Telecommunications Cooperative Case Studies
The nation’s 270 local, consumer-owned
telecommunications cooperatives provide advanced telecommunications
services to rural America, helping to bridge the digital divide.
On average each employs 47 people, serves nearly 8,000 customers,
and generates more than $8 million in revenues annually. But these
co-ops aren’t just telecommunications companies. Every day,
they go beyond their core business, demonstrating their community
commitment by donating financial resources and technical help to
spur economic development, meet unmet needs, and ensure a brighter
future for the communities they serve. Here are just a few examples
of telecommunications cooperatives’ commitment to their communities.
Economic Development
Heart of Iowa Communications Cooperative,
Union, Iowa. To keep business thriving in the small towns it serves,
Heart of Iowa Communications Cooperative launched an economic development
program that has created key community services, developed new businesses
and fostered new housing. In the early 1990s, recognizing the need
for health care and other services for an aging population, the
small co-op secured a $400,000 federal grant to build an assisted
care facility in Hubbard. With an additional infusion of $200,000
from the co-op’s own accounts, the town now has a quality
care facility with an Alzheimer’s unit. And that was just
the beginning. Through its revolving fund, the co-op provides more
than $1 million in low-interest and interest-free loans for projects
including an assisted living facility, an eight-unit apartment building,
three new restaurants, a town hall, and new fire trucks.
ENMR Plateau Telecommunications,
Clovis, New Mexico. As part of a 50-year commitment to supporting
community needs, ENMR Plateau Telecommunications sets aside $150,000
each year for economic development grants, workforce training, disaster
and housing assistance, and youth services. The project has funded
an economic development office, supported small business loans,
helped remodel a city office, funded a domestic violence program,
and made a library accessible to the handicapped. In the first six
months of 2004, the co-op provided 15 grants to local organizations.
To encourage youth to return to these rural areas, another ENMR
grant program reimburses those who agree to return home for at least
two years after graduation for a portion of their education costs.
Caring for the Community
Peoples Rural Telephone Cooperative,
McKee, Kentucky. In a partnership with the Center for Rural Development
in Somerset, Peoples Rural Telephone Cooperative provided a high-speed
Internet connection for McKee’s CenterNet, a local resource
center. Residents now can access the Internet, take distance-learning
courses and participate in video-conferences. The co-op also has
facilitated the creation of local telemedicine services by donating
a high-speed connection and providing video conferencing capabilities
to a health clinic.
Horry Telephone Cooperative,
Conway, South Carolina. The MetroNetwork project is improving local
health care by connecting hospitals and their rural satellite facilities.
Hospitals can transfer patient files electronically, which previously
had to be transported by courier. The co-op also has linked Horry
County high schools, so that they can share information and provide
distance-learning courses.
Roggen Telephone Cooperative Company,
Roggen, Colorado. An increasing number of Roggen Telephone Company’s
members are elderly and living alone in rural areas. They need a
way to get help in an emergency. The co-op created an emergency
contact system by offering seniors “telemergency” phones
at cost, just $5 per month. The phones can be pre-programmed with
emergency numbers. They also offer a “lifeline” pendent
for contacting 911 away from a phone. The co-op provides free installation
of the system.
Committed to Children
Consolidated Telcom, Dickinson,
North Dakota. Consolidated Telcom donated time and resources to
an interactive distance-learning network that connects five rural
high schools and three universities. The network allows students
in rural areas to take high school classes not offered locally as
well as college courses offered by distant universities. Consolidated
Telcom conducted a feasibility study for the system, identified
the optimal technology, donated engineering services, and helped
fund equipment needed to upgrade the schools’ telecommunications
infrastructure. Today, Consolidated continues to offer the participating
schools deep discounts on monthly service.
Nemont Telephone
Cooperative, Scobey, Montana. Nemont Telephone’s
mentoring program allows high school students to go through mock
interviews and work with the co-op’s human resources department
to tailor their resumes to specific jobs. Students also can “shadow”
a co-op employee working in their area of interest and attend a
two-week Telephony Academy at Bismarck State College. Since the
program’s inception in 1999, more than 250 high school students
from 10 school districts have participated. The co-op also offers
students college scholarships.
XIT Rural Telephone Cooperative,
Dalhart, Texas. XIT Rural Telephone uses unclaimed patronage capital
credit checks to fund scholarships for high school seniors. The
co-op offers five $2,000 scholarships to high school seniors based
on community involvement, academic achievement, extracurricular,
and financial need. The co-op makes payments directly to the school,
reducing financial burdens on the families.
|
