Blandin Foundation provides grants up to $5,000 as part of its focus on investing in leaders in rural Minnesota communities. Previously these grants were called Rural Quick Start grants. Graduates of a Blandin leadership program (BCLP, BRCLP, LPEP, LEDC, ACE) may apply for these grants to assist with projects to plan for a vibrant future for their community. …
Earlier today the Blandin Foundation Broadband Strategy Board sent the following letter to the Ultra High-Speed Broadband Task Force. It includes advice and praise for the hard work the Task Force has been doing. I’m going to cheat and put my favorite advice from the letter upfront – and then provide the full letter. 1. Focus on …
Many articles and workshops about nonprofit boards of directors emphasize the different roles of staff members and boards. What if those who serve on the board are also the same people who do the work of the nonprofit? Nonprofits that operate with all volunteers, or those with few paid staff, need a different kind of …
October 7, 2020 | Session notes and recording Here about how Minnesota’s Border-to-Border Broadband Development Fund grants are impacting communities. Rock County Learn about the history behind Rock County’s border-to-border broadband as well as the projects we have been able to implement because of the broadband available in our county. Kyle Oldre, Rock County Administrator …
Wednesday, October 14 | Session notes and recording Drive Adoption and Engagement of Your Mobile App Offering subscribers a mobile app increases your ability to control the home network — this helps with stickiness and enables you to deliver the ultimate subscriber experience. Now that you’ve got an app for subscribers, how can you get them …
Tuesday, October 13 | Session notes and recording The Ever-Widening Broadband Gap It’s really easy to look at the difference between rural broadband and broadband in towns today and assume that today’s gap has to be closed. The reality is that the speeds, amount of bandwidth, and the way that folks in cities use broadband continue …
Monday, October 19 | Session notes and recording What You Should Expect From Your Broadband Provider Kristi Westbrock is the Chief Executive Officer/General Manager at Consolidated Telephone Company (CTC) and has been with the Cooperative since 2007. She has over 22 years of experience in the telecommunications industry and has a strong background in Human Resources, Sales and Marketing and Business Operations, Strategic Planning and Product …
Monday, October 12 | Session notes and recording What should the Network of the Future Do for a Community? Andrew Cohill, Ph.D., President/CEO, Design Nine Inc. As more communities get access to improved broadband, is just being “faster” enough? It may be time to return to some of the concepts and ideas originally developed in the nineties …
Wednesday, October 21 | Session notes and recording Conducting Feasibility Studies How do I get high speed broadband into my community? How can I get more reliable broadband? Do I get fiber or fixed wireless broadband? What will it cost for each option, and will it pay for itself if it gets built? Can someone bring high …
Tuesday, October 20 | Session notes and recording Rights of Way Management for Efficient Fiber Deployment Right of Way is one of the most important assets that every community has. It can be utilized to help attract fiber investment or manage fiber deployment when multiple carriers are deploying fiber, especially as 5G develops. There are several steps …