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Voting is now underway to help determine which broadband projects people would like to see implemented in the Austin area.

Austin is one of six communities in the state chosen for the Blandin Broadband Community Vision program.

Through the program, the community is hoping to benefit from the resources the Blandin Foundation has to offer in order to strengthen Internet availability in the area.

“Expanding access to technology, whether it’s the internet connectivity, whether it’s the devices, whether it’s digital literacy,” said Jayne Gibson, executive director of Austin Aspires, to the over 40 people taking part over Zoom brainstorming meeting in November. “It’s not a new conversation in our community.”

Blandin has made available an online survey that will allow people to vote on those projects they feel are important.

Visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/3YYTTXK to take the survey. A printable project list can be found at: https://blandinfoundation.org/content/uploads/Austin-Area-final-project-list-for-voting.pdf

When taking the survey there will be three questions. Questions two and three of the survey portion include the following:

• In question two, you have 100 points to allocate to projects you would most like to see implemented. You may allocate points to as many projects as you like, but your points must add up to 100.

• Question three is of greater importance. Here you can check which projects you are willing to help implement. You don’t necessarily need to have technical expertise to contribute; you just need to be willing to participate in the project team, which could include promoting the project, lining up (hiring) technical expertise, etc.

The Austin Area BBC Steering Team will consider points per project when making final funding allocations, however projects with passionate volunteers are more likely to move forward than projects with many points and fewer volunteers.

The voting will close on Thursday, Dec. 16.