Next Century Cities (NCC) is hosting Digital Northwest: A Broadband Summit for Regional Broadband Leaders at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center in Seattle, Washington. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is co-hosting the event.

The summit will bring together federal, state, and local officials, industry representatives, and community leaders to celebrate successes and share resources. The summit will examine gaps that remain and strategize on how to expand high-speed Internet access.

After a welcome reception in the evening of Sunday, March 20th, there will be a daylong summit on Monday, March 21st featuring workshops on a variety of topics ranging from rural Internet access to the digital economy. 

Conference attendees are invited to stay a little longer. In the morning of Tuesday, March 22nd, government officials, industry representatives, and other experts will be on hand to answer questions in an “office hours” session.

What: Digital Northwest: A Broadband Summit for Regional Broadband Leaders 

Where: Bell Harbor International Conference Center, Seattle, Washington, 98121. 

When: March 20-21, 2016 (optional: the morning of March 22, 2016)

Register online for the summit.

The 2016 Broadband Communities Summit will be held on April 5 - 7 in Austin, Texas. Participants can save $540 by registering early before November 30th. Register online and use the VIP Code: Austin2016 to get a special rate of $410.

The annual Summit is one of the premier broadband events each year. This year, the theme is Fiber: Catch The Wave! Check out the Summit main page for more about the agenda, speakers, and workshops. The event page will be updated as organizers solidify the agenda.

Don't delay! Register before Monday, November 30th!

Over the past 12 months:

• Membership has grown from 32 communities to 121
• Population represented by Next Century Cities has climbed from 6.5 million to 23.9 million
• Member states have increased from 19 to 33

The organization has been recognized by the White House, testified before Congress, and has been instrumental in launching a number of awards. The organization has developed resources and organized events to assemble members who want to share innovative ideas. Learn more about their accomplishments at the blog.

We look forward to another year of working with Next Century Cities toward the goal of fast, affordable, reliable Internet access for all.

Image courtesy of tiverylucky at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

At a September conference in Lexington, Kentucky, Next Century Cities (NCC) hosted an influential and diverse group of leaders from the municipal broadband arena to share their experiences as leaders in community broadband. Four audio recordings, which you can find on NCC’s website, include panel discussions on a variety of issues surrounding the topic of financing for next generation broadband.

Recording #1: “Lexington Mayor Jim Gray and the Kentucky Wired Story” and Panel Discussion “Federal Support for Broadband Projects” 

The first recording begins with Lexington Mayor Gray and the city’s Chief Information Officer as they discuss their ongoing efforts to make Lexington a gigabit city. These efforts are part of a broader initiative also discussed on building a statewide 3,000 mile fiber optic ring. Several Kentucky government leaders make remarks about the project, called Kentucky Wired, including their thoughts about the public-private partnership model that is helping make the project possible.

In the second part of the recording, former Rural Utilities Service Administrator and current Vice Chair of Broadband Communities Hilda Legg, leads a panel of several experts examining funding supports and offering recommendations and next steps for communities.

Listen to the audio here.

Recording #2: “Achieving the Last Mile”

Our own Christopher Mitchell, the Director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at ILSR and the Policy Director for Next Century Cities, moderates this panel that includes officials who have led municipal broadband initiatives in their communities. These officials share some of the challenges they have faced and solutions they discovered in their efforts to finance last mile infrastructure.

Recording #3: “Exploring Options and Approaches for Broadband Financing”

On September 28th, Christopher participated in the Digital New England regional broadband summit in Portland, Maine sponsored by Next Century Cities and the NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration). In the morning, he moderated a panel focusing on regional approaches to improve Internet access, and in the afternoon he moderated a panel that included incumbent providers on their preferences for partnerships.

If you were unable to attend the event or did not see the live stream, Next Century Cities has released a video playlist of the two day long event. Christopher can be found moderating the morning panel in the main room during part three. The full agenda is available online.

The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB) will present the first AnchorNETS Broadband Summit this November 16th & 17th in Mountainview, California. The event is designed to help leaders from anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals, and libraries connect and learn about solutions to help them achieve gigabit connectivity. The conference will be held at the Computer History Museum. Our own Christopher Mitchell will be there as well.

Keynote Speakers include:

• Evan Marwell, CEO & Founder, EductionSuperhighway
• Catherine Sandoval, Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)
• Sunne Wright McPeak, CEO, California Emerging Technology Fund

Attend AnchorNETS to:

• Gain information and practical guidelines to access funding from Federal, State and Local government
• Learn about the economics of middle-mile fiber deployment and the role of next generation wireless technology
• Develop new community engagement practices and programs

More information is available on the web: www.anchornets.com, where you can check out the agenda, information on the speakers, and register online.

