Revving Up Life Again: How Digital Access is Fueling Dale Youngblood’s Passion After Health Setbacks

Dale Youngblood worked on automobiles, air conditioners and other mechanical things for most of his life. 

He says he can fix just about anything.

“When I worked at a machine shop in Rockwood years ago my boss taught me that anything that can be made by a man can be repaired by a man,” he said.

For almost fifty years Youngblood’s passion was restoring and rebuilding cars and trucks. He and his brother completed several projects while he was still able to get around.

“My last project was a four wheel drive Chevy Tahoe. I built it up from the ground up,” he said.

These days, the 63 year old Harriman resident doesn’t get out of his house much due to health issues.

Complications from diabetes resulted in both of his legs being amputated below the knees. A series of strokes and a heart condition have further limited his activities.

Until recently, Youngblood has been isolated in his small rural mobile home, sometimes cut off from friends, family and his hobbies.

“My friends and family don’t like me being alone, but I’ve learned to do all right by myself,” he said.

Dayle Beyer, executive director of ROANEnet, a Harriman, TN-based 501c(3) non-profit dedicated to supporting digital inclusion, heard about Youngblood’s situation.

ROANEnet is charted to help those people with specific challenges including those who are elderly, have disabilities, low income, and who live in digitally underserved rural areas. The organization collects donated computers and refurbishes them to give them to those in need. Other services include training and helping those in need of internet access. 

“When I first met him he didn’t have internet access and he could get only three television channels on the antenna mounted outside his window,” she said.

ROANEnet provided Youngblood with a personal computer and worked with local internet provider AT&T to secure low cost broadband, including Roku technology that brings access to hundreds of free news and entertainment channels.

“We also looked at his phone bill. He was paying way too much for services he didn’t use. We got his bill down to $20 per month,” Beyer said.

ROANEnet also provides digital training. Youngblood had been exposed to computerized parts inventory while working at an appliance distributor but he didn’t have a lot of experience on the internet.

Thanks to the help provided by ROANEnet and its volunteers he is now fully connected to the digital world, capable of communicating with doctors, family and friends.

Perhaps just as importantly, he is now able to once again indulge his passion for automobiles through his collection of scale model diecast cars. 

“I’ve been collecting them for 30 years,” he said.

He uses his computer to buy, sell and trade the model cars with other collectors across the internet. Recently he has been building dioramas that showcase cars in miniature settings such as gas stations or garages.

He said his quality of life has been greatly improved through access to the digital world.

“If I want to look up something or see what’s new in the world I’ll just get on the computer,” he said.

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Tennessee Broadband Accelerate Program

Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and Heartland Forward worked on a new planning and capacity-building program to help Tennessee communities leverage historic broadband infrastructure funding for community-driven broadband expansion.

The Tennessee Broadband Accelerate program helped local governments throughout Tennessee receive expert support as they prepared to leverage new dollars that have been made available through the historic passage of the federal infrastructure program. The opportunity is made possible through the financial support of Heartland Forward and its Connecting the Heartland initiative.

Local units of government – particularly at the county level – were encouraged to apply to receive expert support offered as part of an intensive 16-week community engagement program, designed to turn available public broadband funding into sustainable broadband access. Six community teams were selected to participate in the first cohort, which began on April 12, 2023.

Roane County was one of the six community teams selected to participate. CLICK HERE for the final presentation of information.

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ROANEnet Receives Grant For Digital Literacy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 30, 2024

ROANEnet, a Harriman, TN-based 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to improving digital literacy, has received a grant from the state to provide computer training to citizens of Roane and Rhea Counties.

ROANEnet will receive $254,079.00 for digital literacy training, according to a press release from the office of Gov. Bill Lee and the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter.

The state will award $162.7 million in broadband and digital opportunity grants that will provide broadband access and digital opportunity programs to more than 236,000 Tennesseans across 92 counties.

“Broadband is essential to all Tennesseans, and that’s why we are making strategic investments in our state’s broadband infrastructure and digital opportunity programs to create a pathway to education, job training, and greater opportunity statewide,”  Lee said.

“More than $715 million has been invested to expand broadband under Governor Lee’s administration, and we are excited to announce additional funding today that will ensure Tennesseans have access to and benefit from high-speed internet, which opens the door to high-quality job training,” said Commissioner McWhorter.

These initiatives are part of a broader strategy to ensure that all Tennessee residents have access to high-speed internet by 2028 and have opportunities to develop digital skills, access high-quality tech jobs, connect to broadband-enabled devices, and access online learning and telehealth resources.

ROANEnet has been distributing computers to the underserved and conducting digital skills training in Roane County and other East Tennessee communities for more than five years, said Dayle Beyer, Executive Director of ROANEnet.

