On September 22nd, Merit’s vice president for community engagement, Charlotte Bewersdorff accepted the 2020 National Organization of the Year award on behalf of Merit Network. The Coalition for Local Internet Choice (CLIC) honored Merit and the Michigan Moonshot initiative with this award during the Broadband Communities 2020 Virtual Summit.
CLIC considered state organizations across America for this award, many of which have stepped forward to accelerate the deployment, adoption and use of broadband. Among these inventive organizations working to positively impact the digital divide, Merit’s Michigan Moonshot stood out.
Merit’s approach, which supports local internet choice and favors public-private partnerships, includes access and availability data collection, community education on actionable strategies to solve challenges, connecting communities to funding sources, enhancing policy makers’ understanding of the broadband gap, and fostering and collecting studies of the impact of broadband on society. This initiative is focused on helping communities take action to move past key obstacles, ultimately achieving tangible and measurable success in broadband expansion.
Merit is humbled to be named as the recipient of this prestigious award. The Michigan Moonshot team will continue developing and implementing inventive ways to bridge the digital divide in our state.