On Tuesday November 7, 2023 at 12:00-13:00 EST (17:00-18:00 UTC) the Marconi Society will host a webinar ‘Connecting Maine – An “All In” Approach for Funding Sources, Community Engagement and Sustainability‘.
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 webinar is part of a series of Marconi Society State case study virtual workshops.
PANEL
Nick Battista, Chief Policy Officer, Island Institute
Maggie Drummond-Bahl, Director of Strategic Partnerships, 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
MODERATOR
Tanya Emery, Maine Connectivity Authority
LIVESTREAM https://livestream.com/internetsociety/connecting-maine
PARTICIPATE VIA ZOOM https://marconisociety.org/events/connecting-maine/
REAL TIME TEXT (see ISOC.LIVE)
TWITTER #ConnectingMaine @MarconiSociety @TweetTheQuilt @Networkmaine @islandinstitute @gwimaine @MaineStLibrary @MEConnectivity #Maine #DigitalEquity
MASTODON #DigitalEquity
SIMULCASTS
https://twitter.com/ISOC_Live
https://www.twitch.tv/isoclive
https://www.facebook.com/liveisoc/ (AI Captions)
ARCHIVE
https://archive.org/details/connecting-maine
On March 5 2025, the United States House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing titled ‘Fixing Biden’s Broadband Blunder‘ to discuss the state of the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program (BEAD) which provides $42.45 billion to expand high-speed Internet access in the country, under the new administration. This video has been lightly edited for clarity.
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