The Missouri Broadband Resource Rail, created in partnership with SourceLink and MU Extension’s Center for Applied Research and Engagement System, offers a searchable database of public, private, and nonprofit community resources and an extensive online library of relevant documents.
The initiative is a coordinated effort to encourage the build-out of reliable high-speed internet (broadband) infrastructure and the use of broadband-based applications to improve lives around the state’s three grand challenges related to Economic Opportunity, Educational Access, and Health and Well-Being.
The site has many features, including the Digitally Connected Community Guide, which includes sophisticated data mapping tools to help answer key questions related to broadband planning. It features a step-by-step process that results in the collection of the necessary documents required to complete the request for proposal (RFP) process so that communities can identify the partners and services needed to enhance local broadband connectivity.
Other tools on the site include an internet speed test and a document library that contains articles and links to information on broadband infrastructure, digital literacy, and digital-based applications for your community.
The Missouri Broadband Resource Rail is just one component of the larger UM System Broadband Initiative.
