Davis holds rural broadband summit to hear constituents’ access concerns

U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) is working to guarantee that Ilinoians in rural communities have access to high-speed broadband services.

“Expanding broadband Internet access is critical to communities across my district and the country,” Rep. Davis said last week during a rural broadband summit he hosted at Blackburn College in Carlinville, Ill. “Congress and the USDA have invested in deploying broadband to rural areas and I want to ensure my constituents have access to these resources.”

Rep. Davis and Douglas Wilson, state director of rural development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, discussed available federal resources for rural broadband services and the need for expanded rural services during the summit, where they met with more than 25 community leaders and stakeholders from rural areas in the 13th District.

Participants included representatives from several electric cooperatives, Blackburn College, Montgomery County (Ill.) Economic Development, and local school districts, as well as broadband provider CTI Fiber and six mayors. 

The participants raised concerns about the difficulty of getting broadband services to their rural communities, according to a statement from Rep. Davis’ office.

“Access to broadband ensures individuals living in rural cities and counties have the same educational and economic opportunities as people living in more urban areas,” Rep. Davis said. “I appreciated the discussion with leaders and stakeholders from across my district about their broadband needs and concerns.” 

For instance, Kate Sievers, superintendent of Calhoun Community Unit School District #40 in Hardin, Ill., said rural broadband access is a huge issue for small communities. 

“I want to thank Representative Davis and State Director Wilson for making this issue known, because it’s not just in Illinois, it’s throughout the United States,” she said. “We need to have the conversation so we know where those grants and where those programs are that we can start looking into to help bring those into our communities.”