“The grant money will be used to expand our computer basics training classes and to further our mission of enabling digital inclusion in East TN. We believe every individual in East TN deserves the opportunity to be part of the digital world. Our work is more than providing technology; it’s about opening up a world of possibilities, breaking down barriers, and building connected and empowered communities.” Beyer said.

For more information and scheduling of future computer training classes in Roane and Rhea Counties visit the ROANENET.org website.

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Roane County, TN Youth Provide Smartphone Training

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ROANE YOUTH PROVIDE SMARTPHONE TRAINING
Volunteers from Roane County’s Youth Leadership Class of 2024 and Harriman nonprofit Digital Smart will be conducting a free smartphone training class in July. The class, geared to novice and intermediate smartphone users, will be held July 11 at Morrison Hill Christian Church in Kingston from 10 am to 11:30 am.

The training will help smartphone users unlock more of the potential of their phones,” according to Ernest Cherbak, class mentor with Digital Smart. Students will learn how to text, set up passwords, send photos, and other activities using their smartphones, Cherbak said. The class will be taught by members of the Roane County Youth Leadership Class of 2024 as one of four community service projects the class choose to work on.

The class members are really excited to be able to serve their community in this way, said Kathy Parks, program director of Roane County Youth Leadership. “It’s part of becoming a leader,” she said.
Young people are very knowledgeable about the capabilities of their smartphones, according to Abby Stout, 2024 lead class member and one of the class instructors. She said she is looking forward to sharing her knowledge.

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WiFi Success at Docks at Caney Creek

Before the Docks at Caney Creek (DACC) could become a vibrant waterfront development, it had to connect to the digital world.

When Suzanne Adams began building her house in DACC, she didn’t even think to ask about internet accessibility because she assumed every place had WiFi.

“We were in for a big surprise….no WiFi here even though the developers told us there would be soon because they had Comcast availability. We had the Comcast equipment in our yard but no access,” Adams said. 

There were six houses in the community when Adams built a home in 2015. They were using several different internet access solutions. One homeowner had Hughes Net internet, which is a satellite service. Adams had a box from Verizon, but she had to pay for data access by the megabyte. 

“If you went over your data plan, it was big bucks added to your bill. So, we had to watch how much we were using and could not stream movies,” she said.

Adams finally changed to HughesNet, but the performance was very sporadic depending on the weather.

Her friend, Lilly Shirley, has lived in the same development since 2017 and experienced similar problems, not just with internet access but with no access to reliable cellular service.

“I had to drive five miles to get to where I had phone service so that I could call my children,” she said.

Shirley tried HughesNet and a “black box” from AT&T, but neither proved reliable.

During the next few years, only four or five homes were built in the development, but there were For Sale signs everywhere. “Realtors told our board that not having reliable internet was one of the main reasons people would not buy in our development.” I would have had to sell my house and move without reliable internet service,” Shirley said. 

Four years ago, Adams and Shirley decided to get involved. They joined together with what is now ROANEnet to work on getting internet providers to start serving her community.

“We started to beat down doors,” Shirley said.

Over the next few years, ROANEnet became more organized and increased its visibility in local government and utility board meetings. 

ROANEnet is a 501c non-profit that advocates for digital inclusion. ROANEnet provides equipment, training, and support to the digitally underserved people in Roane County.

“Suzanne and Lilly are a valuable part of the grassroots effort that built ROANEnet,” said Dayle Beyer, executive director.

Beyer said that with the effort of community representatives, including Adams and Shirley, ROANEnet was able to successfully lobby internet providers to start bridging the digital divide in Roane County.

After several years of going to meetings and making their voices heard, ROANEnet advocates began to see the results of their work. 

Comcast provided updated cable and internet access to The Docks at Caney Creek. By the end of 2020, Comcast had fulfilled its broadband promise, and high-speed internet access was available to all development residents.

“Closing the digital and rural divide has been one of Comcast’s most important community investment initiatives and one that we have been successful at through local partnerships,” said Sara Jo Walker, Senior Director of Public Relations at Comcast. “We are continuously investing in the evolution of our network and seeking opportunities to further expand access and adoption in Roane County. We’re proud to have ROANEnet as a partner in this endeavor.” 

“With reliable broadband service, suddenly lots were selling, and people started building in the development,” Adams said. 

There are over 20 houses in the DACC development, and more are being built later this year. Shirley has internet, phone, and cable TV service from Comcast.

“Access to high-speed internet made a huge difference in the DACC growth and will continue to catalyze growth in other parts of Roane County soon to be served. Thank You for many people’s efforts, including all the ROANEnet volunteers,” Beyer said.