Windham Region Broadband Project Receives Award
- Details
The Windham Regional Commission and its partners, ValleyNet, Rural Innovation Strategies and the Deerfield Valley Communications Union District have received a 2021 Aliceann Wohlbruck Impact Award from the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) for the Windham Region Broadband Project.
The Windham Region Broadband Project was developed pre-COVID pandemic because our communities already understood that their residents who were not connected to the internet were being left behind. It was one of the first projects funded by Vermont’s Broadband Innovation Grant (BIG) program. The primary objective of the Windham Region Broadband Project was to serve the unserved and underserved areas of the region. Once COVID hit, internet access was no longer considered a luxury by anyone but a necessity for work, education, health and well-being.
The Project’s Feasibility Study and Business Plan are now being used by the Deerfield Valley Communications Union District (DVCUD), to implement broadband infrastructure throughout the Windham Region. The Windham Region Project laid the groundwork for the creation of the DVCUD, which did an incredible job organizing itself. DVCUD is now using the Feasibility Study and Business Plan to attract development partners. The success of the project is due not only to the excellent project team, including our technical consultants ValleyNet and Rural Innovation Solutions, Inc., but also extensive community involvement. With the support of WRC, DVCUD now has the capacity to address this significant regional need.
NADO is a Washington, DC-based membership association of regional development organizations that promote programs and policies that strengthen local governments, communities, and economies through regional cooperation, program delivery, and comprehensive strategies. The association’s Impact Awards program recognizes regional development organizations and their partners for improving the economic and community competitiveness of our nation’s regions and local communities.
