St. Paul, MN – The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) today announced Minnesota’s Digital Opportunity Plan has been accepted by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The acceptance means the state is now eligible for federal grants to implement the plan, which will help reduce gaps in internet adoption, and expand digital skills and digital technology access.
The Digital Equity Act, part of the Internet for All initiative and a key piece of President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda, provides $2.75 billion to establish three federal grant programs – the State Digital Equity Planning Grant, Digital Equity Capacity Grant and Digital Equity Competitive Grant – that promote digital equity and inclusion.
DEED’s Digital Opportunity Plan, produced by the Office of Broadband Development (OBD), details how Minnesota will use its Internet for All grant funding to expand digital access.
As you may recall, last year the UMVRDC served as one of 95 Digital Connection Committees across the state and conducted public input surveys and led a focus group discussion identifying gaps in broadband services and resources.
We learned that there is still a great need for digital literacy and inclusion support in our region.
- Libraries are a great source of support in this area, but often the demand exceeds what they are able to provide.
- Many people don’t have the devices they need to carry out digital tasks (most just have phones).
- Continue to work on expanding broadband availability and reliability
- Offer basic tech classes, especially for recent immigrants and non-English speaking residents
- ISPs could consider offering discounts on services for seniors if they take digital literacy class
- Staff a digital navigator position to provide regular tech support at various communities/locations in each county
- Assistance with device and service affordability
This type of input was collected from all across the state and submitted to the OBD for inclusion into the State’s plan. Once these results were shared with OBD, they spent several months developing its initial Digital Opportunity Plan to submit to NTIA. OBD held public meetings in 16 cities across Minnesota and two online meetings to gather public feedback on its plan to reduce gaps in broadband access, digital technology ownership and digital skills.
“We are thrilled and honored to have our plan accepted by NTIA and we are extremely grateful to the state and community leaders and countless Minnesotans who supported the plan’s development and provided feedback at our statewide public meetings or online,” said OBD Executive Director Bree Maki. “The feedback and support were essential not only to ensure our plan would be approved, but also that it would provide Minnesotans with the tools, resources and skills needed to achieve their digital technology goals. We are pleased that we can now move forward on implementing this plan as we work to connect people to people, connect people to information and connect people to resources.”
