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Rural broadband advocates from five states and Washington D.C. gathered in rural Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday, October 11, 2011, for the first Rural Broadband Summit, cosponsored by the Center for Media Justice, the Center for Rural Strategies, and Free Press.The purpose of the summit is to examine rural broadband issues, such as the lower levels of access and use among rural areas and ways the nation might lower cost and improve service to rural users.

Broadband

Rural Broadband Summit & Hearing in Kentucky featuring USDA's Jonathan Adelstein

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 12:37

We've reached a critical juncture in the debate over the future of wireless Internet in America. Improving connections for rural communities has become a central point of debate over AT&T's proposed take over of T-Mobile. The Justice Department has sued to stop the deal, in part because of concerns about service to rural. Now is the perfect time to discuss what will work to connect millions of underserved Americans to high-speed Internet.

Here are the details:

Broadband | Broadband

Lack of broadband will cripple rural areas

Tue, 04/19/2011 - 14:58

A new report written by University of Texas – Austin researcher Sharon Strover says that rural areas that don't have broadband access will be economically crippled.

Broadband | Broadband

Rural Communities Tell FCC to Protect Rural Consumers

Wed, 12/15/2010 - 09:42

Rural groups joined the National Rural Assembly’s Rural Broadband Policy Group in sending a letter to the FCC urging the commission to expand its proposal for net neutrality. Net neutrality is the principle that all information and applications on the Internet are treated equally and that all consumers have equal access to this information.

Diversity | FCC | Media Reform | Broadband

Rural groups support media diversity in comments to the FCC

Tue, 03/09/2010 - 15:41

The Center for Rural Strategies has joined organizations and individuals from around the country asking the Federal Communications Commission to make increased diversity in broadcast and broadband media a higher priority.

In a letter to the FCC, the organizations stated:

FCC | Broadband

Rural Strategies Part of FCC Workshop

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 11:58

The promise of broadband to decrease the economic and social gap between rural and metropolitan areas is going unfulfilled, said Tim Marema, vice president of the Center for Rural Strategies, in a presentation at a Federal Communications Commissioner workshop.

Broadband

Comments promote better broadband access

Wed, 12/09/2009 - 12:28

The Rural Broadband Policy Group has filed a series of comments with the Federal Communications Commission on changing federal policy to better serve rural America.

The policy group is composed of organizations working on media and communication in and for rural communities. It includes the Access Humboldt, Appalshop, California Center for Rural Policy, Center for Rural Strategies, Main Street Project, Media Literacy Project, Mountain Area Information Network, and Media Action Grassroots Network.

Poverty | Broadband

Rural Poverty Rate Is Increasing

Mon, 11/23/2009 - 16:56

According to a new report from the Daily Yonder (Rural Strategies' online news journal), the level of poverty in rural America has increased at a rate five times that of the poverty increase in metropolitan areas in the past five years.

Midwest Rural Assembly | Broadband

Midwest Rural Assembly addresses broadband

Fri, 11/06/2009 - 13:48

Broadband access was on the agenda at the Midwest Rural Assembly on August 11-12, 2009, in Sioux City, South Dakota. One break out session was "Broadband and Rural Communities: Creating a Healthy Digital Ecology and a Community Vision for Federal Funding."

Edyael Casaperalta, Rural Strategies' broadband policy organizer, served as a panelist for that session. Other Rural Strategies staff who attended the regional assembly were Whitney Kimball Coe and Shawn Poynter.

Rural electrification | Broadband

Wiring rural America - the lesson of rural electrification

Fri, 11/06/2009 - 12:05

This isn't the first time the federal government has tried to wire rural America.

The economic recovery act provides $7.2 billion to help get broadband to underserved locales, especially rural areas. Similarly, back in the 1930s, the federal Rural Electrification Agency helped get power lines to rural communities.

Nick Muntean, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Texas-Austin, looks at the historical comparisons between the rural electrification movement and current efforts to get rural America online. His report appears in The Daily Yonder, Rural Strategies' online news journal.