{"id":9700,"date":"2022-12-22T14:24:30","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T14:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weda.org\/?p=9700"},"modified":"2022-12-22T14:34:27","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T14:34:27","slug":"broadband-in-the-new-year-fortune-favors-the-prepared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weda.org\/broadband-in-the-new-year-fortune-favors-the-prepared\/","title":{"rendered":"Broadband in the New Year: Fortune Favors the Prepared"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Broadband in the New Year: Fortune Favors the Prepared<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Guest Colum by Brittany Beyer &#8211; Solarity<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload  wp-image-9702 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2021-Beyer-headshot-300x240.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2021-Beyer-headshot-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"181\" height=\"145\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27181%27%20height%3D%27145%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20181%20145%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27181%27%20height%3D%27145%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2021-Beyer-headshot-177x142.jpg 177w, https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2021-Beyer-headshot-200x160.jpg 200w, https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2021-Beyer-headshot-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2021-Beyer-headshot-400x320.jpg 400w, https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2021-Beyer-headshot-600x480.jpg 600w, https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2021-Beyer-headshot-768x614.jpg 768w, https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2021-Beyer-headshot-800x640.jpg 800w, https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2021-Beyer-headshot-1024x819.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2021-Beyer-headshot-1200x960.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2021-Beyer-headshot-1536x1229.jpg 1536w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 181px) 100vw, 181px\" \/>It\u2019s been just over a year since the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was signed into law by President Biden. The FCC just released access to its first update of the <a href=\"https:\/\/broadbandmap.fcc.gov\/home\">Broadband mapping tool.<\/a> There\u2019s been so much buzz about the \u201conce in a lifetime investment\u201d attached to broadband expansion, many are still looking for clarity on how the broadband gap will be closed.<\/p>\n<p>Economic Development professionals are in a unique position to serve as champions for broadband projects at the local level. I bet if you asked your constituents about their broadband needs, those who are suffering with less-than-desirable speeds will certainly let you know. You will hear it from businesses of all sizes: small home businesses trying to do online sales and operations, hospital groups who are looking to serve their clients through telemedicine where there\u2019s no connectivity, and manufacturing companies that are rapidly growing their automated segments to expand.<\/p>\n<p>Like many of you, I have been tracking on this since the prospect of this massive investment. This work has become so core to my focus that I decided to segue from economic development and dedicate myself to broadband full time in a new role focusing on Broadband with <a href=\"https:\/\/solarity.com\/services\/community-broadband-success\/\">HealthTech Solutions \/ Solarity<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>My message to all of you is this: I know you are anxious to do the work and get broadband access to those who do not have broadband service yet. Patience and planning are key right now, but mostly the planning. At the State level, the Public Service Commission and the Broadband Office are putting many pieces in place related to the NTIA funding streams. It will be a few more months before funding starts to flow, and exactly when that will be is something their office will let us all know when they can.<\/p>\n<p>That doesn\u2019t mean you should sit idle during this time. As Louis Pasteur said, \u201cFortune favors the prepared mind.\u201d Expand the preparedness to your community at large, and I agree with this statement. Fortune also favors the bold. Keep that in mind as well. This is a time of courage and building new efforts that will last for generations.<\/p>\n<p>As we have seen in multiple locations around the state (many of their stories featured in the two reports created by the <a href=\"https:\/\/psc.wi.gov\/Pages\/ServiceType\/Broadband\/BroadbandGovernorsTaskForce.aspx\">Task Force on Broadband<\/a>), there is no one person or one agency that is solving this problem. It is a consortium of municipalities, local organizations, and engaged citizens that are building out their vision for community connectivity.<\/p>\n<p>Here are key ideas to explore and keep in mind:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There\u2019s a good chance that there will be planning funding flowing from the PSC\u2019s Wisconsin Broadband Office in the near future<em>. Do not wait until the application opens to begin your community discussions.<\/em> are some first steps outlined in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.benton.org\/publications\/Accelerate\">community planning program published by the Benton Foundation<\/a>. Do some of this initial work, and you will meet your consultant with a much clearer image of what your broadband needs truly are.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li>Have you engaged your regional economic development organization or regional planning commission? They are aware of the issue and learning as rapidly as they can. We learned from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenewnorth.com\/broadband-access\/\">New North\u2019s regional Broadband study<\/a> that by engaging at this level to do planning will reveal missing middle mile with more clarity. We will be hearing more about this in the coming years, but it is essential to think beyond the city or county border when doing broadband planning work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li>It\u2019s not just about getting fiber built everywhere (which will be tough and expensive) or getting connections everywhere, but it is about making connectivity affordable as well. Double check that the Affordability Connectivity Program (ACP) is being used as widely as it could be. LISC has a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lisc.org\/ruralacp\/\">handy map<\/a> that you can check. If there\u2019s room for improvement, consider how your broadband committee can spread the word or encourage building an application to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fcc.gov\/acp-grants\">FCC\u2019s Outreach Grant Program.<\/a> Applications are due on January 9<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li>The bill is called the \u201cInfrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,\u201d and so often the \u201cjobs\u201d part gets lost in the immensity of the effort to build out. It\u2019s a tight labor market, and in broadband infrastructure building the workforce needs are only going to expand. Work locally to understand how your community can take advantage of this- if you have workers prepared in your backyard that don\u2019t have to be imported (and housed and transported), you will be in a better position. Work with your high schools, technical colleges, and Workforce Boards to further the local discussion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li>There will be a matching funds aspect to the BEAD buildout grants, just like the State Broadband Expansion grants. If your community is in great need for connectivity but not confident about the funding, consider talking to neighboring towns, cities, and even the county about doing this work together. Even multi-county projects will be incredibly competitive, and pooling funds together will go further than doing one\u2019s own grant proposal<em>. Remember- this is an investment in the future that has immense return for residents and your community at large. Consider using that language.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is an important time for our communities, but it will not happen overnight, nor will it happen without local support. I have stressed patience over and over in this piece, but it is a virtue for a reason. We are all learning rapidly in this new space. Let\u2019s make sure we are learning together and moving forward.<\/p>\n<p><em>Brittany Beyer is a Senior Consultant, specializing in Broadband projects, at <a href=\"https:\/\/solarity.com\/services\/community-broadband-success\/\">HealthTech Solutions \/ Solarity<\/a>. Prior to this position, she was the Executive Director of Grow North Regional Economic Development Corporation (2018-2022) and served as the inaugural chair of the Governor of Wisconsin\u2019s Task Force on Broadband Access from 2020-2022. Brittany can be reached at Brittany.beyer@solarity.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Broadband in the New Year: Fortune Favors the Prepared Guest [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9700"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9700"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9703,"href":"https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9700\/revisions\/9703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weda.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}