The following transcript has been edited for length and readability. Listen to the entire discussion here on The Broadband Bunch. The Broadband Bunch is sponsored by ETI Software.
Joe:
Hello. And welcome to another episode of the Broadband Bunch. I’m Joe Coldebella and we are at SRC Live. This event is hosted by the NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association. Joining me is the chief program officer for Heartland Forward, Angie Cooper. Angie, welcome to the Broadband Bunch.
Angie:
Thanks so much. I appreciate you having me.
Joe:
No, it’s so great. And before we dive into Heartland Forward and that story, I would love it if you could give some background on yourself. I think you’ve got a really interesting story. You basically, went from one of the largest conglomerates in the world to a startup so if you could share that with the listeners, that would be awesome.
Angie:
Yeah, absolutely. So like I said, it’s great to be here today and share a little bit about what we’re doing at Heartland Forward and personally, how I got involved with the organization and my career path. So as you mentioned, I worked for an organization for 17 years. Walmart is the name of the organization.
Joe:
I think I’ve heard of it.
Angie:
A small mom-and-pop store, it did start with one store and grew quite rapidly over the years. But I was with Walmart for 17 years, primarily, always in the state and government relations, and public affairs role. I spent time working for the company in the middle of the country, I was based in Arkansas where their corporate headquarters are located. I also spent some time on the coast so I lived in San Francisco and at that time the company was building 300 stores a year. So I was actively engaged with local communities, getting those stores approved but also working on regulatory issues around the environment and other policy issues at the state level. I moved back to Arkansas. It’s been, oh my goodness, probably about 11 or 12 years ago. Time definitely, flies.
Joe:
Absolutely.
Angie:
But when I moved back, I had the opportunity to create at the time what we called State and Local Policy. And then right before I came to Heartland Forward, I was leading Global Public Policy for the company and it was a fascinating role, Walmart’s in 28 countries around the world. And I had the opportunity to on policy issues, everything from the workforce to healthcare, to trade, to tax, you name an issue and they’re engaged in each and every way. And I loved what I was doing, I had the opportunity to not only lead Global Policy and work with experts on my team that knew those issues inside and out but also really got engaged in the company and believed in the culture and the way the company was founded. Sam Walton, you can argue is probably, the top entrepreneur of time. And really the culture of taking care of your associates and your communities. And I had a lot of great experiences leading different organizations within the company. One was the Women’s Resource Council and I loved what I was doing. And like many people, I thought I would do that forever. I’d been doing it for 17 years and thought I would continue but I had an opportunity. Someone reached out to me and said, “Hey, we’re starting this policy think and do tank called Heartland Forward and we hear you’re from the Heartland and we know you understand policy, come join us.” So Heartland Forward, that was actually, started the concept with our flagship event, Heartland Summit in 2018. We became think and do tank in 2019. And then I joined the organization in February of 2020 so it’s been a great experience. I love what I’m doing. It’s interesting to start a startup right in the middle of a pandemic but we did it. And we are just so anxious to continue to do the work that we do and especially talk about broadband and what it means for our communities.
Joe:
It’s great. I mean, you barely weren’t busy at all but it’s crazy. There’s so much there to unpack, the first thing I would love to talk about is the fact that it is ironic that you were global and now you’re going to the Heartland. So it’s awesome that, it’s a great pivot. If you could, what would you guys consider the Heartland because I think that’s one of the things that people think different things in terms of what it is, and if you could talk about that?
Angie:
Yeah. It’s a great question. A lot of times when I say I work for an organization called Heartland Forward, they automatically think that it’s Rural America. And I remind people that the Heartland, as we define it in 20 states. So think everything from North Dakota down to Texas, over to Alabama, up to Michigan and Ohio, and all the states in between. And when we look at those 20 states and being an organization that’s focused on helping change the narrative about the middle of the country in kick-starting economic growth, the Heartland, those 20 states is actually, the third largest economic region in the world, outside of the US and China.
Joe:
Oh, really? Wow.
Angie:
So it’s a pretty amazing big Heartland doing big things. And what’s great about it and really how it is across our country is communities and states specifically, are built on large cities, smaller communities, and rural communities. And that’s what should be bringing us all together because it all has to work together for us to be successful in the future.
Joe:
I couldn’t agree more and I love the name, Heartland Forward. But I also love your tagline or slogan that you guys are a think and do tank. And it’s important that policy’s thought about but ultimately, it’s also really important for folks to take action.
