This document summarizes several broadband access projects in Carlton County, Minnesota. It discusses projects to expand rural broadband access through school bus wifi hotspots, provide iPads and digital training through local libraries, create makerspaces at libraries, conduct a county broadband feasibility study, and connect key community locations through a digital messaging system in Moose Lake. The projects aimed to expand internet access, digital skills, and connectivity across the county. Challenges integrating different systems were experienced with the Moose Lake messaging project but digital training programs trained over 165 people and hotspots expanded home internet access.

1. Strut Your Stuff Tour
Blandin Broadband Communities
Carlton County

2. Activities/Projects
Presented by project champions!
Rural Education Broadband Community Utilization Expansion
Moose Lake, Cromwell-Wright Schools
School Bus Wifi Hot Spots
Moose Lake, Cromwell-Wright, Carlton, Esko Schools
iPads for Lifelong Learning
Esko, Cloquet, Carlton, Barnum Community Ed.
“Appy Life” Carlton County library iPad training project
Cloquet, Carlton, Moose Lake public libraries
Makerspace Hot Spots
Cloquet, Moose Lake libraries
Connect Moose Lake
City of Moose Lake
Carlton County Broadband Feasibility Study
Carlton Co. Economic Development
PCs for People
Carlton Co. Economic Development

3. “Apply Life” Project
• Cloquet, Carlton, and Moose
Lake Public Libraries.
• Offering FREE public Wi-Fi and
iPad training.
• Training using Chromebooks as
well.
• Training sessions kept to <6
participants.
• Was able to train 165 people
over 47 sessions!

4. Makerspace Project
• Moose Lake & Cloquet Public
Libraries
• “Techy Toys” to be creative.
-3D Printer
-Raspberry Pi computers
-Drones & Droids
-3D Pens
-Much More!
• 2 Raspberry Pi classes
• Several 3D printing
requests.

5. Hotspot Project
• Moose Lake & Cloquet Public
Libraries
• Checking out the Internet at home
through patron’s library cards.
• Gives high speed internet access to
patrons that are away from the city at
no cost.
• Began to circulate in Sept. Have
been checked out more than 30 times
already.
• Will begin to checkout iPads,
Chromebooks, and media players
with Hotspots in the near future.

6. Project Goals
• To get as many people exposed to new technologies as possible. To get
the devices into the hands of users to become more comfortable using
the devices.
• To get Internet access into the homes of the people who can’t afford it,
don’t have access to it, or need something faster that better meets their
needs. This affords the ability to do schoolwork at home, apply for jobs
online, work from home, and have entertainment.
• To have free high speed Wi-Fi service at all of the libraries in Carlton
County.

7. Reflection
• If we knew then what we know now...
-We would find more “train the trainer” resources and other possible
outside training resources.
-There were a lot of repeat class participants (senior citizens mostly)that
may have required a special class.
• How could the Blandin team have been more helpful?
-Blandin has been very helpful. Nothing more was needed.
• What community-wide impacts are you observing or expecting?
-People are very appreciative of the training classes. They like that they
can use devices before they purchase them and if they already had them,
they like that we were able to explain and show them how to use them.
-People are getting the opportunity to have Internet access from their
homes for the first time. They are able to complete assignments and
stream videos at no cost to them.

8. Connect Moose Lake Project
• Moose Lake Community Digital
Messaging System.
• Connects City Hall, Police/Fire Dept,
Chamber of Commerce, Health Care
Center, and Arena.
• Allows each location to post
messages at their locations as well
as Public Access Television channel.
• The City can override all locations in
the event of an emergency and post
critical information for citizens at each
location as well as on Public Access
Television-which has about 6,000
subscribers in the immediate area.

9. Project Progress
• Monitors are all installed in each location.
• Difficulties setting up system on the back end as we are dealing with 3
different systems, firewalls, networks, etc. and getting the system to talk to
each other.
• Community is getting information through the Public Access channel only
at this time.
• Using a less complex system might have saved some of the issues that
we are experiencing. Sometimes more simple is better.