Monterey County is a great example of how a growing number of
county program leaders and their partners are finding ways of
harnessing the federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) to
drive socioeconomic mobility and regional development.
On August 9th, CSAC hosted a webinar featuring two
county program leaders, Library Director Hillary Theyer and IT
Manager Sarah House, along with one of their regional partners,
Ameer Othman, an Economic Development and Broadband Manager from
the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP).
Each gave a detailed account of how they’re managing to create
effective enrollment efforts by sustaining internal and external
collaborations. Director Theyer, for example, explained that her
team managed to leverage pre-existing relationships with other
county services to quickly and seamlessly integrate ACP-related
expertise into library-hosted ACP enrollment events.
Many county officials, managers, and staff across California are
already aware that the stakes are high. As CSAC CEO Graham Knaus
made when kicking off the webinar, ACP presents California with
an historic opportunity. Since ACP provides eligible residents
with $360 in annual high-speed internet subsidies and since more
than 5.8 million Californians are eligible, we have the chance to
ensure billions of federal dollars find their way into local and
regional communities. It’s “gold in our hands,” Knaus said.
But what many folks are less sure of is how to leverage that
gold. Listening to Theyer, House, and Othman makes clear that one
of the most promising ways of increasing ACP enrollment is
through local and regional collaboration. The panelists described
partnerships between county departments, between counties and
regional players, and between regional players and community
colleges and other public-facing entities.
So if you’d like to get ideas about how to bring more federal
dollars into your county, click here to
watch our ACP enrollment webinar featuring Monterey, and for
additional ideas click
here to watch our previous ACP enrollment webinar featuring
Los Angeles and Riverside.
A big thanks to Theyer, House, and Othman for participating, and
a major thanks to their teams for demonstrating the power of
collaboration!
