The Cumberland Oxford Lakes Area Broadband (COLAB) Project is a multi- community broadband planning effort in Northern Cumberland County and South-Western Oxford County. The project was formed at the request of the multiple town managers and broadband planning committees who felt that the time was right for a coordinated broadband planning and development process in the Lakes region of Cumberland and Oxford Counties. 

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Several factors contributed to the formation of this group. One was the already existing momentum of community driven broadband planning in Cumberland & Oxford County towns. This momentum began in 2020 when six (6) of the ten (10) communities that make up the COLAB group participated in a focused broadband training and capacity building effort The Maine West Broadband Bootcamp. Due to their participation in this program many of these towns were launched forward to a similar stage in broadband process and planning.

 

 

In addition, four of the towns (Naples/ Harrison and Sebago/Standish) were hosting a Resilience Corps Fellow through GPCOG to ensure coordination and standardization of committee activities, which resulted in the realization that similar efforts were occurring across the towns and that there existed a desire to explore collaborative options. As a result, GPCOG brought the towns together to discuss the potential of planning for and exploring broadband expansion options as a region. The decision was to work together as a group with support from GPCOG and the Regional Partners: Travis Kennedy with Cumberland County, Mia Purcell with Community Concepts, and Mike Wilson with the Northern Forest Center.