C.K. Blandin Foundation

Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities

The C.K. Blandin Foundation plans to launch the Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities initiative, a multi-sector, comprehensive approach to sustainable broadband adoption targeting residents, small businesses, local governments, and critical services providers in rural Minnesota. The initiative expects to reach each of Minnesota’s 80 rural counties through education, training, technical assistance, and by removing barriers to broadband adoption. The project anticipates training as many as 2,500 individuals in computer literacy, online education, and workforce development, and plans to distribute 1,000 affordable refurbished computers to low-income, rural Minnesota residents. Funding will support the development of institutional broadband applications for schools and health care facilities to help increase broadband adoption. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) Center at the University of Minnesota, Crookston will help track the impact of the project, including the number of subscribers generated.

Total Award:

$4,858,219

Project Fact Sheet

Recipient Project Website

BTOP In Action

IMG: Members from Blandin and MIRC attend a kick off meeting.

The C.K. Blandin Foundation hopes to make broadband an integral part of Minnesotans’ lives through the Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) project. MIRC is a collaborative project between the Blandin Foundation and project partners focused on supporting individuals and communities in rural Minnesota, especially the unemployed, small businesses, local leaders, and coalitions of government entities.

One of the project partners, PCs for People, is a nonprofit organization that refurbishes used computers with the help of people transitioning off of government assistance; in turn, the computers are provided to low-income individuals and families. Since the inception of the project in March 2010, the organization has refurbished 651 computers and distributed 525. Additional project partners are developing computer skills training modules and a statewide digital literacy curriculum.

In addition, the Blandin Foundation is using a portion of its $4.8 million in BTOP funding to support 11 demonstration communities across Minnesota. Each community assessed its broadband needs and received $100,000 to spend on local projects. Last fall, each community issued requests for proposals (RFPs) and, after receiving a large number of responses, announced selected projects at a MIRC meeting in December 2010. Projects will address a broad range of needs such as enabling Wi-Fi hotspots, distributing computers to seniors and citizens with disabilities, and encouraging web interaction and telehealth.

The Blandin Foundation’s outreach efforts have already led to more than 3,010 new broadband subscribers. By the completion of the project, MIRC will have changed the question from “what can I do with broadband?” to “what did we ever do without it?”

Last Updated: October 14, 2011.

Reports and Documents

Reports to NTIA: