EAGLE-Net                                        BroadbandUSALogo

Community Outreach Update 

May 2011

Update from the CEO

 

RandyZila

I would like to welcome everyone to our community outreach through EAGLE-Net Alliance newsletters and email updates. 

 

April was a busy month at the EAGLE-Net office, and May is proving to follow form.  We conducted a Board of Directors meeting on April 5th, and welcomed a NTIA visit on April 25th and 26th.  All BTOP grant awardees will receive visits from their Federal Program Officer (FPO), and it was our turn in April.  The purpose of the visit was to exchange information and assess the grant progress.  The NTIA reviewed all facets of the grant, including compliance with federal guidelines, program timelines and the environmental assessment.  Our visit went well and was very successful.  

 

During our visit with the FPO, we reinforced how important we believe accountability is when it comes to the proper handling of tax payer monies.  Our primary focus is and remains to benefit community anchors and school districts in our middle mile project. 

 

EAGLE-Net Alliance is making progress to meet established benchmarks and complete the project of providing larger bandwidth statewide.  We are currently working on required environmental assessments for the NTIA.  After they are completed and approved, the next steps will be to complete our design and planning process.

 

As always, our EAGLE-Net staff is available to dialogue, answer questions and present information to a wide audience.  Please contact us for further information.

 

Dr. Randy Zila

EAGLE-Net Allliance CEO

 

Operations Update

 

EAGLE-Net is nearing completion of our federal "Special Award Condition" for Environmental Assessment (EA).  EAs are required to assess all potential historical and environmental impacts.  This has been a 6-month process involving various vendors and more than 20 local, state, federal and tribal agencies.  As a requirement of the grant, the EA must be reviewed and approved for the entire project prior to any construction beginning.  With miles of fiber optic routes, and broadband wireless routes, the list of areas needing review are significant and varied.  Our team has done an outstanding job of preparation, and we are in the home stretch!

We are also in the midst of preparation efforts to ensure that we are ready for design, construction and contracting once the environmental approval from the NTIA is received.  This includes scheduling, planning and procurement efforts to engage vendors who will be critical to the design, engineering and construction of the EAGLE-Net network. 

 

Denver Rotary Logo
Community Outreach Update
Rotary Supports EAGLE-Net
 
During April and May, staff from EAGLE-Net has presented overviews of the grant project at the Annual District Conferences for Rotary International District 5450 and Rotary International District 5440.  These two districts combined include approximately 85 out of the 150 clubs in Colorado.  

With the strong support of the leadership of all three Rotary Districts in Colorado, the Rotary Club 31 of Denver is initiating an effort to rally all Colorado Rotarians, other service clubs, the business community, the K-12 educational community and appropriate Colorado State Government agencies to coalesce around a project that will build on the foundation created by EAGLE-Net.  In the near future, Rotary Club 31 will be assessing the needs of K-12 classrooms in Colorado to find the best applications, services and support needed to deliver the benefits of the EAGLE-Net network to their students.  With Rotary's help, students will see EAGLE-Net come to life.

 

EAGLE-Net Connected
Brighton School District 27

School District  27J is one of the fastest growing school districts in the state of Colorado with double digit growth in recent years. Being home to over 14,000 students in 3 counties and 5 different cities,  it is easy to see why their student population is so diverse. This growth has forced them to be very creative in how they serve their population's online educational needs, so EAGLE-Net became a valuable solution for their dilemma. 

 

For the past three years, EAGLE-Net has an important impact on the education of 27J students.  EAGLE-Net offers a greater bandwidth at a lower cost than the district was previously able to purchase.  Even though 27J is a very low funded district, there is still ample opportunity for positive impacts to be made through the proper use of funding educational programs through online services. With an increase of bandwidth from 40 Mbps to 150 Mbps, 27J has seen some very significant increases in the performance of their students, as well as a 250% cost savings per month. 

 

27J has had some of the highest graduation rates and also some of the highest increases in CSAP scores in Adams County . These increases were made possible by using a variety of programs that are bandwidth intensive.  These were implemented through reliable Internet access that was delivered by the the EAGLE-Net network.  These online learning options became a reality for 27J through EAGLE-Net's fast and reliable network when they had not been attainable before.

 

If you would like to learn more about EAGLE-Net's work with 27J, please contact Andrew Wright at [email protected].

 

The Views Office Bldg
EAGLE-Net Offices

 

In mid-March, the EAGLE-Net staff was able to move into their new temporary office space at The Views office park in Broomfield, CO.  The location is in the Interlocken technology corridor that is accessible via Hwy 36 just east of Boulder. While the permanent office space (Suite 450) is being set up for a move later this summer, a temporary suite is located at 11800 Ridge Parkway, Suite 110, Broomfield, CO 80021. 

(Please note to use Suite 450 in any mail correspondence.) 

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