The public is invited to participate in a public broadband meeting on June 9 from 5:30 to 7PM at the County Commissioner meeting room 1400 Highway 180 E., Silver City NM.

Dianne Lindstrom, Broadband Projects Manager for the Public School Facilities Authority will provide an overview of their projects and efforts to benefit buildout of an affordable broadband system accessible to all residents in New Mexico. We will also hear from other representatives working on behalf of your community.

We would like to capture shared stories on how access to broadband or lack thereof is impacting learning, doing business and the myriad of services that moved to digital based platforms. We hope to hear from students, parents, and educators. We want to listen to people with housing, food insecurity or dealing with financial hardships related to lack of connectivity. We also hope to hear from business, internet service providers and public institutions.

Time is of the essence. The state will be distributing nearly $123 million to unserved areas and the BEAD program will be releasing $42 billion! Public engagement is critical and necessary to be eligible to apply for funds. Entities eligible for grants need help with plans and support for organizational capacity to receive funds. We hope we can count on you to attend and make this meeting a positive success for Silver City and Grant County.