What Broadband Can’t Fix: Designing Community Alongside Connectivity

Broadband is essential, but in rural Appalachia it’s only the first step. Even as fiber strands crisscross counties, many families still lack devices, skills or trust to use the internet. In West Virginia today, projects building the network often confront obstacles beyond the physical connection. For example, a recent analysis notes that while infrastructure is expanding, “many West Virginians still face significant barriers” – from unaffordable service to missing hardware and weak digital skills – and 20% of residents reported these gaps hurt their education and work opportunities. A state digital equity leader warns that “true digital equity means more than just access to quality internet – it requires the equipment, education, and support to use it effectively.” In other words, laying fiber without community support can leave people stranded on the wrong side of the Digital Divide.

Beyond Bandwidth: The Human Elements of Connectivity

Rural broadband alone can’t teach someone how to code or motivate them to apply online, and it can’t magically make an elder embrace a tablet. For many Appalachians, missing mentors, low digital literacy or skepticism about outsiders can be the real bottlenecks. In some coalfield counties, up to a quarter of families live in poverty or own no computers, so even “Internet for All” campaigns have to account for training and trust. Without these, billions of dollars in new connectivity risk becoming underused infrastructure. As a veteran educator in Wyoming County, WV, put it, access plus skills are what really “empower West Virginians” for success.

Case Studies: Community-Rooted Solutions

Despite the challenges, rural communities are inventively knitting together broadband with local support. In Doddridge County, WV, a school-led partnership with local ISP Citynet and STEM non-profit JASON Learning connected every home to fiber and turned students into tech mentors. As the program rollout notes, it “brought internet access to the entire county while allowing students to serve as real-world tech support for the new network,” with Citynet engineers acting as on-site mentors and career role models as they helped students troubleshoot real issues. This hyper-local approach not only gave needy families connectivity, but also trained youth in high-demand tech skills through an entrepreneurial “Internet for All” curriculum. In short, it married infrastructure with in-person coaching and youth leadership to solve two problems at once.

A rural classroom embraces hands-on tech learning. Community programs in Appalachia now pair connectivity with maker spaces and coaching to teach digital skills.

In Eastern Kentucky, regional development efforts take a similar tack. Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) runs a “Get Online” campaign that underscores training and coaching, not just free hotspots. As SOAR explains, “without training in digital skills, you can’t use the internet to its full potential,” so their Office of Jobs offers free coding classes, job coaching and one-on-one digital literacy help to residents. Across dozens of counties, SOAR has mobilized local partners to deliver low-cost or free tech workshops, and even set up offices where people can sign up for help getting a reliable connection, building resumes for remote work, or understanding online tools. This kind of wraparound service ensures that when broadband arrives at town libraries or driveways, locals have the guidance and confidence to make use of it.

In Vermont, rural innovators are creating new hubs and makerspaces that leverage broadband with mentorship and collaboration. For example, the Black River Innovation Campus in Springfield (Precision Valley) installed a 10-gigabit fiber link and turned an old factory campus into a coworking-and-microfactory center for entrepreneurs. BRIC provides cutting-edge equipment (3D printers, workshops) and also offers training, startup support, and partnerships with universities and NASA. It’s become, in its founders’ words, “a catalyst for innovation in a region historically tied to manufacturing.” Other Vermont towns have similarly redeveloped libraries and barns into community technology labs. These hubs don’t just give people Wi-Fi; they give them mentors, collaborators and a culture of creativity. By engaging residents as co-creators in tech projects, these spaces transform broadband into opportunity, from student robotics clubs to regional telehealth initiatives.

Digital Equity: More Than Devices and Wi-Fi

What do all these examples share? They combine connectivity with people and skills. Across Appalachia, community groups and libraries are emphasizing that true digital equity must include training, peer support and youth voice, not just routers. In Kentucky’s Clay County, for instance, the Thompson Scholars Foundation gave broadband to dozens of families during COVID and handed out laptops to students, ensuring rural kids could keep up with school. At the same time, their program ran after-school STEM and literacy activities so that technology was paired with learning guidance. Such wraparound efforts keep children engaged and parents reassured — a far cry from dropping off a router and hoping for the best.

