The Next Century Cities’ Regional Broadband Summit is quickly approaching. Summer tends to slip by without notice, but we don’t want this summer opportunity to also slip by. You can still register for the July 23 - 24 event in Pittsburgh, “Making Connections,” and touch base with elected officials from cities, towns, and counties from across the U.S. Municipal, nonprofit, and academic staff can register for free.

Monday’s Summit

On Monday, Next Centuries Cities will bring together experts in policy, broadband champions, and community leaders from all levels of government to tackle issues surrounding broadband deployment. Some of the topics they will discuss include digital equity, financing, rural connectivity, 5G, and they’ll offer success stories.

In addition to Christopher, you can expect to see presentations by:

• Jonathan Chambers of Connexon and formerly of the FCC
• Jim Baller from the premier law firm Baller, Stokes & Lide
• Melanie McCoyfrom Sebewaing, Michigan
• Tom Coverick from KeyBanc Capital Markets

Blair Levin, Senior Fellow from the Brookings Institution will provide the Keynote Address. Check out the agenda to see more about panel discussions and breakout sessions.

On Monday evening, attendees are invited to a welcome reception in Pittsburgh City Hall where vendors and public officials can connect in a casual setting.

Tuesday’s Speed Networking

On Tuesday, the event will focus on the Second Annual City-Vendor Connect, a “speed networking” event in which participants can speak to each other individually:

Is it summer already? If you aren’t already booked for July, Pittsburgh awaits. Next Century Cities is hosting Making Connections: A Regional Broadband Summit that will bring together experts, leaders, and champions from federal, state, and local government. Register here to sign up for the two-day event.

All-Star Lineup

In addition to our Christopher Mitchell, you will hear speakers such as:

• Jonathan Chambers of Connexon and formerly of the FCC
• Joanne Hovis from CTC Technology & Energy
• Ernie Staten from Fairlawn, Ohio
• Tom Coverick from KeyBanc Capital Markets

Blair Levin, Senior Fellow from the Brookings Institution and one of people who have helped establish a vision for universal broadband in the U.S., will deliver the Keynote Address.

On July 23rd, listen to several panel presentations on successful models for deployment, digital equity, and financing. You’ll also have the chance to network with colleagues and participate in breakout sessions. There will be a Welcome Reception that evening at City Hall.

Tuesday, July 24th, will be dedicated to networking to bring communities and vendors together:

As you make summer plans, remember that Mountain Connect should be on your schedule. The event will be in Vail, Colorado, and this year the theme is “Moving Beyond Risk to Compete in the New Economy.” Mountain Connect will be held at the Hotel Talisa June 11th - 14th.

You can still register online.

The West's Premier Broadband Development Conference

The agenda for this year’s event is coming together and organizers plan to continue to focus on six main topics:

• Intelligent Infrastructure
• Economic Development
• Healthcare
• Education
• Policy Impacting Broadband
• Broadband 101 Education for Elected Officials

Remember to revisit the agenda as it develops.

Christopher will moderate one of the Keynote Panels, “Exploring Benefits of Progressive Action - The Communities,” which is scheduled for June 14th at 10 a.m. Here’s the description of the topic:

This follow-on panel will explore communities which have benefitted from the progressive action of their respective states, their lessons learned and what you need to do to move your community and state forward.

In addition to Christopher, expect to see some other familiar faces, including David Young from Lincoln, Nebraska, Danna Mackenzie from the Minnesota Broadband Office, and Deb Socia from Next Century Cities. 

"FOOOORRRREEE!"

You don’t have to live in low-population areas to participate in the 2018 National Rural Assembly’s Building Civic Courage event May 21st - 23rd in Durham, North Carolina. The theme of this year’s theme is “Building Civic Courage” and several experts in broadband, including our Christopher Mitchell, will be speaking at the event. You can still register online.

About the National Rural Assembly

The Assembly seeks to strengthen America by improving the current and future situations in rural areas. People and organizations that belong to the Assembly hail from all sectors, including grassroots groups, state and regional organizations, and national associations. There are more than 500 individuals and organizations that belong to the National Rural Assembly. They describe their purpose as:

The purpose the Assembly is to build a common, community-focused rural agenda based on participation of local, state, regional, and national rural leaders; empower rural leaders and their allies to educate policy makers about this agenda; and raise the national visibility of rural issues.

