Free Public Workshop

Workshop to Focus on Using Broadband to Expand Rural Job Opportunities

The Klickitat Horizons Telecommunications Committee is holding a free public workshop in White Salmon to discuss how expanding broadband Internet access can be used to create job opportunities in rural communities. The workshop will focus on the opportunities the information-based, global economy provides for rural job creation.

The "Rural Job Opportunities in the New Economy" workshop will be held on Thursday, April 8, from 1 until 4 pm at the Pioneer Center, 501 N.E. Washington in White Salmon.

The workshop will feature an update on efforts to bring broader Internet access to the Klickitat/Skamania region, a local panel discussion of successes in using broadband communications to generate jobs, and a community discussion of what the next steps should be for job creation and other uses as better broadband access comes to the region. Presenters include Ken Levy, 4-Tell, John Hardham, Light Wave Communications, Tim Shatraw, Sacred Heart Saddlery, Jeff Nicol, Privacy Ready, Chris Dukelow, Giant Campus, Jerry Lewis, White Salmon School District, Linda Williams, WSU Extension Klickitat County and Monica Babine WSU Extension Division of Governmental Studies and Services.

Since 2006, nine communities in Klickitat and Skamania counties have participated in the Horizons Program, a community leadership development program administered by Washington State University Extension, aimed at identifying and addressing the causes of poverty in small, rural communities. To date, 40 rural communities in Washington State have participated in Horizons.

Through the Horizons Program, residents in the Klickitat/Skamania area identified job creation as a top community priority, and cited the lack of access to adequate broadband telecommunications service as a limiting factor in creating new jobs, and access to higher education and government services.

As a result, the community-based Klickitat Horizons Telecommunications Committee formed with the goal of making broadband service available for all who want it at an affordable rate.

The committee's efforts led to inclusion in a multi-county proposal through local Internet service provider Sawtooth Technologies and NoaNet that resulted in an $84.3 million federal economic recovery grant for the project, including funding for a $3.7 million fiber-optic infrastructure investment as well as community planning, outreach and training in Klickitat and Skamania counties.