Partnerships Can Close the Digital Divide

It’s unfortunate that it took a pandemic to reveal that the Internet is a basic human right. Yet in California, home to Silicon Valley, 20 percent of students are not connected in their homes. The solution is clear — build an infrastructure with public-private partnerships to enable systems-level change that addresses the root causes of the issue, creates coordination and empowers various groups across communities. Tech companies, state and local governments, school districts, ISPs, and community organizations all need to invest in a coordinated manner. No student should be robbed of an education that defines their economic mobility. San Jose and California have built a model for effective systems-level change that should be emulated nationwide. The 28 states with schools closed for the year must act now.

[Apoorva Pasricha is a Harvard Business School Leadership fellow in the city of San Jose Mayor’s Office of Technology & Innovation. Kevin Frazier is a student at the University of California Berkeley School of Law.]