Blandin Foundation Broadband Initiative

June 2006

Cambridge-Isanti - Cambridge-Isanti sponsored a business and manufacturing workshop “Hide and Seek – Internet Marketing” by Minnesota Technology, Inc. It cost participants only $29.00. Eleven people attended the course. They also sponsored “Web Site Review and Search Engine Optimization” as a follow up. Cost was $425.00 per company, or $350.00 for those who attended the “Hide and Seek” workshop. Representatives from eight organizations participated in the course and received a customized analysis of their website.

“Shopminnesota.com” will be back in Cambridge on June 21, 2006, to demonstrate this statewide shopping website. (In January, over 36 Cambridge area retailers attended a workshop and took advantage of a free web site benefit and listed their merchandise on the shopminnesota.com site.)

They continue to coordinate two demonstration projects with Wendorff Industrial Coating in Cambridge and Boeke Woodworking in Isanti, who are investing in web site design through Aluna Design in Cambridge.

Cambridge-Isanti are exploring a demonstration WI-FI project for the downtown Cambridge area with Genesis Wireless of Braham.

Cohasset - Cohasset has learned that the second survey is now complete. They are looking forward to seeing the results from year one so that they can finalize goals and activities for year two.

Paul Bunyan now offers high speed internet access to every resident or business in Cohasset (36 square miles). Although all of the area covered is within the city limits, some of it is quite rural. Paul Bunyan took advantage of fiber technologies to reach some of the final miles of the citywide network.

Edge of the Wilderness - Edge of the Wilderness completed the wireless hot spot at the Marcell Family Center and it is now available for public use. They have been implementing the marketing campaign to increase awareness of area broadband opportunities and applications. They continue to work on demonstration projects with local businesses to expand their broadband utilization.

Fosston - The City of Fosston is focusing on their business sector. One of the first objectives was to couple resources with information. In March, the City awarded ten business website subsidies to assist community businesses with website development.

Following the awards, the City hosted two E-commerce trainings: “Introduction to E-Commerce” and “Online Marketing Strategies.” The hands-on courses were specifically targeted towards the award recipients but were open to other interested parties. The course instructor was Ryan Pesch of the U of M Extension. The 24 attendees were enthusiastic and found the sessions to be very informative. A Technology Fair planned for next fall will give these business owners a chance to demonstrate their newly developed websites to the community.

Grand Rapids - Grand Rapids is working on a community outdoor hot spot along the bank of the Mississippi to stretch from the KAXE (Northern Community Radio station)/Rotary amphitheater down past the library, where the library would provide WI-FI access to patrons inside the library including the meeting rooms.