To the editor:

No matter where you live in Michigan, you should be able to access the internet with a reliable, affordable, and secure connection. Ask your representatives to approve the funding and have eight full-time employees for the Michigan High-Speed Internet Office!

Families need the proper bandwidth to finish school assignments, access telemedicine services, put their small businesses on a level playing field, apply for loans and grants for their farms, and video chat with their loved ones. We need the funding and full-time staff for MIHI. The legislature must set aside the money immediately so that rural communities have the resources they need to connect and thrive.

We are losing precious time by not having the staff to evaluate where resources should go to connect our communities to high-speed internet. There should be weekly reports coming out of the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (the umbrella agency of MIHI) by now and all we have gotten is just one update since 2018 to the Michigan Broadband Roadmap because the office is inadequately staffed.

Michigan’s rural communities are depending on our Representatives to take action now to approve the funding and full-time staff for MIHI so they can do the important work of making sure rural households have access to reliable, affordable internet.

We need action now! You were given federal funds to give rural Michigan High-Speed Internet. Spend that money to achieve that goal for all Rural Michiganders.