Border-to-border broadband: a movement that’s not going away

February 22, 2016 by Blandin Foundation Posted in Broadband

Border-to-border broadband — this is a movement that is not going away.

Last year, more than 170 people came together to form a vision for broadband in Minnesota. That vision — “Everyone in Minnesota will be able to use convenient, affordable world-class broadband networks that enable us to survive and thrive in our communities and across the globe — is gaining traction in communities across Minnesota as waves of local leaders stand up to endorse it.

More than 50 advocacy organizations, telecoms, community development organizations, nonprofits, and government officials have signed on to support the vision.

The numbers continue to grow as broadband shows up more and more as a bi-partisan priority for the upcoming session.

Just last week, Representatives Rick Nolan and Collin Peterson put their support of the vision into the Congressional Record, Governor Dayton invited citizens to support broadband funding and newspaper editorials supporting broadband expansion continue to spring up (tracking them here).

The central message in those editorials? Rural communities are ready to act. They’ve set ambitious goals for broadband access and use and have built the partnerships they need so they don’t have to settle for slower, less-connected futures.

No, this movement is most certainly not going away.

Follow the conversation on the Blandin on Broadband blog.