Fallon Wilson

Keep investing in the American Connectivity Program to bridge the digital divide

As of mid-August 2023, nearly 20 million American households have enrolled for the federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) – a federal program that’s provided affordable internet to our country’s most vulnerable and enabled them to stand a chance at competing in the quickly digitizing world. However, only 

Digital future for most disadvantaged: we need a permanent broadband subsidy

Incremental progress and temporary band-aids to mend the digital divide aren't a sufficient response to such a fundamental obstacle to equity and opportunity; as the late Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis argued, unequal internet access is "the civil rights issue of the 21st Century." That's why Congress must now work to transform the temporary Emergency Broadband Benefit initiative into a permanent broadband assistance program. Civil rights advocates–including the National Urban League, the NAACP, and the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council–have laid out a