The most recent chapter in Blandin Foundation’s learning journey to help us prepare to launch our Minnesota Intelligent Rural Community project was a visit to Morrill Hall on the University of Minnesota campus. We went to meet with the folks who will be managing the Broadband Access Project awarded to the University through BTOP, kind of a “sister award” to ours.
The University’s project is squarely focused on addressing the digital divide, which casts a long shadow over our state. Working through 11 community computer lab sites, including one in a public housing facility, the University’s Broadband Access Project will enhance broadband awareness and use for residents in economically challenged areas of north and south Minneapolis and the Frogtown area of St. Paul.
Their project will focus especially on African-Americans and Hmong and Somali immigrants, a goal that will be addressed in part by partnering with the Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium. Plans include providing broadband training to vulnerable, low-income, minority and immigrant populations, which they will accomplish in part by translating many of the project’s training materials into Hmong, Vietnamese, Spanish and Somali.
We agreed that a larger-scale opportunity we share is to check in with other BTOP awardees nation-wide about sharing curricula and translation efforts underway in other places.
Among our hosts was Craig Taylor, who is my counterpart for the U’s BTOP grant. Craig is Director of the University’s Office for Business & Community Economic Development, an office he founded and designed after he began working at the University eight years ago.
From the beginning, Craig’s vision for the office has been to help expand the University’s role in supporting the economic growth and development of Minnesota communities. So it feels like this BTOP opportunity fits well with his core interests and aspirations for the University. Craig’s long experience living and working in and with North Minneapolis neighborhoods, as well as his leadership role in the University Northside Partnership, will enrich the perspectives he brings to this important work.
