Walker County Government recently hosted a community engagement session to gather input from residents concerning challenges they face with internet access.
“We are currently working on a Digital Connectivity Plan for the county,” said Shannon Whitfield, Chair, Walker County Board of Commissioners. “This plan will map out a strategy to bring broadband services to unserved and underserved communities and put the county on a path to become a Broadband Ready Community.”
While basic access to broadband services remains an issue for roughly 13% of the county’s population, the community engagement session also covered other challenges residents face to getting online. Some of these topics included affordability; availability of devices to access the internet; as well as the skills needed to be comfortable filling out job applications and making purchases online.
Once complete, Walker County’s Digital Connectivity Plan will be used to seek “Broadband Ready Community” status from the state. The special designation will make the county eligible for state and federal grant dollars that could reduce the cost of expanding broadband infrastructure into unserved areas, provide resources to address digital skills and encourage economic development.
Community input continues to be needed. Please click the link and answer a few short questions about barriers you face to using the internet.
Georgia recently received $1.3 billion in federal funds from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program to support broadband grant initiatives across the state.
