America’s Moral Obligation for Universal Broadband

As much as the pandemic is a challenge, the urgency it presents also provides an opportunity to finally make significant progress on these digital issues. To get started and provide a framework for future action, I recommend focusing on the following:

• Developing statewide broadband plans that marshal the resources of the private sector as well as those of state and local governments and that focus on preparedness for future pandemics.
• Meeting with broadband-industry leaders to discuss how best to make broadband ubiquitous, affordable and robust enough to run our economy, schools, government and civil society for extended periods of time.
• Inviting local governments and school districts to join in to discuss best practices to equip schools, community and recreation centers, and workforce-development facilities with computers and facilitators to help residents on a mass scale become digitally literate. Local officials should set benchmarks for digital literacy and for published results.