The state’s IT agency has included several funding proposals in its “One Minnesota Budget” to help make its systems and services more accessible, modernized and secure. CIO Tarek Tomes shared the impacts and potential timelines.
Plus, a federal report has found that more workers will be needed in order to deploy the massive investment the country is making in broadband, the FCC has opened a comment cycle for broadband labeling, and more.
Telecom companies serving five Minnesota counties are set to receive $100 million in federal grants to bring new high-speed Internet to more than 33,000 Minnesota rural homes and businesses.
CIO Tarek Tomes discusses the guiding principles of his strategy for Minnesota IT Services, the rollout of the state's streamlined benefits portal and how putting citizen experience first drives digital equity.
Tarek Tomes, who was appointed by Minn. Gov. Tim Walz in 2019, will stay on to lead Minnesota IT Services in a cabinet-level position. Tomes is one of Government Technology’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers.
The program, called the Broadband Line Extension Connection Program, will work differently from other grants in that the process in applying for the grant will not be generated from an ISP, but rather by the end users.
In the recently released 2022 Invest in What Works State Standard of Excellence analysis, eight leading states were recognized for their work with data and evidence to guide policymaking decisions.
Rather than laying a lot of new fiber lines to homes and far flung farm sites under the ground, a new project uses a system of towers and antennas to get high bandwidth signals to customers in rural areas.
Maki will join the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development's (DEED) senior leadership team, overseeing the state's broadband expansion and development efforts.
The rural northern community of Grand Rapids is now being served by Minnesota’s Autonomous Rural Transit Initiative, an 18-month pilot program to explore the use of self-driving on-demand microtransit.
