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Task force ranks strategic partnerships and digital skills among top priorities after breakout exercise
Summary
In a facilitated breakout, task force members ranked five themes for broadband priorities; combined totals put strategic partnerships and workforce development first and digital skills and sustained affordability second, though members cautioned all five topics remain priorities.
The Governor's Task Force on Broadband Access conducted a forced‑ranking exercise on five themes drawn from prior meetings: digital skills and sustained affordability; future‑proofing and infrastructure oversight; legislative and state funding and policy; emerging technology readiness; and strategic partnerships and workforce development.
Facilitator Jessica asked members in breakout rooms to rank the themes first by long‑term impact and then by where the task force has unique leverage. After reporting back, the combined totals placed strategic partnerships and workforce development as the overall top priority and digital skills/sustained affordability as second, with emerging technology readiness consistently ranked lowest in the combined totals.
Members stressed nuance: "They are all top priorities," Jessica said, noting the forced ranking was intended to focus the group's next steps. Participants debated whether the task force should emphasize items where it already has leverage (partnerships) or emphasize higher‑impact items where it has less leverage (legislative change). Several members also asked staff to provide follow‑up analysis on the task force's historical effectiveness in influencing legislature and budgets.
Why it matters: The ranking will guide the group's next workstreams and the content of recommendations to the governor and legislature. Members said they expect to use the rankings to select topics for deeper follow‑up and to form potential partnership engagements that could pursue implementation even if legislative action is slow.
Ending: Facilitators will aggregate the numeric rankings and carry these results into future meetings, where the task force intends to move from prioritization to concrete recommendation drafting ahead of its June reporting obligations.
