CBAN Co-Founder Selected as Michigan State University
2025 REI Innovation Fellow

The Community Broadband Action Network (CBAN) is pleased to announce that co-founder Jon Willow has been selected as the 2025 Innovation Fellow by Michigan State University's Center for Regional Economic Innovation (REI). The fellowship will support Willow's research into leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance the effectiveness of community-based coalitions, with a specific focus on Michigan's digital equity initiatives.

Willow's research will examine how AI technologies can address critical challenges in coalition building and organizational collaboration. The project comes at a crucial time, as Michigan works to implement its recently approved Digital Equity Plan, which aims to address broadband access and adoption challenges affecting over 730,000 households across the state.

"This fellowship represents a unique opportunity to explore how emerging technologies can strengthen community coalitions and improve their outcomes," said Willow. "While our research will focus on broadband initiatives, the findings will be valuable for coalition-building efforts across many sectors."

Through CBAN, Willow will tap into an extensive network of over 200 members and her numerous partnerships with Michigan-based organizations. Her expertise as a Certified Professional Scrum Master and her role managing data for CBAN's Digital Navigator Program—one of 18 selected for the National Digital Inclusion Alliance's pilot cohort—positions her well to conduct this innovative research.

The eight-month fellowship project will examine administrative challenges facing multi-organizational coalitions, explore AI-enabled solutions for collaborative inefficiencies, and develop an ethical framework for AI implementation in collaborative settings. Findings will be shared through CBAN's platforms and presented at the organization's 2025 Spring Summit (4/22-23/2025 in Ames, IA) Fall Forum (TBA).