December 2021

California is well positioned to benefit from broadband access funds included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. That’s the message state leaders and experts conveyed “Federal Infrastructure Funds for California: Broadband and Beyond,” hosted by California Foward and the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF), and co-sponsored by more than 40 organizations. “California is a little bit ahead of the game because of how long we’ve been at this,” said Sen Alex Padilla (D-CA).

We need to shift the narrative around digital equity. Top of mind for many participants were the very ways we talk about and define digital equity—and how it shapes and sustains the larger systemic challenges we see play out in school systems. Inequitable funding formulas, digital redlining, and biased, eurocentric curriculum, for example, all contribute incrementally to inequitable educational experiences.