Digital Divide

NDIA to FCC: “Closing digital divide” means your annual broadband report should look at affordability, digital redlining

The National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) has called on the Federal Communications Commission to prove its commitment to “closing the digital divide” by adding home broadband affordability, the broadband adoption rates of low income households, and the digital redlining of urban neighborhoods to the issues covered by the agency’s upcoming 2019 Broadband Deployment Report.

FCC Chairman Pai Remarks to Maine Policy Heritage Center

My mission and the Federal Communications Commission’s top priority is closing the digital divide and maximizing the benefits of broadband for the American people. The FCC is working to achieve that goal with the help of market principles. We want private companies to have the strongest possible business case for raising the capital and hiring the crews to build next-generation networks. Of course, it’s not enough to make sure that all Americans have high-speed Internet access. We also need to preserve the Internet itself as an open platform for innovation and free expression.

Lifeline Awareness Week: In 2018, Protecting Universal Service Is More Important Than Ever

Sept 10-14 is National Telephone Discount Lifeline Awareness Week. The Federal Communications Commission, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates mark this week to highlight the critical role of the he federal Lifeline program. Despite the tangible benefits of Lifeline, in 2017 the FCC proposed substantial changes to Lifeline that would severely damage the program and harm the low-income and vulnerable families that rely on Lifeline for basic connectivity.

More than 4,300 Arkansas residents lose Medicaid under work requirements. The Digital Divide played a roll

Several thousand poor residents of Arkansas have been dropped from Medicaid because they failed to meet new requirements, the first Americans to lose the safety-net health insurance under rules compelling recipients to work or prepare for a job to keep their coverage. Under Arkansas Works, the state’s expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, able-bodied adults must go online every month and report their hours of work or other community engagement.

Rural Communities Losing $68 Billion in Economic Value Due to Digital Divide, New NRECA Study Finds

The lack of broadband access for 6.3 million electric co-op households results in more than $68 billion in lost economic value, according to new research by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). The new report, Unlocking the Value of Broadband for Electric Cooperative Consumer-Members, investigates the cost of the digital divide and the growing economic advantages to America’s rural communities. The study analyzed the value that households place on broadband access.

NDIA urges USDA rural broadband program to push for affordability

The National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) has submitted comments to the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS), urging the agency to treat affordability for lower-income rural residents as a key factor in implementing its E-Connectivity Pilot, a new grant and loan program for financing broadband projects in rural areas that lack “sufficient” broadband access. NDIA’s comments recommend the following:

About a quarter of rural Americans say access to high-speed internet is a major problem

Fast, reliable internet service has become essential for everything from getting news to finding a job. But 24% of rural adults say access to high-speed internet is a major problem in their local community, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted earlier in 2018. An additional 34% of rural residents see this as a minor problem, meaning that roughly six-in-ten rural Americans (58%) believe access to high speed internet is a problem in their area.

Universal Broadband Won’t Save Us

It is frequently asserted that universal broadband access is an efficient means for people to secure not just access to the web but also education, jobs, and health care. But beneath this narrative’s egalitarian veneer, and politicians’ bromides about the virtue of participating in the “digital economy,” rest many of the canards about bootstrapping that helped cause these inequities in the first place.

FCC's Data Overstate Access on Tribal Lands

The Government Accountability Office was asked to review the Federal Communications Commission's efforts to collect broadband data for tribal lands. This report examines the extent to which: (1) FCC's approach to collecting broadband data accurately captures broadband access on tribal lands and (2) FCC obtains tribal input on the data.

Starry, the startup that is trying to beam cheap internet into low-income communities

Based in Boston, the internet provider Starry has launched Starry Connect, an initiative that equips the common areas, computer rooms, and hallways of the Boston Housing Authority’s Ausonia Apartments with free 5G internet for residents. More public housing developments, both in Boston and in other cities like Los Angeles, will come online soon through the program.

Groups Launch Broadband Connects America Coalition to End Rural Digital Divide

Public Knowledge joined 17 other organizations (including the Benton Foundation) to form the Broadband Connects America coalition. The Coalition is comprised of a wide range of consumer, rural, and social justice organizations committed to closing the digital divide.

Baltimore public housing residents given tablets, internet connection under initiative to connect more online

The Housing Authority of Baltimore City gave away 500 tablets with two-year internet subscriptions to their tenants as part of an effort to confront the digital divide, the virtual disconnect from information and opportunities that disproportionately affects low-income and minority families. Under the initiative, the housing authority selected 500 residents who are enrolled in various self-sufficiency programs to receive the devices. In exchange, the residents committed to staying active in the programs for the next two years. They get to keep the tablets.

Libraries are Filling the Homework Gap as Students Head Back to School

Students heading back to school this fall that lack access to high-speed broadband will continue to rely upon libraries for homework assignments. Over the past few years, the U.S. has made significant gains in efforts to connect K-12 schools with high-speed broadband connections of 100Mbps per 1000 students.

