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<\/a><\/p>\nFor the past year, a group of New Mexico news organizations, with support from High Country News <\/i>and the Solutions Journalism Network, has investigated how to build rural communities that last. (To read our past stories, check out the archive here<\/a>.) Among other things, we\u2019ve found a lack of high-speed internet holds communities back.<\/p>\n Nationwide, 39 percent of rural Americans \u2014 23 million people in total \u2014 don\u2019t have access to the internet, according to the Federal Communications Commission. And people in rural areas are far less likely to use the internet than those who live in cities or suburbs, Pew surveys have found<\/a>. Those gaps are especially high on tribal lands and in low-income communities \u2014 a phenomenon known as the digital divide. As more businesses rely on the internet, the gaps between the broadband haves and have-nots grow.<\/p>\n In New Mexico, only 80 percent of residents have access to a high-speed internet connection, according to Broadband Now. That\u2019s in spite of promises by the state that everyone in New Mexico would have access to broadband by 2015<\/a> and an influx of funds<\/a> for broadband expansions.<\/p>\n So we decided to dig into what local communities, tribal nations and individuals are doing to bridge the digital divide. Infrastructure is still where most of the money and effort is going; communities like Taos and the Pueblo de Cochiti are making the most of federal funds and local support to get hooked up to high speed internet. And this is often where communities stall, trying to figure out how to get fast internet access \u2014 and whether they even want it.<\/p>\n But for many, the question of how to turn digital connectivity \u2014 once you have it \u2014 into economic growth can prove equally intractable. Plenty of towns enjoy lightning-fast connections; far fewer have leveraged that resource to drive jobs and development. That\u2019s where a new program in Grants comes in. It looks to train adults how to succeed as remote workers, a growing swath of the American labor force.<\/p>\n It\u2019d be foolish to assume that Denver- or Seattle-grade internet speeds will automatically propel rural communities into economic prosperity. No doubt the leadership, vision and resources that built rural America in the first place are still necessary, too. If it works, though, small towns increasingly will be populated by people like me, tabs open on their computer screens, a long way from our mining, ranching and farming pasts.<\/p>\n Kate Schimel
\nDeputy editor-digital, High Country News
\nProject editor, State of Change<\/p>\n