Broadband Projects Require Partnerships, Right Framing, BTOP Leaders Say

"Every community is different, every state is different,” said Laura Breeden, NTIA program director-public computer centers and sustainable broadband adoption, who is responsible for much of the toolkit. “Partnerships is something we hear over and over as a critical factor.” She emphasized accessibility, convenience and affordability as major factors in making the projects work.

The frames for these broadband projects have evolved, project leaders said. “You've seen this language move from digital divide toward digital inclusion,” said David Keyes, Seattle’s community technology program manager. Among his “political tips,” he suggested officials do their best to explain the benefits of projects in practical terms, such as how the technology can influence youth violence or refugee populations: “Nobody knows what ‘broadband adoption’ is.” Breeden acknowledged the importance of framing the projects in the right way: “Technology and broadband are not what sell the programs.” Instead, emphasize how the projects will change the communities, Breeden said. Milwaukee Chief Information Officer Nancy Olson stressed the significance of achieving recognition of such projects: “One of the lessons for me was branding the project.” Helen Labun Jordan, director of the two-year e-Vermont project, stressed the importance of “framing the conversation around local opportunities, local challenges.”

Officials urged other project leaders to tap into the community and build the right partnerships. In Seattle, officials looked toward “building the cross-sector partnerships,” Keyes said, describing alliances with the economic development office as well as arts and legal organizations. He urged people to “think outside the box” when envisioning such partnerships. “Collaboration has been the key,” Andrew Spreadborough, interim executive director of the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council, said of work involved with Oregon’s Crook County Open Campus Public Computing Center. He spoke of the necessary support of county commissioners as well as how leaders found ways to work with data centers opened by Facebook and Apple. “We integrated city services,” Olson said, citing how Milwaukee brought together the housing authority and libraries, a need more pressing due to economic concerns. Engaging city officials has been a helpful strategy all over the country, Breeden said. Often these officials may be less aware of broadband adoption challenges, and bringing them into the communications process helps solve that, she said.

The federal stimulus dollars and organization helped in different ways, officials said. The BTOP money helped give Milwaukee a full-time staff devoted to such issues and thus a more coherent way forward and more confidence in asking officials for money to keep the project going, Olson said. It also showed the value of quantifying broadband access and adoption, in contrast to reliance on anecdotes before, she said. “You really need hard numbers to present a good case.” The search for a sustainable model was “really incented by this federal investment,” Spreadborough said. He said the Oregon computer center project didn’t have its own revenue stream, but its success -- as a “key asset for community and civic engagement” -- has helped push the county to look to its general fund to keep the project going.