"Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome!" is the famed phrase of Bear Grylls, the wilderness survivalist who takes on the unforgiving terrain of various countries… with a 40+ person camera crew and medical team. Despite the apparent irony of that phrase, the sentiment of "improvise, adapt, and overcome" can easily be transcribed to a myriad of situations, including community engagement, education, and grant applications.
As I have previously iterated, reality and your idealistic plans do not always seamlessly mesh, but the ideas and adaptations make your goals feasible and durable. March and February have been comprised of starting new programs, planning events, and learning new skills. And spring has also included events highlighting the need for reliable internet access throughout the rural Appalachian region.
February was a bit of a roller coaster due to rain that dumps in sheets for days, flooding, and random bulldozers taking out the power and internet. I had the second Red Bird Region Broadband Action Team (BAT) meeting scheduled for February 17th. However, the night before, an additional torrential downpour hit flooded roads and took out trees down 66- the only road leading to the mission. I woke up early to the sound of pouring rain, and I could hear the Red Bird River moving from my quarters.
For perspective, the River is roughly two blocks from where I live, and you often forget it exists until you come up on it. By 6:30 am, I had to make a call, and after consulting my director and learning that the school was closed for the day, I emailed that the meeting was canceled, which seemed like such a blow to momentum and the progress the BAT was making. But after hearing from the Daniel Boone National Forest personnel on my BAT that parts of the route to Red Bird were utterly inaccessible due to water and trees, it reaffirmed my decision. While not everyone was thrilled with my choice to cancel the meeting, it was in the best interest of everyone's safety. And we could roll on to the next meeting in March without much of a hiccup regarding momentum and general excitement regarding forward momentum.
February also included a random, almost cartoonish power and internet outing at the mission, which involved a flatbed truck, a bulldozer, and a forest fire. The flatbed truck was carrying a bulldozer through northern Bell county, near the Red Bird Mission De Wall Senior Center. The ratchet straps allegedly came loose around a turn, and the bulldozer slid off and hit a pole, leading to a domino effect. The pole took out three other poles on the way down, and the live wires, which fell across the road, sparked a fire. The fire then hit the tires, which had been tossed over the mountain over the years, and the fire expanded. The road closed for several hours, the seniors from the Senior Center got the extra scenic tour heading home, and the power and internet were out for the rest of the day. As I drove by later that evening to head to the gym and get dinner, it looked like the post-battle scene from the Avengers movies with all the smoke and charred trees and poles. Despite the extent of the damage, Kentucky Utilities indeed came through. They had the power returned by that very evening, and Daniel Boone National Forest rangers were able to put out the fire. So truly appreciate both parties' efforts!
Now that I have shared the two major chaotic events of the last two months – minus the road actively sliding off the mountain in northern Bell County heading towards Pineville (pictured above)- let's highlight some progress!
February included new partnerships, grant workshop experiences, and conferences. Working with the Clay County Library to expand ACP outreach with train-the-trainer models and receiving book donations for the Free Little Library from them has been a fantastic connection. I also had the opportunity to attend a grant writing workshop hosted by SOAR and taught by Melissa Vermillion, which provided the basis for how the grant process works. The workshop provided me with invaluable information on how to research grants for Red Bird and assist them in developing a successful application. I am currently utilizing these skills as Red Bird Mission is pursuing an ARC POWER Initiative Planning Grant to create the plans for a community center dedicated to educational, work-from-community, and entrepreneurial opportunities.
The NDIA Digital Inclusion Conference in San Antonio was a fantastic opportunity to connect with 800+ digital equity-focused individuals from across the United States from various organizations. Hearing from speakers, leaders, and organizations provided new perspectives, insights, and resources that I have been able to bring back to my community. If you had told me a year ago that I would be this involved in the digital equity community, I probably would have asked what 'digital equity' even meant. The people truly made the conference, and I am thankful that I was able to attend this year. Now getting home was an odyssey of its own due to storms in Lexington leaving me stranded in Charlotte, NC, for 48 hours and then having to stay in Louisville for a night due to downed powerlines and trees. So getting back to Beverly was a 3-day process.
As for March, I was able to attend the Kentucky Broadband Office Better Internet Listening Tour in London, Kentucky, which served as a source of valuable information regarding Kentucky's rollout of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding occurring this summer. (I also got to speak briefly on the news :). Hearing everyone's concerns and how Kentucky will approach distributing the possible billion dollars worth of funding was energizing.
Now to ensure that this funding does create #InternetForAll constant advocacy will be needed for the most rural communities, the Red Bird region included. The concern for BEAD is that larger counties, develop districts, and organizations will struggle with capacity, experience, and technical expertise to successfully gain funding and post-awardee management for projects. And for Internet service providers (ISPs), the BEAD covers the build-out but not the long-term maintenance of these projects, which means it is up to the providers to maintain new fiber tracks on their own dime. Now, these concerns are not to negate BEAD's benefit to rural communities like mine. Still, people need to understand that BEAD is not the perfect solution, nor will every single person in the United States be served by the end of the projected funds in 2027.
So that is the "brief" overview of my springtime service as time passes. To my consistent readers, thank you for your encouragement through my service, and I am so glad I can bring you along on this journey!
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