In 1983, the editor of the Albany, Georgia Herald newspaper coined the notion of “two Georgias,” suggesting that Central and South Georgia were “the poor economic cousins to the metro Atlanta area.”
And while metro Atlanta has grown significantly since that time, Central and South Georgia have experienced economic home runs with projects such as Kia Motors Manufacturing, which created 15,000 jobs in and around LaGrange.
And in South Georgia, the State’s ports, in Savannah and Brunswick, have evolved into significant economic assets, responsible for $44 Billion in State GDP, and 439,220 full- and part-time jobs in 2018.
Many communities in South and Central Georgia have also gained population from retirees who sought warmer weather and solitude in Florida, only to find it more crowed than the metro areas they originally escaped from.
Rather than return to the metro areas they left, they moved back to south and central Georgia communities, where they were dubbed, “half-backs.”
Despite these economic gains, when it comes to Broadband internet access, there are, indeed, still two Georgias: Communities that have access – and those that do not.
Lawmakers who represent communities throughout the state have turned to Georgia’s Electric Membership Corporations, which serve rural areas statewide, to bring internet access to the businesses, individuals, and families that they serve – the internet “have nots.”
In its infancy, the internet seemed to be a novel, yet not terribly useful, resource. Today, we receive and pay bills online (about 56 percent of all bills, according to – a quick internet search), check and respond to business and personal emails, schedule appointments, conference calls, and other meetings, work from home, read newspapers or news websites, order stuff, watch movies or television programs, check the stock markets and investment accounts, study online, and do homework.
Madison, Georgia, located in Morgan County, about 40 miles east of Atlanta and adjacent to I-20, is home to Stanton Springs, a business Park that includes bio-tech giant Shire, Georgia’s Bioscience Training Center, and a Facebook Data Center. The 1,600-acre mixed-use master planned community bills itself as the “epicenter of Georgia’s strategic plan to brand itself as a global destination for bio-related industries.”
And while securing a bio-tech giant, a Bioscience Training Center, and a Facebook Data Center were huge economic development wins for our state, many families in Georgia’s rural communities lack basic access to broadband internet.
Morgan County resident Shannon Cagle sometimes must drive 20 miles into town to the local Chick-Fil-A, where internet access allows her kids to complete their assignments. While internet service is available through their mobile phone provider, it’s not reliable or fast enough, and it’s easy to exceed their data limit, which results in extra fees.
“We manage our lives around work and school assignments, sometimes making trips into town just to email school assignments,” she says. “It’s not reliable or fast enough. We love living in the country, but lack of internet access is like punishment for living here.”
