Health, Housing, Small Business, Climate. Why Not Broadband?

Connect Humanity recently announced we are on track to become a Communicty Development Financial Institution. What does that mean, and why does it matter? The digital divide is a financing challenge not a technical one. 30 million Americans are still out of reach of broadband because their communities—typically rural communities, tribal lands, and low-income neighborhoods—don’t fit the risk-return profile traditional investors look for. This is holding back our economy and limiting people’s opportunities and agency. That makes the digital divide both a strategic and ethical failure for the United States. The problem isn’t a lack of money. It’s a lack of the right kind of money. And for that, we can look to a model that has already solved exactly this problem, in sector after sector. Community Development Financial Institutions were created for structural disconnects like this.