"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

 Today, I am thinking about the recent announcement by the city of Fresno that they have released a request for qualifications to “solicit interest in building a citywide ultrahigh speed fiber/wireless network”. Reading this announcement helped highlight for me how things can take a long time to come to fruition, that we may have to be patient to see the results of our efforts, or even have faith that they will make a difference in ways we will never see.

I’m excited about the potential for this new effort to help us by fostering the creation of better jobs and careers for people in our region, and to improve other aspects of life for those living in California’s Central Valley. I am also interested in how we can make these benefits available to those who are currently under-served within the city and extend better communications networks, and the benefits they can support, to people and communities throughout the region.

I hope the current effort will be a great success. We tried to accomplish something similar more than ten years ago, but the time was not yet right. I remember working with Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearingen, who was then leading the Fresno State Office of Community and Economic Development, on the Fresno Collaborative Regional Initiative (CRI) fifteen years ago when one of our goals was a similar enhancement in local network capabilities.

The president of Fresno State at that time, John Welty, helped bring us all together at Wuksachi in Sequoia National Park in September 2001 to envision a brighter future for the Central Valley and to begin the gap analysis that would allow us to define plans to achieve that vision. One of the five task forces we formed focused on technology infrastructure. The rationale for that group was:

"Without a first class telecommunications infrastructure, our community cannot succeed in the global economy. New and developing technology offers us an opportunity to level old barriers to prosperity—geography, language, time and educational attainment."

I was glad to have the opportunity to serve on, and chair, the Technology Infrastructure task force and a similar effort with the Fresno Regional Jobs Initiative (RJI) that grew out of the CRI. By 2005, the work of these task forces lead to our Central California Broadband (CCB) Project Team releasing of a Request for Proposal for the Fresno-Clovis Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) Project. At that time, we worked to secure support and collaboration from incumbent providers including SBC and Comcast but we were not entirely successful.

Ultimately, we were unable to move forward with the grand vision to deliver enhanced network services for our region, but I believe the collaboration between local governments, educational institutions, and private sector partners helped the region move our technology infrastructure forward in a number of other ways. Perhaps that work has helped pave the way for the effort announced earlier this month.

In our earlier work, we had hoped that improved network services would allow for innovations in education, medical care, community engagement, and communication. In announcing their RFQ, the City of Fresno sees these services  “lowering business costs, attracting and retaining highly skilled residents, and creating sustainable new jobs in an entrepreneurial economy based on innovation and creativity.” They also believe that the enhanced network will” “expand opportunities for local students in K–12 and beyond, and enable more open government and civic engagement.”

I hope we can achieve these benefits. I've often wondered what we could have done as a city and region had we succeeded in our earlier efforts to improve our technology infrastructure. I do hope this current effort succeeds and helps drive innovation and prosperity for our region. I’ll be very interested to see how the incumbent providers respond and how their responses differ from those we received in 2005.

I’ve learned that, while it can take a long time for our efforts to bear fruit, it’s worth the effort to try. Even when we do not succeed in our stated goals, the commitment to doing what is right, with love, changes the way we interact with others in our community and can allow for other kinds of progress. I remember being asked to chair the task force, wanting to accept, and pausing to consider whether I’d have support from the university to do this work. Dr. Welty was sitting next to me and said, “Are you hesitating? The answer is yes!” With his clear support, I gladly accepted the role. His words have come back to me often throughout my career and I’ve never regretted agreeing to work for positive change. The effort has always been worth it, and you never know when the time might be right to change the world. May the time be right for this new effort today!