Rural Minnesota

The e-Vermont Community Broadband Project was one of only 12 pilot projects funded through the first round of federal Sustainable Broadband Adoption grants.

Of those twelve projects, Minnesota is the other rural state piloting a project that is similar to the e-Vermont approach. The Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities project at the Blandin Foundation brings together a group of partner organizations to work intensively with 11 individual communities in building their capacity for utilizing high speed Internet to reach local goals. At the same time, they are using lessons learned from in depth community work to create resources that help all rural communities in their state use broadband more effectively for education, civic engagement, economic development, and health care.

Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities falls under the umbrella of a larger broadband program that has been in place for several years. The Blandin Foundation, which has the mission to strengthen rural Minnesota, began its Broadband Initiative in 2003 to pursue a broadband vision for the state. The variety of programs developed within this Initiative provides an interesting perspective on what can emerge from the starting goal of helping rural communities effectively use Internet resources.

Read more about the Blandin Foundation’s Broadband Initiative at their homepage and about the MIRC program in particular under “programs.” You can also track Minnesota’s progress by subscribing to their blog.

If you are interested in what other states are doing in the Sustainable Broadband Adoption program, you can check out their one page descriptions at the BTOP Grants site. This site has recently been updated to include both Round 1 and Round 2 recipients.