At WSU Extension, we are helping rural Washington transition from its former economic base of timber-, fishing- and mining-related jobs to economies based on technology.  The broadband and telecom infrastructure needed for such a transition is fundamental to the success of teleworking, as is the commitment of the community to cultivate teleworker jobs and attract people with the right skills to fill them.

Thanks to the vision of the Forks community, which formed a public-private partnership in 2001 to build a digital backbone along the coast of the Olympic Peninsula, the area has the broadband infrastructure necessary to support advanced telework applications.  Forks also has the other two ingredients to make rural telework work:  workforce development capacity and interest in finding and securing jobs for information workers.

That’s where Washington State University Extension comes in.  As coordinator for our telework efforts, I work with community, business, and government leaders to create jobs and cultivate the innovative and flexible leadership capabilities needed to sustain holistic rural telework initiatives, such as the one in Forks.

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