Download the flyer below for more information.

The United Church of Christ Office of Communications, Inc. (UCC OC), will hold its annual Parker Lecture on October 20th at 8 a.m. in Washington, D.C., at the First Congregational Church. This year's lecture will be especially meaningful because on September 17th, Rev. Dr. Everett C. Parker, known for his groundbreaking work with public rights in broadcasting, passed away at the age of 102.

This year's honorees are:

• danah boyd, founder, Data & Society Research Institute and “activist scholar” on the social and cultural implications of technology, will give the 2015 Parker Lecture on Ethics and Telecommunications.
• Joseph Torres, senior external affairs director of Free Press and co-author of News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media, will receive the Parker Award which recognizes an individual whose work embodies the principles and values of the public interest in telecommunications.
• Wally Bowen, co-founder and executive director of the Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN), will receive the Donald H. McGannon Award in recognition of his dedication to bringing modern telecommunications to low-income people in rural areas.

Parker is most widely known for his work in the 1960s, when he fought to establish the right for citizen groups to be heard before regulatory agencies such as the FCC. In 1962, WLBT from Jackson, Mississippi, refused to broadcast Thurgood Marshall who led the Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ at the time. Parker was already known for his work on human rights and freedom of speech and, having worked as a reporter, broadcasting executive, and advertising agency leader, black leaders asked him to take up the issue. The outcome revolutionized broadcasting as stations immediately began serving their entire diverse audiences. Read more about Parker's many contributions to the public interest on his online obituary at UCC OC.

You can register online to attend the October 20th lecture.

If you are not able to attend the Digital New England Community Broadband Summit in Portland, Maine, you are in luck. The conference is being webcast live from NTIA's Digital New England Community Broadband Summit website.

The conference will run until 4 p.m. Eastern today and is a collaboration between NTIA and Next Century Cities. NTIA describes the gathering:

The summit will present best practices and lessons learned from broadband network infrastructure buildouts and digital inclusion programs from Maine and surrounding states, including projects funded by NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and State Broadband Initiative (SBI) grant programs funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The summit will also explore effective business and partnership models.

You can view the full agenda online [PDF], complete with a list of guest speakers and moderators.

Over the past year, New England has been a hotspot for broadband initiatives, legislation, and experimentation. The trend will continue into September when Next Century Cities and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) host Digital New England: A Summit for Regional Broadband Leaders on September 27th and 28th in Portland, Maine.

From a description of the event:

Broadband is emerging as a critical driver of economic growth and prosperity in New England. The “Digital New England” broadband summit will bring together state, local and federal officials, industry representatives, community leaders and other key stakeholders to share real-world broadband success stories and lessons learned from across the region. The summit will also examine the gaps that remain and strategize on what still needs to be done to expand access to and adoption of high-speed Internet services for the benefit of all citizens.

The event will start with a welcome reception on Sunday evening. Monday's day-long summit will include discussions on numerous topics that cover investment, access, and adoption. Come listen to some panel discussions and participate in some break-out workshops.

The welcome reception will be held at the Gulf Maine Research Institute at 350 Commercial St. in Portland. Monday's summit will be at the Holiday Inn by the Bay, 88 Spring St. in Portland.

Take a look at the schedule for this free event and register online at the Eventbrite page.

Is your community considering a public private partnership to improve connectivity for businesses and residents? Will you be attending the Broadband Communities Economic Development Conference in Lexington this September? If you answered 'yes' to those two questions, you should attend CLIC's half-day event on Friday, September 18th.

Spend the morning breakfasting with telecommunication attorney Jim Baller and Joanne Hovis from CLIC along with Maura Corbett, CEO of Glen Echo Group and Heather Gold, CEO of FTTH Council Americas.

The rest of the agenda from a CLIC email invitation:

An Extensive CLIC Paper on the Key Business and Legal Issues in Public-Private Partnerships :

Moderator: Jim Baller - President, CLIC

Speakers:

• Joanne Hovis - CEO, CLIC
• Ashley Stelfox - Associate Legal Counsel, CLIC

The Private Sector’s Perspective :

Speakers:

• Elliot Noss - CEO, Ting Fiber Internet
• Bob Nichols - President, Declaration Networks Group
• Levi Dinkla – Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, iTV-3
• Steve Biggerstaff – Founding President, Director & Advisor, Metronet
• Nicholas Hann – Senior Managing Director, Macquarie Capital/Macquarie Group Ltd.

The Public Sector’s Perspective :

Moderator: Catharine Rice - Project Director, CLIC

Speakers:

• Robert Wack - President, City Council, Westminster, MD
• Scott Shapiro - Senior Advisor, The Mayor’s Office, City of Lexington, Kentucky
• Jon Gant – Director, UC2B