Angie:
Absolutely. So the think and do tank model is… And like I said, when we launched as the think and do tank in 2019, we really did, I like to say focus a lot on the thinking side. So we built a team of economists and researchers. We have in-house economists and our research team and my colleague, Dave, who leads that team, they’re doing great work. We’ve put out reports around economic recovery, we’ve put out reports around how the Heartland needs to improve, to succeed in entrepreneurship. We’ve talked about re-assuring. And one thing that has been great about the work that we do from a research perspective is, that we really engage and try to understand and compare and contrast the rest of the country to the Heartland. We also work with some external fellows, Richard Florida, Joel Kotkin, and many people that are well known across the country. But I have the opportunity to work with my colleague, Dave and I lead the do side.
Angie:
So we have a programs team and both our research and programs are focused on four pillars. That includes innovation, entrepreneurship, human capital and workforce development, health and wellness, and regional competitiveness. We talk as an organization between research and programs every single day about how we put our research into action and how programs drive research. And if we ever have a report that is written and sits on a shelf of an economic development director in a state or community, we will have failed. And if we ever launch a program that doesn’t bring real data and real expertise and just launch the program and start doing it, we will have failed. So we do believe that both have to work together and really we’re first of its kind. That’s a think-and-do tank that’s focused on the middle of the country and how we help improve economic development.
Joe:
I absolutely, love that. It’s one of those things where, and I love how you guys are looking forward. And it’s like Heartland Forward and I think forward is actually, really an important and key theme here at SRC Live. How important is it for small rural communities or even midsize places to embrace technology like broadband?
Angie:
It’s a must. So we actually, started about a year ago thinking about, “Okay, if we’re going to help improve economic development in the middle of the United States, what are some key elements?” If you’re not connected online, it’s pretty hard to compete in this day and age.
Joe:
Absolutely.
Angie:
And we’ve talked a lot about the digital divide and what that means but we really wanted to approach it a year ago, we started what we call connecting the Heartland to high-speed internet access. We’ve focused our efforts today on four states with the goal to expand across the Heartland. Those four states are Arkansas, Illinois, Tennessee, and Ohio. And when we first launched the efforts, the first thing we said, and this was before the historic federal infrastructure dollars were approved to come to states and communities. But we said, “First, how do we close the gap between all levels of government that you could probably, name an issue outside of broadband that there are opportunities to do that.”
Angie:
But we really wanted to focus on, “Okay, if we’re going to talk about this Federal Infrastructure Bill, what will it really mean to communities and how do we make that work?” And then like many other people we thought about availability, adaptability, and affordability. And we’re not pushing money towards infrastructure because that’s what we’re here to talk about today, the experts that are in the room that actually that’s what they do. They know how to build that infrastructure but we’re focusing on connecting communities across the Heartland and in our four states really around that affordability and adaptability piece. Because there’s lots of education that need to happen.
Angie:
But to your point earlier, if we don’t have a connection to high-speed internet, it’s going to impact our overall economy. It impacts how you search for a job, train for a job, and do a job. It impacts how you receive your healthcare and the technology needed there. And obviously, COVID shined a spotlight on education but let’s again, going back and thinking forward in the future, students are going to be learning all over the place and they have to have that access to high-speed internet. And like I said, it’s an economic issue and we just have to have it and we have to have it all over the country whether it’s in rural communities or larger communities.
Joe:
No, those are all fantastic points. And I love the fact that in terms of just inclusivity, in terms of bringing everyone into the fold and I think that it’s important for ISPs and the folks in the broadband community to also bring in government officials because ultimately, they’re the ones who put rubber to the road and get things done. And I know that you have a close relationship with that, if you could talk about that, that would be awesome.
Angie:
Yeah, absolutely. So I did, sharing earlier my path in my career. It was rooted early on in my life so I grew up in a town called Enid, Oklahoma which is about an hour and a half Northwest of Oklahoma City, not quite to that Oklahoma Panhandle. When I was growing up, my father was the mayor while I was in high school. Now, it wasn’t very popular that I had the father that was passing the curfew and making sure that we were all doing what we were doing but it really taught me early on about civic engagement and what it means and how do communities… No matter what their size is, how do you use your assets and build upon that and grow and take action and move forward?
