Grand Marais Wants Broadband to Open Doors but Not Wreck the Allure of Remoteness

by Jennifer Vogel, Minnesota Public Radio

Housed in a converted Baptist church in Grand Marais, Cook County Higher Education isn't your typical community college.

It's not accredited, first of all, nor does it have a staff of teachers or even many classrooms. In fact, most of its classes are taught somewhere else, Bemidji State University, for example, or Hibbing Community College. Students take the classes via Skype on the Internet or interactive television...

...According to a recent report by ConnectMinnesota, fewer than half the households in Cook County have access to internet download speeds of at least 3 megabits per second (discounting mobile wireless). This places Cook County third from the bottom among Minnesota's 87 counties when it comes to connectivity...

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Telecommuting Levels the Field For Some Rural Minnesotans

by Jennifer Vogel, Minnesota Public Radio

Rose Buer commutes to her job as a software engineer in Bloomington every morning.

But she doesn't drive from Minneapolis or St. Paul or another suburb. She makes the short trek from her 10-acre farm to a small office in Dawson, next to a hair salon and the Dawson Sentinel, the newspaper that serves the town of 1,300 people in western Minnesota...

...A recent study by ConnectMinnesota and the Minnesota Broadband Task Force found that 37 percent of Minnesotans work from home at least occasionally; twenty percent telework on a regular basis. What's more, the report says, "Three out of ten Minnesota adults who are not currently in the workforce say they would work if empowered to do so through teleworking. This includes 17% of retirees, nearly three out of five unemployed adults, and almost one-third of homemakers."...

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USDA rural broadband loan program updated

Washington, DC - The USDA today released new information for applicants for its broadband loan program for rural areas. The program is designed to provide loans for the costs of construction, improvement, and acquisition of facilities and equipment to provide broadband service to eligible rural communities.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the USDA has issued a Notice of Solicitations of Applications and regulations implementing the 2008 Farm Bill for the broadband loan program.

“Broadband investments are an essential part of the Obama Administration’s effort to ‘win the future’ by out-innovating, out-educating, and out-building our global competitors,” Vilsack said in the announcement. “Investments in rural broadband networks create jobs and economic opportunity for rural America. Broadband is critical communications infrastructure of the twenty-first century, and it is vital to building vibrant rural communities.”

The notice is being issued prior to passage of a final appropriations act to allow applicants time to submit proposals and give the agency time to process applications within the current fiscal year, according to the USDA. Upon completion of a 2011 Appropriations Act, RUS will publish a subsequent notice identifying the amount of funding available for broadband loans.

The application guide to assist in preparing applications is available at: http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=58596618&msgid=368819&act=2BQR&c=590864&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rurdev.usda.gov%2Futp_farmbill.html.

USDA’s Farm Bill broadband loan program has invested mote than $1 billion over the past decade in more than 100 projects nationwide, according to the USDA announcement. RUS is planning to schedule training opportunities to educate applicants on new program requirements, and how to submit complete and competitive applications. Dates for the training will be published on the USDA website.