Sponsor: 

Department of Housing and Urban Development

Date: 
Mon, 09/17/2018 - 13:00 to Tue, 09/18/2018 - 22:30

This year's summit will bring together 75 participating communities, forming an extensive national network of housing providers, municipal agencies .and community stakeholders that are dedicating themselves to digital inclusion.

This year's theme is "Connect to the Future!" a reflection of our goal to help families in public housing connect to the transformative tools of the Digital Age.  These tools will prepare residents for the technology changes that lie ahead and the vast opportunities these changes will bring. 



Sponsor: 

Radically Rural

Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship

Date: 
Fri, 09/28/2018 - 13:30 to 15:30

The digital age can eliminate density and geographic proximity requirements that were so critical during the industrial age.  The digital age will make it possible for a rural community to maintain its “rural” feel and continue to leverage its natural amenities while taking advantage of what only dense urban areas enjoyed last century.



Millions could lose low-cost phone service under FCC reforms

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, appointed to the post by President Donald Trump, wants to remove a majority of wireless providers that participate in the Lifeline program, in an attempt to eliminate “waste, fraud and abuse.” If such a move were made, the “chaos would be magnificent,” said David Dorwart, the chairman of the National Lifeline Association (NaLA), a trade organization that represents Lifeline businesses.

Closing the digital and economic divides in rural America

This photo essay confirms that rural areas like Staunton (VA) are in critical need of high-speed broadband networks for economic and talent development, especially as access to technology has become the lever to avert the expected outcomes of poverty and social isolation, at least for vulnerable populations. Digital exclusion comes with costs. Rural residents are at risk of being marginalized in an information-rich economy where digital transactions and commercial sharing services are becoming more relevant.

FCC focusing on rural broadband

Many use high speed internet every day, but for some people in rural areas around Siouxland, an internet connection can be hard to get. The Federal Communications Commission is now trying to fix that. Sen Roy Blunt (R-MO) says when it comes to internet access, Missouri is a black hole. "We're behind the rest of the country on this, and I am not satisfied with that," he said. Sen Blunt says without broadband access everyone from farmers to students suffer.

CAF Phase II Auction Closes, Allocates $1.488 Billion to Close the Digital Divide

Bidding in the Connect America Fund Phase II auction concluded on August 21, 2018. There were 103 winning bidders in the auction, with the 10-year support amount totaling $1.488 billion and covering 713,176 locations in 45 states. Of the 974,223 locations in the 30,033 eligible census block groups (CBGs), approximately 73 percent of the locations are covered by winning bids. While winning bids are for a range of performance tiers, winning bids for downstream speeds of at least 100 megabits per second (Mbps) cover 53 percent of these locations.

What Does Technological Innovation and the Digital Divide Mean for the Workforce?

This book aims to reframe workforce development efforts as investments that can result in better economic outcomes for individuals, businesses, and regions. The book is divided into three volumes: Investing in Workers, Investing in Work, and Investing in Systems for Employment Opportunity. Within each volume are discrete sections made up of chapters that identify specific workforce development programs and policies that provide positive returns to society, to employers, and to job seekers.

Small-Town Ingenuity Is Making Gigabit Broadband a Reality

The untold story of rural broadband is that over the past seven years, independent broadband networks have proliferated. Today, some of the fastest, most affordable internet in the country can be found in small communities. Despite small customer bases and razor-thin (or non-existent) margins, tenacious broadband providers across the country are proving that especially when unencumbered by competition-stifling legislation, they can bring world-class internet to their communities.

Chairman Pai visits with Utah veteran program to talk telehealth

Alethea Varra is the director of National Tele-Mental Health Hub continental region who said “our providers are giving this care to people who would not be getting it otherwise.” It’s a network of 29 clinicians providing online care to veterans. The program needs high-speed internet to work. On Aug 23, Varra met with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to talk about broadband speeds in some of the most remote areas in Utah.

In Arkansas, ‘Digital Redlining’ Could Leave Thousands Without Health Care

In June, Arkansas began rolling out a controversial change to its Medicaid program. Under a new state plan, all recipients who are able to work will have to log 80 working hours each month, or risk losing access to their health care. But finding a job might not be the biggest hurdle for many people. In order to stay eligible for Medicaid, Arkansas’s recipients must report their working hours each month, and it must be done online—the state doesn’t offer a way to do it via mail, telephone, or in person.

Rural Broadband’s Only Hope: Thinking Outside the Box?

According to a 2017 Federal Communications Commission Broadband Deployment Report, 92 percent of the total US population has access to both fixed terrestrial services at 25 Mbps/3 Mbps and mobile LTE at speeds of 5 Mbps/1 Mbps. But for those living in rural areas, only 68.6 percent of Americans have access to both services, compared to 97.9 percent of urban dwellers."These are big challenges that call for another rural electrification administration approach.