Angie:
And I still say to this day, and I remember as a student in high school and watching my dad, the magic happens when you bring the right people around the table. And that is government, that is industry, that is philanthropy, that is just people that care, that’s our education systems. And really that’s what I think the broadband efforts and what we’re seeing now with those historic dollars that are coming down is, how do we help build plans? And we’re running a program called Accelerate in a few of our states to help local communities build their broadband plan. And the first thing we say is, who are those 12 people first that need to be around the table?
Joe:
That’s a great point.
Angie:
Yeah. It’s really beneficial and the folks that are here today, the ISPs, they’ve been doing this for a long time. When I laugh and talk to them and tell this story they’re like, “Sometimes we feel like we’re the mayor,” because we’ve been like that, they know how they know where we live, they know where our office is and they walk in the door and our residents walk in the door and ask questions. But we’ve just got to remember that too from an organization like mine or a business in the industry, a lot of mayors and city council members, it’s part-time positions.
Joe:
And it’s not like they don’t have other things going on. It’s everyone that needs to be connected but it’s also, everyone needs the lights on and everyone needs-so it’s one of those things were, I think you’re a hundred percent correct in terms of having a champion in your community and that could be someone from the ISP. But it’s one of those things where you need someone to carry that torch and to help guide those officials because it’s critically, important to have everyone going in the same direction.
Angie:
Absolutely.
Joe:
So, this has been an absolutely, great discussion. As we wind down, one of the things that we love to do on the Broadband Bunch is we love to ask our two standard questions. And the first one is if you’ve got a great smile on your face, is our back to the future question. So, Angie, I’m going to give you the keys to DeLorean, drop them in your hand, if you could go back in time, two years, one year, five years, and whisper in your father’s ear or your own ear, what would you say to yourself in terms of making the journey a little bit easier?
Angie:
I would say focus specifically on broadband. We shouldn’t have gone this long to not have people connected. We should have put the infrastructure in place and let’s be strategic and smart and work with those assets that we have in our communities to ensure that everyone has high-speed internet. We turn our lights on every single day. We should be able to turn, on our computers and get connected just as quickly.
Joe:
No, I think that’s a phenomenal point in the sense that it’s like… So you’re basically saying it’s like, don’t wait. It’s like, now is the time to strike while the iron is hot. There are billions of dollars up for grabs and this is a really important opportunity for us.
Angie:
Absolutely. We can’t stop and we’ve got to move fast and accelerate but we’ve got to be smart about it. It’s a lot of money that we don’t want to see wasted.
Joe:
That’s a great point because that’s a fear of a lot of folks is that there’s this avalanche of money coming down the pike and if it’s not spent wisely, we’re missing such an opportunity and that might not come around again in our lifetimes. And connectivity is so critical to your point in terms of just life, in general, and also for the economic aspect as well.
Angie:
Absolutely.
Joe:
All right. So you answered the back-to-the-future question. So I’m going to ask you to unfurl your crystal ball and look into the future, three or five years. And where do you see Heartland Forward and what are the things that you guys are going to be tackling?
Angie:
Yeah. I mentioned earlier, our mission is to help change the narrative about the middle of the country and kickstart economic growth. I never want to change the fact that we’re going to be a resource for communities and we’re going to be constantly creating data research and reports on kick-starting economic growth. And we’re going to be boots on the ground, roll up your sleeves, working with local communities to do that.
Angie:
What I would love to see change is not having to change the narrative. Our lives are always going to be about stories but I’m a strong believer that the coasts need the middle of the country just as the middle of the country needs the coast. And we’re one country and we should all be working together to do that and we’ve got to, broadband’s a nonpartisan issue. So crystal ball is that we keep it a nonpartisan issue and that other issues that are important to our economy in the Heartland and across the country, that we do reach across the aisle to get things done because that’s what our residents and people that are driving for action and doing good want from all of us.
Joe:
Awesome and fantastic points. Now, what if folks want to find out more about you and your organization? Where can they go?
Angie:
Yeah. So we encourage you to go visit our website, heartlandforward.org. Check out the list of reports and things that we’ve done on that think side. You can also learn about some of our programmatic efforts, specifically connecting the Heartland to high-speed internet, and then some of the efforts that we’re doing around growing entrepreneurship in the Heartland.
Joe:
It’s awesome. And I know actually, you’re going to be speaking in about 10 minutes or so. So I really appreciate your time, thank you so very, very much.
Angie:
Absolutely. Thanks for having me. And I hope it’s a great rest of the day.
Joe:
Awesome. Hey, that’s going to do it for this episode of the Broadband Bunch. For everyone, thanks a lot. And see you later.
