Triangle announces Community Challenge recipients

Triangle Communications (Triangle) is pleased to announce the following communities as recipients of the 2015-2016 Smart Rural Connected Community Challenge: Sweet Grass County, the Town of Big Sandy and the City of Malta/Malta Chamber of Commerce.

The selected communities and their Stakeholder Committees (identified in each application) will work closely with Anne Boothe, Triangle’s Economic Development Specialist, to discuss technology assets in their community and how they relate to various sectors of the local economy. The overall goal of the Challenge is to develop a simple, written Broadband Action Plan that includes priorities and strategies to enable economic development in their community through broadband technologies. A $2500 incentive grant award will be made to all selected applicants to implement one or more of the items identified in their completed plan.

Past Challenge recipients include Harlem/Fort Belknap and the Meagher County Chamber of Commerce in White Sulphur Springs. Harlem’s committee identified a lack of knowledge about existing broadband opportunities and broadband plus, the difficulty of certain residents to access the Internet. Their action included educating their community through a Technology Tour that showcased available technology assets. It also included the purchase and installation of smart TV’s at the Harlem Library and Senior Center. The TV’s are used for workshops and other opportunities that provide and encourage public broadband access.

The White Sulphur Springs Stakeholder Committee recognized the new opportunities provided with the completion of Triangle’s fiber optics system upgrade, but identified their lack of capacity to carry out local economic development activities to promote their community as an ideal location for entrepreneurs and teleworkers. They continue to investigate options to finalize a community branding effort and create a marketing plan that incorporates broadband with economic development opportunities.

“Broadband connectivity and being able to conduct business, agriculture, or run our homes efficiently and securely go hand in hand. We are fortunate in Malta and Phillips County to have the high-speed connections in place to positively impact the way we run our businesses and lives, and use technology to its fullest. We are thrilled to be awarded this grant from Triangle and to use it toward telling our area’s story,” says Dina Meneely, Malta Area Chamber of Commerce Secretary