The broadband committee is keeping busy while we wait to hear from the federal government on the status of the two Broadband Stimulus grants (North East Service Cooperative and Arrowhead Electric Cooperative) that have been submitted in the second and final round of funding to provide service to the Cook County area (the deadline for the final word is September, 2010).

This month we have attended meetings with North East Service Cooperative to hear their plans for the funding they received in round 1 of the federal broadband stimulus grant program. They will connect over 200 sites in St. Louis, Lake, Cook, Koochiching, Carlton, Pine, Itasca, and Aitkin counties with a high speed fiber optic network. Their primary targets with this project are schools, librabries, and government buildings. They hope to begin construction of this network in the Spring of 2011 and need to be completed by the end of 2013. This network will deliver ultra highspeed broadband connections to our area schools, libraries, health care institutions and local governments.

Details and maps can be found at their project website. http://www.nesc.k12.mn.us/node/512

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The other activity that has kept the broadband committee members busy is coordinating the beginning of the Blandin Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) grant project. This opportunity will bring up to $100,000 to fund at least four projects that demonstrate the benefits of broadband to our community. The planning is underway to issue an RFP to the community to seek proposals for grant projects that use broadband to support local activities. This grant will run for two years. Look for more information in the coming month. Details on the overall MIRC grant can be found on Blandin's website:  http://broadband.blandinfoundation.org/programs/programs-detail.php?intResourceID=1060