Building Community Through Broadband

Rural communities are growing connected and more livable thanks to private and government-led broadband efforts to increase infrastructure.

“Rural America faces unique hurdles and challenges. The geographic realities of living in a less populous region and spread over great distances require of its residents a degree of ingenuity, work ethic, cooperation and innovation that mark every facet of life.

Rural broadband supports billions of dollars in e-commerce and economic activity, yet hundreds of square miles across small towns and country sides have no fiber lines crossing the landscape. But that story continues to change. Providers of all kinds - mostly based in these same rural areas - are answering the call and doing the job themselves, evolving to deploy fiber and deliver some of the fastest, most robust internet service in America in the face of vast distances and low densities.” - Rural America’s Critical Connection

Nowhere was this ingenuity more evident, than in the story of Old Bub, the mule deployed to connect broadband through the most difficult to navigate stretch of mountainous terrain in Eastern Kentucky’s Appalachia, otherwise known as “the last mile”.

• Timeframe to Complete Project: 5+ Years

• Cost Range: Free to Download Resource; Project Cost Varies

• Key Words: Cross-Sector Partnerships, Public Spaces, Advanced, Strategies, Planning, Community, Implementing, Government, Downtown Investments

Rural America’s Critical Connection is a white paper created by Foundation for Rural Service. Click on the button below to access the resource.

The Creating Connections issue of Rural Places, created by Housing Assistance Council contains links to articles addressing rural broadband. Click on the button below to access the publication.