Community Forum

Thanks to the 105 people who came to the Provo Accelerated Community Forum on Tuesday, October 28.  It was a great evening!  We heard five group presentations and then had almost an hour of small group discussions on the outcomes and objectives proposed by the working groups.  We will be posting information here from the meeting as the notes are transcribed.

Now it is time to take Provo Accelerated to the next level.  If you haven't yet volunteered to work on one of the issues discussed at the forum, please click on the volunteer link to the left and get involved.  We will share your contact information and interest with the group leaders and get you into a working group.

Thanks again for participating.  If you didn't participate, you can still engage on our Facebook page, by commenting here on the blog or by joining our online forum.  Links are on the left of the Provo Accelerated blog page.

See the handout from the community forum.

See the PowerPoint from the community forum.

Family and Community Key Outcomes

The Family and Community Working Group is continuing to refine its work and has provided a draft of the key outcomes it will be trying to address as a part of Provo Accelerated.  Once again, comments are welcome and encouraged.

1. Educate Provo Families About Internet Safety
1. Create resources for families to have meaningful conversations about and to develop their own strategy for Internet safety at home that involves the entire family at all ages and stages
1. Discussion guides
2. Videos, webinars, live seminars
3. Consuming media in a healthy, sustainable way
4. Access to and community reviews of existing and new filtering/parental control programs
2. Develop resources to help non-tech savvy families implement safe Internet practices
3. Have a “community Internet safety officer” that would engage residents, students and others in making Provo the world leader in family-friendly Internet resources

Education Committee Discussion

Provo Accelerated's Education Working Group has posted some thoughts about their discussions on how to accelerate public education with the technology assets in our community.  Thoughts and comments are welcome about these key questions.

Foundational Questions 

• What are our community’s educational needs? 
• Are we fulfilling a need, or are we developing new innovation? 
• What do we want to be known for? 
• What makes us special/different? 
• How do we establish ourselves as players in economic growth and development? 
• How do we help failing kids? 
• When could we convene an event in Provo to share our ideas? 
• How do we teach differently with Google Fiber? 
• Who should be on our advisory board? 
• How should we publicize our plan? 
• How do we prepare our students for the future? 
• How can we make it go viral? 

Health Care Working Group Meeting Notes

The Health Care Working Group has had its initial meeting and submitted the following meeting notes from their brainstorming session:

1. Public-facing entertainment in Hospitals
1. Information: 
1. UVRMC already has been awarded a Google fiber contract 
2. Public waiting areas would have access to faster bandwidth 
3. With Chromecasts, patients in hospital rooms would have access to a wider array of entertainment. 
2. Advantages: 
1. Low cost
2. Momentum already exists
3. Challenges: 
1. Financial support to purchase necessary infrastructure.
 

Digital Inclusion - Brainstorming Results

The Social Sector and Digital Inclusion working group has begun their brainstorming process. The following represents the outcome of that process to date.

Distribution (Connectivity). Questions to Consider:

• How do we identify who currently who does/doesn’t have Internet?
• What might be done to close the inclusivity gap? 
• What are the core inclusivity gap themes?

The Brainstorming Starts - Family and Community

The Family and Community Working Group has had their first meeting and brainstormed a number of key opportunities for Provo given our status as one of the most connected cities in America. Here are the ideas generated in that brainstorming session.

Family Stability 

• City wide wi-fi/save costs of accessing data via mobile devices
• Virtual grocery store 
• Gather oral histories/ family history
• Engage blogging community

Supplement income

• Better access to English as a second language classes/learning

Citizen engagement

• Civic/ community engagement

What is Provo Accelerated?

“We have an opportunity to do things that few communities in this country get to do.” “This is, as they say, 'big news’… (it) means Provo will be one of the first cities in the world to have universal Internal connectivity in nearly every home.”
“When every one of the kids in public school has Internet, what are the possibilities? What does it mean for a city to be able to communicate with every resident electronically? What does it mean for economic development?”                                                                            - Mayor John Curtis 

We live in a world of increasing speed and constant change. A world where borders seemingly become less relevant and communities grow or dissipate depending on how they adapt and even embrace this momentum of change. Those who succeed develop and implement a unified purpose and strategic direction with their communities in order to not be blown about by every wind of fortune. As citizens of Provo, we aim to be such a community.

In March 2010, Provo City brought together its community leaders to develop the Provo City Vision 2030. In April 2013, Provo mayor John Curtis announced that Google would be bringing their network infrastructure, Google Fiber, to Provo. The technology offered by Google and now by other organizations and their availability to the community gives us the opportunity to accelerate our progress towards the 2030 Vision and take it to the next level.