Episode 22 Keith Hanson - ”Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home”

Keith Hanson, Chief Technology Officer for the City of Shreveport, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development with the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:

 

0:42 1. You have had such an interesting life and trajectory up to this point that if I were a true completist I would need about three or four hours with you to cover it all. That said, let’s get to some of the high points.

 

First quick background on you:

 

You attended Apollo Elementary for fifth grade, Greenacres Middle School and Airline High School. And in your own words you are a long-time resident, a (failed) 2018 city council candidate, a serial entrepreneur, and now Shreveport's first Chief Technology Officer under the Perkins administration.

 

Let’s start here. How are we doing in training our technology workforce? Is the size of that population growing in size locally?

 

Talk to me about some of the programs the local schools are offering to teach some of those skills and any other STEM-based curriculum and efforts locally you would like to highlight.

 

19:39 2. You have been deeply involved in addressing the digital divide in Shreveport-Bossier. I came across this quote of yours:

 

“The internet is not affordable for many who earn $35,000 or less, which is 42.8 percent of those living in Shreveport. Why is this an issue? Well for a number a reasons. Public Safety stems from economic stability. Economic stability stems from educational opportunity and access. And with the addition of a global pandemic, education is now heavily dependent on internet connectivity.”

 

Because it’s fascinating, talk to me first about the method you conceived of to address which neighborhoods were most in need of broadband access?

 

44:25 3. Once you determined which neighborhoods were most in need of broadband access, what is involved in bringing broadband access to those neighborhoods?

 

59:10 4. Crime is obviously on our community’s mind right now and you have been deeply involved in working to address the issue. For us laymen, talk to me a little about what is happening with the installation of cameras in downtown Shreveport. Also, talk to me about the Real Time Crime Center. What is it? And how does it work in helping to bring down crime?

 

1:20:00 5. What is holding us back from being one of the next, great small cities in America?

 

1:23:49 6. What will propel us forward?