Save the Delta Region with High Speed Internet

The movement to achieve universal high speed internet access had taken hold all over the U.S. The latest region to take steps to break the digital divide is the Mississippi Delta.

Consisting of 240 counties in eight states, the Delta region suffers from a serious lack of high speed internet access. For example, a recent study showed that 18 percent of zip codes in Arkansas' Delta region do not have high speed internet access, compared to about 10 percent of the rest of the state.

The Delta Regional Authority (DRA) – a federal-state government partnership charged with spurring economic development – is working to ease the region's high speed internet woes. Said Co-chairman Pete Johnson,

"Information technology, the information superhighway, is as important as our paved highways. We recognize that we have to have more access to information and technology."

To reach that goal, the DRA has made information technology one of its top three priorities. Its iDelta plan is a comprehensive study of the current state of high speed internet capacity in the region, as well as a series of recommendations on improving the situation.

The goals of the plan include expanding high speed internet access in the Delta region, training more residents to take advantage of information technology, and boosting the use of telemedicine and distance education.

Members of the DRA and citizens affiliated with the Mississippi Delta Grassroots Caucus met with members of Congress last month to tout the iDelta plan and encourage lawmakers to include more information technology provisions in the reauthorized version of the 2002 Farm Bill.

Expanding high speed internet access is crucial to the future of the Delta region. As the DRA's Johnson said, "We think we can save the small towns in rural America with information technology."

Delta Authority unveils information technology plan

Delta Regional Authority – Information Technology

iDelta Vol. 1: Report and Data for Information Technology in the Delta

iDelta Vol. 2: Recommendations for Information Technology in the Delta