Expanding Digital Opportunity Beyond Broadband Access

Brown: In Hennepin County, Minnesota, more than 250 miles of fiber have helped bring broadband access to nearly 4,000 homes that previously lacked it, along with new connections in affordable housing. But county leaders say closing the digital divide takes more than infrastructure. It also takes affordability, devices, digital skills, and strong partnerships.

Hello, I'm Dara Brown and this is "Getting Connected." We're on location here in NOLA. That is the city of New Orleans at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center for the 2026 National Association of Counties Annual Conference. Officials from counties, parishes and boroughs across the country are here to connect.

A broad approach is shaping how Hennepin County works to help more residents fully participate in a digital world. Joining me to discuss all of this is Commissioner Kevin Anderson from Hennepin County, Minnesota. Commissioner Anderson, thank you so much for being here.

Anderson: Thanks for having me.

Brown: Hennepin County has made recent progress expanding broadband access. Why was this so important and what was the work involved?

Anderson: Really, people having access to digital devices and access to broadband is so important. And after 2020, during the COVID pandemic, we realized that with so many people being at home, access to their online lives was essential to making sure that they had access to services, um, their family, and jobs. So we needed to make sure that access to broadband was available to every resident in Hennepin County.

Brown: Now, this wasn't just the county's effort. Federal funding and partnerships also made this possible. Can you tell me about that?

Anderson: It was absolutely essential that we had collaboration between federal partners, industry and local governments, not just the county, but cities, city leaders, too. We were able to combine all of these different funding sources into affordable grants to make sure that we could build out high speed networks across so many more communities than we would have otherwise been able to do.

Brown: Now that the residents have access to broadband, you've taken this a step further because you're actually giving them digital devices to work on. Tell us about that.

Anderson: That's right. Yeah. So, we — getting access to a device or to broadband is one thing, but having access to the devices to be able to use the broadband is a completely different thing. And so we wanted to make sure that even in communities where maybe they haven't had the — the access to broadband in the past, now they have the ability to get connected, use a device and access job seeking materials, county resources, if they need them. Um, there's just so much that goes into it. And if you haven't had broadband in the past, having that device to connect to it is — is the next major step in it.

Brown: And giving them a device is one thing, but also knowing how to use it is another issue. How are you being able to tell your residents and show them how to improve their digital skills?

Anderson: Digital literacy is the next building block on making sure that our residents are able to access their device safely. Uh, the — the online landscape is ever changing. We all know that the — the threats and cybersecurity, the changing landscape with AI uh, makes navigating these, you know, devices and the online world really confusing for a lot of people. And so we wanted to make sure that we're combining the devices and the access to internet with education so that people could feel confident in accessing things and not get themselves into trouble.

Brown: Well, now that you have these services and more things are actually moving online, how are you making sure that your residents are not possibly being left behind in all of this?

Anderson: Well, that's where the continuous community engagement becomes so essential because when we start engaging with communities and listening to them and making sure that we have partners in community providing us feedback and kind of a continuous loop of information, we can respond better if we're missing something. And I think that's part of what we all strive to do, is make sure that we're getting them connected, we're getting them a device, we're providing education, and then following up and — and always improving how we deliver our services.

Brown: Commissioner Kevin Anderson of Hennepin County, Minnesota, thank you so much for your time today.

Anderson: Thank you so much.

Brown: And thanks to you as well for watching. I'm Dara Brown.