2018 Event

The Assembly describes the event:

The focus of this meeting will be how we build a more inclusive nation, viewed through a lens of civic courage. We'll explore a number of questions, such as: What does civic courage look like? Why is civic courage important for achieving policy change? How are rural people strengthening our democracy? How do we amplify wise, diverse, and informed rural voices in ways that promote better policies?

The Assembly always works on the issue of better connectivity in less-populated areas. This year’s event will continue to focus on better Internet access and how it affects rural Americans. One of the many break-out sessions at the event will be on Tuesday, May 22nd, and starts at 2:30 p.m. The Rural Broadband Policy Group, which is part of the Assembly, will sponsor the session titled “Rural Broadband in Our Sights.”

We want to send out a special “thank you” to the Coalition for Local Internet Choice (CLIC) for choosing our Community Broadband Networks Initiative to receive the 2018 National Organization of the Year Award.

Christopher accepted the award on behalf of the team at the 2018 Broadband Communities Summit in Austin, Texas, earlier this week. Rachel Ellner snapped this pic of Christopher with CEO Joanne Hovis and President Jim Baller from CLIC.

We feel honored to have received this award and want to thank CLIC for the recognition of our team and for all their work in advancing local self-reliance.

Is it here already?! Next week is the 2018 Broadband Communities Summit in Austin, Texas. Will you be there? You can still register online for the the event; this year the discussions will concentrate on FIBER: Putting your Gigs To Work.

Check out the agenda for all the scheduled panels, lectures, and discussions.

There's still time to get there so you can see Christopher and other experts, such as Jim Baller, Joanne Hovis, Catharine Rice, and Deb Socia. This is an opportunity to ask experts the questions you've been pondering and hear opinions from different perspectives in the industry.

On May 1st at 3p.m., Christopher will be part of the "Economic Development Track Blue Ribbon Panel" along with Nicol Turner-Lee, Ph.D., from the Center for Technology Innovation Brookings Institution and Will Rhinehart, Director of Technology and Innovation Policy at the American Action Forum. Lev Gonick, CIO from Arizona State University, will be leading the discussion.

Look for Christopher to participate in other discussions and sit in on other panels. You can also check out who else will be speaking at the Summit; it’s a long list that covers a broad range of expertise.

If you're able to arrive by April 30th, you can make the Coalition for Local Internet Choice Special Program (CLIC). CLIC will to bring community leaders from different organizations and entities across the U.S. to discuss the growing importance of local authority. There will be a panel discussion on local authority and preemption featuring a talk about Westminster and their award winning partnership with Ting Internet. Christopher will also be part of the CLIC program - look for him.

The Summit only comes around once a year and it's a great time to get caught up and connect with new people. So much has happened in the past year, it will be a challenge to take it all in, but you'll definitely have fun trying.

Deb Socia has been working on equity for others in a variety of ways throughout her career and so it was no surprise to us that she received this year’s Charles Benton Digital Equity Champion Award. Deb received the award on April 18th in Cleveland at Net Inclusion 2018.

Before serving as Executive Director of Next Century Cities, Deb spent three decades working in education as both a teacher and school administrator. While working in the Boston Public Schools, she acted as founding principal of the one-to-one laptop initiative at Lilla G. Frederick Middle School, an award winning school. Her continuing efforts in digital equity included a role as Executive Director of the Tech Goes Home program, also in Boston, that connected students, parents, and schools to technology resources.

We Love Deb

We’ve spent many hours working with Deb in her capacity at Next Century Cities. Her ability to bring local communities together to share victories and voice common concerns make her ideal for this role. She’s able to see a broad spectrum of issues related to digital inclusion that influence local communities’ ability to improve economic development, enhance public education, and improve their quality of life. Her personable leadership qualities at Next Century Cities and throughout her career inspire trust and confidence.

It’s no surprise that Deb has received a long list of other awards, including the Community Broadband Hero Award from the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA), the Pathfinder Award from MassCUE, “Leadership and Vision” from CRSTE, Frederick Community Advocate Award, and an NTENny award. Be sure to check out this profile of Deb from Motherboard; she won a Humans of the Year award in 2017.

