The team includes Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Sly James; former Kansas City, Kan., Mayor Joseph Reardon; and co-chairs of the Mayors’ Bistate Innovations Team, Mike Burke and Ray Daniels. Since the Google Fiber network’s inception, the four-man team has remained a hallmark of how technology can spur community improvement.
The team’s efforts to support “fiber to the home” helped pave the way for the two cities to become co-hosts for a 2013 Code for America fellowship. The program resulted in several civic tech initiatives, including a new Internet education app called BizFriend.ly and a Wikipedia-style site, WikiKC, for community collaboration.
The team also collaborated on a working playbook for other cities planning to launch gigabit networks. The digital booklet, called Playing to Win in America’s Digital Crossroads, has become an evolving template for cities harnessing high-speed connections. The hope is that the document will help unify communities and improve education and economic growth through technology.
As more communities implement gigabit networks, it’s likely this tech-savvy team will be a go-to source of support.
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