The power of community leadership took center stage in President Obama’s preview of his appearance yesterday in Cedar Falls, IA, where he talked about his plan to increase access to affordable, high-speed broadband in rural and urban communities across the country. The President featured Cedar Falls, or Iowa’s first “Gigabit City,” in the preview, comparing […]

In today’s Council on Foundations blog post, Blandin Foundation’s Bernadine Joselyn makes the case for philanthropic support for increasing Internet access and use in the U.S. This is work that Blandin Foundation has been doing in rural Minnesota communities since 2003. Through the Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities project and the current Blandin Broadband Communities program, […]

Yesterday more than 160 economic developers, educators, providers, legislators, co-ops, and community leaders came together to tackle the tough issues related to Internet access and use. The day kicked off with an uplifting introduction by Blandin Foundation Director of Public Policy and Development Bernadine Joselyn.

Did you know that 51 million hours of school time is lost each year due to dental illness? That’s a staggering number! “A lot of people don’t realize dental disease is the most common disease in kids and it’s completely preventable,” says Sarah Wovcha, executive director of Children’s Dental Services (CDS), a nonprofit organization dedicated […]

A recent Lake County News Chronicle story featured a Blandin Community Broadband Program that partnered seniors (older folks) with seniors (from Two Harbors high school) to “help get them online, offering training and support.” Chris Langenbrunner, Community Education Director, said, “We had heartwarming interactions and personalized learning occurring in our media center all night. It […]

If access to, and use of, high-speed Internet is important to your rural community, consider attending the Border to Border Broadband Conference. Read more about what you will learn below… Earlier this fall, over the course of three weeks, three national organizations working on driving Internet access, adoption and use came to Minnesota for major […]

A small rural clinic closes. A home buyer chooses to look elsewhere. A teacher can’t teach. While these situations seem unrelated and strangely paired, they all have one common denominator — broadband. Not what you expected? Here’s the skinny behind the stories: The Bigfork, Minnesota clinic, a satellite of Essentia, can’t upload patient files because […]

Colorful, dancing feathered figures and the hum of ancestral melodies filled the room as Fond du Lac (FDL) students arranged themselves in such a way that they created a cornucopia of technology. Brandishing iPads, they celebrated their Ojibwe culture, together with community members, through the creation of mobile applications. Held at the end of July, […]

For a few years now, Blandin Foundation has been interested in the concept of brain gain and the promise it holds for the future of healthy rural communities. Recently, we were surprised when our broadband partners at Intelligent Community Forum published a book entitled Brain Gain that seemed to echo the brain gain research of […]

The North Shore is a destination for many Minnesotans who want to unplug from everyday life — figuratively, not literally of course! Even in times of relaxation, we still want to be able to stream our favorite television show, search the address of that delicious cafe, or YouTube a tutorial on how to set the […]