To build trust, some regions are even deploying digital navigators: trained locals who help neighbors register for service, use online tools or sign up for benefits. This concept was highlighted in GovTech’s coverage of NDIA’s new Rural Digital Navigator Corps, which calls these helpers “trusted community members who help others with their digital challenges.” With a Google.org grant, navigators are being embedded in 18 rural areas this year, teaching digital skills and feeding back insights on what works. The early lesson: in small towns people trust people, not big cable firms. (In fact, NDIA found tribal ISPs often already act like navigators because everyone knows their faces.) Funders should take note: strengthening these peer networks and mentors can multiply the impact of every broadband dollar.

Policy and Funding Recommendations

For true rural progress, funders must adopt hybrid investments that pair wires with workforce. Here are key strategies:

Invest in Training and Navigators: Allocate funds for local digital literacy programs, tech coaches and “digital navigators” alongside infrastructure. As the NDIA emphasizes, giving communities trained experts on the ground is essential. Grants should require budgets for staff who do outreach, teach skills workshops, and troubleshoot with residents.

Support Participatory Planning: Back community-led design processes (town halls, local advisory councils, broadband equity plans) so projects reflect real needs. West Virginia’s “Getting Ready for Going Online” workshops, for example, brought citizens and organizations together to identify digital gaps. Philanthropy should underwrite this kind of stakeholder engagement, and fund local nonprofits to convene and sustain it.

Strengthen Anchors and Co-creation Spaces: Fund libraries, schools and community centers to become tech hubs or makerspaces. Rural libraries can serve as free training sites – remember, “small-town librarians witness the urgent need for funding” to pair equipment with support. Grants could help equip these anchors with 3D printers, STEM kits or coding curricula, plus stipends for educators or interns to run programs.

Lift Up Youth and Peer Networks: Encourage youth voice in strategy – for example, fund student councils or apprenticeships in broadband projects. Programs like Citynet’s in WV show how inspiring role models can open pathways for young people. Peer learning networks – such as state-wide rural innovation collaboratives – should also be funded, so that a village can learn from a neighbor’s success.

Promote Digital Equity Standards: Tie broadband funding to equity outcomes. Support efforts that track device ownership, training participation, or job placement, not just miles of fiber. Leverage existing initiatives (like Governor’s digital equity offices) by matching state dollars with philanthropic grants to scale what works. In Vermont, leaders note that without these targeted investments “many Vermonters will be unable to access the resources necessary for job training, career advancement, and economic mobility.” Funders can push for this integrated approach.

Conclusion

Rural broadband is transformative, but only when communities come along for the ride. Deploying fiber to the mountain hollers is a start – but true prosperity comes when that fiber is woven into a human network of mentors, trainers, and community builders. At RuralMind, we’ve seen how blending connectivity with civic engagement yields real change: schools turn into tech incubators, churches into Wi-Fi hotspots and mentoring hubs, and young people into local tech champions. As funders and school leaders, you have the power to make sure that the dollars you invest in networks also grow the ecosystem around them. By committing to both infrastructure and people, we can ensure Appalachia’s next generation uses broadband not just to connect, but to thrive.

Summary for Funders

Pair Networks with Nurture: Every broadband grant should include support for digital skills training, local mentors, or navigators.

Empower Local Planning: Fund community workshops and councils so residents shape solutions, not just get them.

Build Capacity: Invest in libraries, schools and nonprofit co-working spaces as places to learn and innovate.

Elevate Youth: Support programs that engage young people as technology leaders and advisors.

Measure Equity, Not Just Speeds: Track metrics like training completion, device access, and job placements alongside megabits.

By investing in both connectivity and the human infrastructure — the educators, mentors, and co-creators — funders can spark sustainable rural innovation and resilience.