There was a buzz at the Broadband Communities’ recent Atlanta conference earlier this month, and part of that circled around a new grassroots group whose founders were present and speaking about their new educational project, NC Hearts Gigabit. Formed as a project of CLIC-NC, the North Carolina chapter of CLIC, NC Hearts Gigabit will serve as a story-telling platform about North Carolina’s need for everyone in the state, from rural and urban communities, to have access to 21st century, high capacity broadband. And yet the project goes beyond that. It seeks to uncover how North Carolina communities are rebuilding their local economies by utilizing this critical infrastructure so they can stay competitive in the global economy; how they are growing inclusive small businesses and re-skilling their workforce. The ultimate objective of the group is to reinvigorate North Carolina’s long history as a technology leader and re-establish its vanguard role in this space.
Enjoy this podcast interview by Chris Mitchell, the Director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, of three of the project’s founders: Christa Wagner Vinson, Deborah Watts and Alan Fitzpatrick while they were all in Atlanta. For more about NC Hearts Gigabit CLIC-NC here.