04-21-2015 EDC Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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Champion Report Theme Area: Connectivity BUILDING a REPORTING PERIOD: Resilient October 15,2014 through March 31,2015 Region For more information go to: http://www.resilientregion.org/connectivity/ Goal 1:All We prepared a proposal for the state Border to Border broadband application and Received Funding($2 Million+$2 Action Steps Million Match)!The Resilient Region/Virtual Highway project proposal is for Consolidated Telephone to build a strategic fiber backbone down to Fort Ripley Township and up through Fairview Township,as part of a longer-range plan for reaching the more than 18,000 unserved and underserved households in the"last miles"of our region.This first step was chosen because,given the short timeline for this application,that this was the backbone area that was truly shovel ready,ready with an engineering plan http://www.brainerddispatch.com/news/3671996-253-million-grants-helping- bri ng-high-speed-intemet-u nderserved We received a$100,000 investment from NJPA to support the work of the Virtual Highway Project. CTC,WTCA,Todd County and LLBO all bid on the FCC Rural Broadband Experiment auction but were not winners. However,"it isn't over till it's over"and there is still money available as 6 winners didn't provide the required information(3 years audited financials and engineering plans)and several others are asking for waivers.So the FCC asked all of the bidders to send in that information and will continue with the auction for all that do,and also reserve those areas for a later auction if they don't win this one. So we shall see!WCTA did send in additional information and was notified they were a winning bidder for one partially funded small project area of the many they submitted.They were reviewing the offer and requirements at the time of this report. We were successful in becoming a Blandin Broadband Community.This will provide technical training and up to $40,000 a year for the next 2 years to support regional projects.Work to date:We developed a Steering Committee, members attended the BBC Kick Off in January,met with Bill Coleman and Karl Samp in February,completed a self- assessment,organized and facilitated a March Community Visioning Meeting where 60+attended and where goals and projects were identified,used the meeting output to ask for project idea papers,received 12 project proposals, reviewed them on March 27,and identified 11 to submit applications to Blandin Foundation for funding. Maureen ldeker has been very busy moving telehealth forward in rural Minnesota in her testimony at the State Legislature and with this recent USDA($213,564)grant.Congratulations Maureen! http://ehri ntel ligence.com/2015/01/05/usda-grant-adds-21-ru ral-cl inics-to-telehealth-network/ Many members of the Connectivity/Virtual Highway Project attended the Blandin Foundation's Border to Border Broadband conference in November 2014.The Virtual Highway Project video was featured at the opening session https://www.youtube.corn/watch?v=2aGx572.1uvc&feature=voutu.be We prepared press releases to:a)announce becoming a Blandin Broadband Community(BBC) http://blandinfoundation.oranews-room/news-releases/ten-new-commu pities-selected-for-blandin-community- broadband-program b)announce$5,000 from RCDI and d)thank all who helped with the Border to Border broadband application. We connected with Bill Stroot(Pequot Lakes), Darwin Hanson(former Long Lake Township Supervisor),Councilman Alex Weego,City of Hewitt,and Terry Anderson,Senator Carrie Ruud and Commissioner Paul Theide(Jenkins),Shaun Rowley(Bowlus)regarding broadband infrastructure needs in their region-five communities. We supported proposals prepared by Long Prairie,Long Lake Township,BLAEDC,and Lakewood Health Systems and identified federal funding opportunities to support broadband expansion. Man Resilient Re:ion Cham.ions attended the March 17 visionin: meetin_•.Thank o]u!! y yam, How to truly serve the needs of the region and make sure that the system is sustainable and scale-able. Virtual Highway Taskforce Update April 13,2015 Page: 1