Mediacom Communications Corporation constructed a new fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network to the Wynne Ridge Rock N Pines residential area. The project involved 25 unserved households within White Township and a portion of Biwabik Township near Giants Ridge Recreation Area. Wynne Ridge residents can now connect to Mediacom’s Xtream internet service that delivers download speeds of up to 2Gig and upload speeds of up to 1Gig. The Wynne Ridge network was built using an advanced 10G broadband platform that delivers multi-gigabit speeds while supporting higher reliability, high security and low latency.

Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation supported the project with a $65,000 Broadband Infrastructure grant to White Township. The total project investment was $180,165.

“Our new 10G platform is future-ready,” said Jason Janesich, Mediacom’s director of area operations. “The fiber network deployed in the Wynne Ridge neighborhood has more than enough capacity for today’s data needs, and capacity for future needs as well.”

The project was initiated after White Township received a petition from a group of Wynne Ridge residents whose homes were unserved by broadband or high-speed internet service. There is high speed broadband infrastructure throughout the Giants Ridge Recreation Area, but there was a pocket within Wynne Ridge that was unserved and dependent upon slow and unreliable satellite internet service. The geographic gap and lack of service posed significant challenges to the residents who work remotely from home, area business owners, educators and students. In response to the petition, White Township partnered with St. Louis County and Mediacom to proceed with construction of FTTH.

“Our township is very grateful for not only the financial support provided by Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation, St. Louis County and Mediacom, but also for the leadership and collaboration of everyone involved,” said Jodi Knaus, White Township manager and clerk. “This project is a great example of what working together across different agencies regionally can accomplish. The Township Board of Supervisors will continue to collaborate with area leaders bringing broadband infrastructure projects to underserved areas in the township.”

Mediacom is a leading gigabit broadband provider to smaller markets primarily in the Midwest and Southeast. Mediacom has offered Gig-speed internet to Minnesota residents in all areas of its 48-county service area for more than six years. In addition to Wynne Ridge, Mediacom’s fiber-based network delivers Gigabit-speed broadband service throughout St. Louis County including the communities of Aurora, Biwabik, Buhl, Chisholm, Eveleth, Gilbert, Hermantown, Hibbing, Hoyt Lakes, Kinney, McKinley, Mountain Iron, Proctor and Virginia; and in parts of Fayal, Midway, Solway and White Townships. Nearly 25% of Mediacom’s broadband customers choose to use 1 Gig speeds, and the company is transitioning its network to a 10G platform.

Learn more about Mediacom.

Email Whitney Ridlon for Broadband Infrastructure grant information or call her at 218-735-3004.

Cook County Higher Education (CCHE) is hosting a Commercial Driver's License (CDL) cohort that began May 1 in Grand Marais and has 12 people working towards obtaining their license. The certified course is being taught through Minnesota North College Customized Training Solutions (CTS). Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation supported the project with a $50,000 Workforce Development grant to CCHE. Total tuition investment for  this cohort is estimated at $70,000.

The cohort aims to help address the need for school bus and truck drivers in northeastern Minnesota and respond to the new federal requirement that CDL applicants attend a qualified course before seeking certification. CDL training tuition typically costs $1,000 to $5,495. The agency’s grant and other funding sources helped offer the training free to Cook County residents.

The students will complete a one-month online course plus in-person training by instructors from Cook County and Minnesota North College CTS. They will learn how to perform a pre-trip inspection of a semi-truck and trailer. Students are required to pass a Department of Transportation physical and drug screen. They will receive Behind-the-Wheel (BTW) training and can then test to obtain their CDL. Once licensed, they will may legally drive school buses, semi-trucks, dump trucks, garbage trucks and other large vehicles.

“We began noticing that our local school district was advertising the need for bus drivers,” said Kelsey Rogers Kennedy, CCHE program director. “We started to research how we could be part of the solution and assist with training. It quickly became apparent that the need for CDL training was larger than bus drivers. There was a county-wide need for CDLs that was impacting all sectors of Cook County's economy.”

Rogers Kennedy explained that Cook County's demand for services is growing, and all sectors of the local economy benefit from an increase in CDL drivers including:

• Delivery trucks for local retail and food establishments.
• Garbage collection and delivery to Superior Landfill.
• Logging industry.
• Construction industry vehicles: concrete trucks, dump trucks, materials delivery.
• School bus drivers.
• Arrowhead Transit bus drivers.

CDL training traditionally is taught at Minnesota North College’s Hibbing campus. Through a coordinated effort by CCHE, Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and several local and regional advocates, CCHE brought the online learning modules, written exam, physical and BTW training to Cook County. Students are only required to leave the county for the drug screening and BTW testing.

There will be a summer 2023 training session for residents of Cook County who are interested in being a school bus driver for ISD 166. Learn more about the Summer 2023 CDL training application.

