We’ve all heard this expression in one form or another most of our lives. It speaks to the essence of community engagement and involvement in solving issues and helping each other succeed.

And it is certainly true about the Region 10 broadband project.

With the help of state and local governments and agencies, organizations like the El Pomar Foundation and local business and citizen engagement, construction has begun in Delta on the first phase of the Middle Mile network, a not for profit network designed to bring affordable high speed broadband access and connectivity to municipal and county governments and anchor institutions across the region while also providing “open access” connection points to local retail Internet Service Providers to help expand services to underserved communities.

Construction in Delta is scheduled to finish in October while construction in Montrose should start within the next week. We are excited that the Montrose construction project has been awarded to a local construction firm, ensuring that those dollars are invested in our local economies. Engineering and planning activities continue at breakneck speed to ensure we meet our goal of lighting up services by the end of the year in these two communities and ready ourselves for Phase Two construction to begin early next year.

Without the participation and input from all of our partners and stakeholders, none of this would be possible. The opportunities and potential to share resources across the region, to help foster an environment of diverse economic development are a testament to our “village” recognizing a problem and coming together to create a solution.