Part of a Series of State Case Study Virtual Workshops

Maine faces a perfect storm of challenges in achieving digital equity. 

Maine’s remote and rugged terrain makes the state one of the most complex and expensive to reach with digital infrastructure. As the state with the oldest population, many in Maine are not digital natives. Maine’s median household and per capita income lag far behind most other states. A majority of Mainers live in small, rural communities with limited resources. These forces combine to shape the challenging contours of the digital divide in Maine.

With the passage of the IIJA, the State created the Maine Connectivity Authority as a quasi-governmental entity to drive a proactive and nimble approach to achieve universal connectivity. The Maine Connectivity Authority will share our unique approach, focused on Projects, Places, and People and now layering in the values of urgency, universality, and digital equity.

This includes:

• “All In” approach: we put all solutions on the table, weaving together multiple funding sources such as Middle Mile, BEAD, DE, CPF, ARPA, state funding, private fundraising
• One integrated Broadband Action Planning process in early 2023, acknowledging the linkage between BEAD and Digital Equity funding streams and Maine’s history of community-driven broadband solutions.
• Investment in the ecosystem, enabling a broad range of stakeholders and partners in planning and implementation 
• Strategies for sustainability, including raising a Digital Equity Fund and proactively identifying infrastructure projects and funding resources.

Building from a strong foundation of community driven infrastructure planning and development in a pre-pandemic era,  MCA seeks to foster a healthy ecosystem of organizations to inform and support connectivity solutions to meet the needs of all communities amidst the wave of federal recovery, relief and infrastructure funding.  The Get Ready program, Regional and Tribal Broadband Partners program, Digital Equity Task Force, and ACP4 ME are examples of investing in organizational capacity to fuse digital equity and infrastructure development.  

Moderator: 

• Tanya Emery, Maine Connectivity Authority

Panelists:

• Nick Battista, Chief Policy Officer, Island Institute
• Maggie Drummond-Bahl, Maine Connectivity Authority
• Kerem Durdag, President and Chief Operating Officer, Great Works Internet
• Jeff Letourneau, Executive Director, Networkmaine
• Marijke Visser, Director, Library Development, Maine State Library

Event Agenda:

The event begins at 12:00 pm ET.

• Welcome & Overview
• Brief Panelist Remarks
• Panel Discussion
• Open Q&A
• Closing Remarks

Our Event Series

This is part of our event series, A National Inflection Point: The Intersection of Research & Education Networks and Sustainable Digital Equity Initiatives.

Beginning in March of 2020, access to broadband became a social determinant of health, education, work, and economic security. The world realized that broadband Internet is a utility as essential as electricity and potable water.

While the federal government and many states have made a wise decision to provide billions in capital funding to achieve broadband equity, the tough part will be sustaining and maintaining (and, ideally evolving) these infrastructures over the next 5, 10, or 20 years.

With money going directly to states, territories, and indigenous Tribes, there are now 60 states and territories and 574 Tribal Nations, each organizing its own plan to implement broadband access and adoption in unique cultural, geographic, and demographic areas. This series will help you learn from some of the most progressive.