When Fort Collins voters chose to amend their charter last year, they were choosing a path to simplify their ability to improve local connectivity. When Comcast tried to derail the measure to protect their monopoly, community members established a vibrant grassroots effort to overcome the influx of cash and disinformation. Now, Fort Collins is moving ahead after establishing that they intend to issue revenue bonds to develop a municipal fiber optic network.

Big Spending Didn’t Stop The Need

After all the spending was totaled last December, Comcast and CenturyLink under the mask of Priorities First Fort Collins, spent $900,999 to try to defeat measure 2B. The proposal passed anyway and allowed the city to amend its charter. That change allows Fort Collins to issue bonds for telecommunications infrastructure and to take other steps necessary to offer Internet service without taking the issue to the voters a separate time.

Thanks to the efforts of Colin Garfield and Glen Akins and their citizen-led effort to educate and correct Comcast’s disinformation, voters in Fort Collins passed measure 2B. The city opted out of the state’s restrictive SB 152 back in 2015 and voices in the community have advocated for exploration of a publicly owned option for several years. Seems people and businesses in Fort Collins were not able to get the connectivity they needed and incumbents weren’t interested in providing better services.

Generate conversation about broadband access in your community with a screening of the short film, "Do Not Pass Go." We have created a helpful guide on how to host a screening of the film in your community. Spend some time connecting with others who share your questions about local options and want to learn more.

About the Film

Documentary filmmaker Cullen Hoback traveled to Pinetops, North Carolina, to experience firsthand the battle between municipal networks and private providers. 

Pinetops is a rural small town that receives high-speed Internet service from the nearby City of Wilson, North Carolina. The large ISPs have tried to put a stop to this with a state law, and all the red tape might kill the small town.

"Do Not Pass Go" from Hyrax Films on Vimeo.

Download the Guide

Not sure how to host a screening? Get going with this guide.

- Basic information about community networks

- Logistics of hosting a screening from location to outreach

- Discussion questions about broadband in your community

The guide is 13 pages long and is available for download as a PDF. We produced the guide with Next Century Cities. 

Host a Screening

There have already been three screenings across the U.S. in Marietta, Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia; and Rochester, Minnesota. The community group Broadband & Beers has a planned screening for April 17th, 2018, in Boulder, Colorado. Let us know if you show the film in your town!

Spring refuses to appear here in Minnesota, home of ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative team. The lingering snow and ice makes the 2018 Broadband Communities Summit seem super nice — it will be located in warm, sunny Austin. You can still register online for the opportunity to attend the event; this year’s theme is FIBER: Putting your Gigs To Work.

The program has been taking shape as new panelists and topics have been added to the agenda for the 4-day event.

As usual, Christopher will be at the event to answer questions, direct conversations, and tackle both new and persisting issues that relate to connectivity. On May 1st at 3p.m., he’ll be presenting as part of the "Economic Development Track Blue Ribbon Panel" along with Nicol Turner-Lee, Ph.D., from the Center for Technology Innovation Brookings Institution and Will Rhinehart, Director of Technology and Innovation Policy at the American Action Forum. Lev Gonick, CIO from Arizona State University, will be leading the discussion.

Later that day, Christopher will also be leading a panel titled "Creating a Tech Ecosystem," which brings together community leaders from different areas of the country who discuss the elements that complement broadband infrastructure. They have a conversation that includes supporting start-ups, developing a tech workforce, investors, incubators, accelerators and youth/adult tech programs. 

Look for Christopher to participate in other discussions and sit in on other panels. You can also check out who else will be speaking at the Summit; it’s a long list that covers a broad range of expertise.

So Many Topics

A few of the other topics that will be tossed around by the long list of presenters include:

• Electric Cooperatives
• Open Access
• IoT
• MDUs
• Rural Broadband

Topics are organized into tracks, so if you're attending the Summit in search of answers related to a specific area, it's easier to organize your day. If you're interests are broader, you may have a hard time deciding which panels and discussions to attend.

CLIC Special Program