CQ Roll Call
It was Christmastime and Henry Youmans, the former town administrator of Allendale, S.C., hoped to video chat with relatives he hadn’t seen since the start of the pandemic. But doing so in Allendale, where a strong internet connection is rare, would be difficult.
Luckily, Youmans was part of an under-the-radar coalition of public officials, private sector stakeholders and educational institutions attempting to bring high-speed, affordable broadband to Allendale. And right around Christmas, he was asked to test out the public Wi-Fi signal emanating from a new hub attached to a local elementary school.
“It was just like turning on a switch and lighting up a whole area,” Youmans said. “I must’ve sat there for about an hour, two hours, Facetiming and updating my phone and doing all of these things I couldn’t normally do.”
Youmans used his smartphone to video chat with relatives in Michigan, New Mexico and North Carolina who he hadn’t seen since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.