund, to help get those physical locations connected to the internet, the Emergency Connectivity Fund money can be used to serve students, school staff or library patrons who are off-campus.