Email Danae Beaudette for Workforce Development grant information or call her at 218-735-3022.

Pictured above: Three CDL cohorts have been offered since 2022 that had a combined 59 people working towards their license. Total tuition investment was an estimated $220,000.

May 3 is National Skilled Trades Day and draws attention to the importance of skilled craftsmen and the essential work they do in the United States. Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation’s Workforce Development grants support the skilled trades and the businesses and industries they serve. The grants assist with education, training and career awareness initiatives that address regional workforce needs and gaps emerging in industries and schools.

Skilled trades recently supported by agency grants include:

• Commercial drivers licensing.
• Welding.
• Manufacturing machining.
• Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machining.
• Heavy equipment operations and rigging.

Regional employers have upskilled their incumbent workers, and job-ready workers were developed to fill job openings for assemblers, fabricators, welders, heavy equipment operators, maintenance mechanics, auto technicians and electricians.

“Skilled trades workers across our region are responsible for keeping the area’s industries going, whether that be manufacturing, logging, mining or construction,” said Commissioner Ida Rukavina, Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation. “These workers build and renovate our homes and buildings. They repair our cars and drive commercial vehicles to transport goods and supplies in and out of the region. They drive our children to and from school, and they build and maintain our infrastructure. The skilled trades workers of northeastern Minnesota are highly qualified people who we all rely on in our daily lives.”

Email Danae Beaudette for Workforce Development grant information or call her at 218-735-3022.

Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation’s grants are funded through taxes paid by Minnesota’s mining industry.

A new Adventure Ropes Course was added at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center (ELC) in Finland, a small community on northeastern Minnesota’s North Shore. The new course replaced a 34-year-old original course built in 1981. The project also included safety upgrades and replacement of fall protection systems to a second existing course built in 1997. The project put both courses at contemporary safety standards of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Professional Ropes Course Association and made them accessible for all people, including those in a wheelchair. Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation supported the project with a $30,000 Culture & Tourism grant. Total project investment was $180,798.

Wolf Ridge ELC was founded in 1971. In addition to the two ropes courses, there are two climbing walls, an organic farm, over 50 classes and adventures and access to lakes, streams and wilderness. Wolf Ridge offers guided trips and kayak tours into the Boundary Waters, Apostle Islands and other locations along the North Shore. The ELC has an overnight school program that serves approximately 12,000 middle school students, their teachers and parent chaperones each year. Students travel there from all over the state of Minnesota to study environmental science for three to five days during the school year. The facility’s summer camp programs run from one to four weeks and draw over 400 young people and families to experience outdoor adventure and environmental education woven into the activities.

“The ropes courses are the facility’s most highly requested outdoor activity, and they are at the core of our programming, for children and adults, for summer and winter groups,” said Meredith St Pierre, Wolf Ridge development director. “Our courses are some of the most intensely used courses in the nation, experiencing more than 30,000 trips each year. The Culture & Tourism grant will help us deliver decades of secure and safe programming.”

Wolf Ridge was the first ELC in America to be accredited as a K-12 school. It is recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in environmental education and is utilized by local residents and tourists. The facility is host to education, cultural and community events that impact tourism, the local economy and quality of life.

Learn more about Wolf Ridge ELC.

Other Adventure Ropes Course project partners included the Cleveland Cliffs Foundation, Fred C. & Katherine B. Andersen Foundation and Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation.

Email Danae Beaudette or call her at 218-735-3022 for Culture & Tourism grant information.

Kabetogama Township and the city of Orr improved 10 community wayside entry signs which lead into Voyageurs National Park. The existing signs were more than 20 years old, weather-beaten, cracked and difficult to read for the estimated 263,000 annual visitors to the Kabetogama region and Voyageurs National Park (VNP). Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation supported the project with a $9,740 Culture & Tourism grant. Total project investment was $21,000.

Kabetogama Township is the northernmost township in St. Louis County. It is located on the shores of Lake Kabetogama, one of the four major lakes that make up Voyageurs National Park. The wayside signs are visitors’ first introduction to Minnesota’s only national park.

“Tourism is critical to the livelihood of the 20 resorts, businesses, workers and other residents within the Kabetogama region, as they travel from all over the state and nation to spend time and money in the region,” said Betsey Warrington, project volunteer. “People travel here from all over the country, as well as around the world. Improving the wayside signs was very important to our region’s economy.”

Project partners included Voyageurs National Park, Kabetogama Township, Kabetogama Community Club, Kabetogama Lake Association and the city of Orr. The project was also supported by financial donations from individual members of the Kabetogama Community.

Learn more about Voyageurs National Park.

Email Danae Beaudette or call her at 218-735-3022 for Culture & Tourism grant information.