[Home-on-the-range] Fw: The Gold Rush in Kansas: Blog by PamGregory

Tue Nov 23 03:35:28 UTC 2010

Pfiw. No coat above 25? Not me thanks.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Susan Tabor" <souljourner at sbcglobal.net>
To: "'NFB of Kansas Internet Mailing List'" <home-on-the-range at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 8:42 PM
Subject: Re: [Home-on-the-range] Fw: The Gold Rush in Kansas: Blog by 
PamGregory

Hi, Cindy!

This is really interesting and something I didn't know about. Thanks for
sharing it.

I'm thinking I may be forced to extricate my winter coat from the closet. I
think my 25 degree threshold is not far away! (Yes, no coat above 25 degrees
for me!)

And Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Susan

-----Original Message-----
From: home-on-the-range-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:home-on-the-range-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Cindy Ray
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 3:44 PM
To: NFB of Kansas Internet Mailing List
Subject: [Home-on-the-range] Fw: The Gold Rush in Kansas: Blog by Pam
Gregory

This may be something you all would want to look at. Or maybe you've seen it

before.

Cindy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rick Roderick" <rickrod at insightbb.com>
To: "Cindy Ray" <cindyray at gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 3:10 PM
Subject: Fw: The Gold Rush in Kansas: Blog by Pam Gregory

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "AccessInfo" <AccessInfo at fcc.gov>
To: <rickrod at insightbb.com>
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 4:05 PM
Subject: The Gold Rush in Kansas: Blog by Pam Gregory

The Gold Rush in Kansas

November 19th, 2010 by Pam Gregory
<http://reboot.fcc.gov/blog/?authorId=458426>

They're going for the gold in Kansas, with plans to make broadband
available to everyone in the Sunflower State.

I recently was fortunate enough to witness this gold rush first-hand by
attending the Kansas Broadband Summit
<http://www.connectkansas.org/broadband_summit/> , where current state
of broadband deployment was discussed, as well as the plans for future
deployment of broadband services. Stanley Adams, the broadband planning
manager for the state's Department of Commerce
<http://www.kansascommerce.com/>  reported that Kansas received over
$250 million in broadband deployment grants and loans from the National
Telecommunications and Infrastructure Administration (NTIA)
<http://www.ntia.doc.gov/> , which is part of the Department of Commerce
and the Rural Utility Service (RUS) <http://www.usda.gov/rus/> , which
is part of the Department of Agriculture. That's a lot of amount of
money for a smaller state, but Kansas has a significant rural
population, and its leaders are aiming to make broadband available to
all.

I learned a lot from the Kansan stakeholders who attended the
conference. Their plan is comprehensive, covering everything from
detailed mapping, to provider validation, and even adoption plans. And
like any time you get a room of stakeholders engaged, new ideas were
sparked on how to improve the plan. As an FCC staff person, it was a
thrill for me to see and feel the excitement of a state actually
implementing its broadband plan. And as with the beginnings of
California's gold rush in 1879, the new broadband gold rush in Kansas
promises great benefits to the state citizenry . ,"From a business
standpoint, it [broadband] means increased opportunities for
entrepreneurship and new small-business development," Kansas Lt.
Governor Findley said. "How many entrepreneurs out there have the next
big-idea, but have no way to share it?" Kansans know that broadband is
just as valuable as gold, and know the wealth it can bring.

Stanley Adams and Duncan Friend, both Kansas employees leading their
state's broadband initiative, invited me to speak on a panel about
disability access. They said that they wanted Kansas' broadband to be
accessible and usable to all of its citizens, especially Kansans with
disabilities. The audience's questions on accessible deployment were
universally thoughtful and insightful-they all saw the importance of an
accessible broadband plan and knew such a plan would collaterally help
other populations, such as seniors, non-native English speakers,
educational and medical institutions, and the business community. The
panel was so popular that we gave a repeat presentation later that same
day.

To implement its plan, Kansas has partnered with Connected Nation
<http://connectednation.org/> , a 501(c)(3) organization. Tom Feree, the
chief operations officer of Connected Nation said, "We exist because we
believe that states, communities, families and individuals can realize
great economic and social advantages when we accelerate broadband
availability in unserved areas and increase broadband use in all areas,
rural and urban, alike." His statement again reminded me of the promise
of 1849 gold rush, which lead to the building of our nation's railway
system, which in some ways is being replaced by fiber optics today.

Kansas has prioritized Community Anchor Institutions (CAIs) such as K-12
schools, libraries, healthcare centers, public safety entities, colleges
and universities and other government and non-governmental
organizations. I can't help but wonder how many of those "other"
organizations are entities that serve people with disabilities. The
chief technology officer of the Kansas School for the Deaf
<http://www.ksdeaf.org/> , Joe Oborny, attended knowing how much is at
stake in Kansas' broadband plan. The ability for students to use video
for calls, video conferences with excellent teachers of the deaf, and to
connect with the state and nation are critical to a successful
educational institution.

As I look back on the conference, I am confident that the leadership
will follow through with its commitment for an accessible broadband
plan. The stakes are too high not to. Soon after my return to
Washington, Kansas contacted me asking how to develop more partnerships
with the disability community, which demonstrates to me that they mean
what they say in Kansas: All Kansans will be able to access broadband.
For that, I give them a gold medal.

To retrieve an electronic copy of the blog please click on the link:
http://reboot.fcc.gov/blog/ <http://reboot.fcc.gov/blog/>  .

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