Georgetown is getting Cool & Connected

As Georgetown is enjoying its brand-new fiber ring, the town just got another happy announcement that it’s been chosen to be part of the federal Cool & Connected program.
It’s an Obama Administration community initiative headed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help revitalize rural communities through planned or existing broadband service.
Georgetown is one of five cities chosen for the pilot program, and a team of experts will help devise and implement a strategy to provide public internet access and to attract and retain businesses downtown.
“It was pretty good news for us,” said Gene Dvornick, Georgetown’s town manager, of the announcement. And it fits in perfectly with the town’s effort to become a designated Downtown Development District through the state, he said. (About that town logo, though…)
The focus of the Cool & Connected project will start with East Market Street, Georgetown’s main drag, Dvornick said, with the hope of setting up broadband services along that corridor and even reaching into a playground and Little League field.
He’s aware, he said, that broadband is becoming another necessary facet of economic infrastructure in American towns. “That might make Georgetown more competitive,” he said. “Hopefully this program will help give us that extra foot up.”
Troy Mix, a policy scientist for the University of Delaware’s Institute for Public Administration, specializes in planning and economic development. He’s the one who first heard about Cool & Connected and gave Dvornick a heads up that applying for the program might be worth it, particularly with their Downtown Development District efforts.
It’s exciting that Georgetown was chosen, Mix said, because southern Delaware is often in limbo when it comes to getting federal funding.
“A lot of funding opportunities depend on your being very rural, and southern Delaware isn’t,” he said, noting that much more remote places, like towns in South Dakota and Montana, often beat out Sussex County. At the same time, the area doesn’t have the population density of northern Delaware to attract businesses at the same level.
What’s key in this situation, Mix said, is that all of the fiber that’s been laid down in Georgetown will get a boost in functionality.
“How does broadband make an economic impact? It’s when people are adopting and using it,” he said. “Fiber in the ground is great, but getting businesses and residents to use it actually makes a big impact.”
Dvornick said there will be some conference calls with experts this year, and that after gathering needed information and devising a strategy, a workshop for the public will be offered in mid-December.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity,” he said, “and we’re eagerly looking forward to working with the EPA and USDA on this very innovative process.”