BEAD and Beyond: New York’s Broadband Director Has a Holistic Vision to Fulfill
Joshua Breitbart, Senior Vice President of New York’s Empire State Development, has spent most of his career working on broadband projects of one kind or another. In early 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) announced the formation of the Empire State Development ConnectALL initiative in her “State of the State” address. “For somebody who’d been working in this field for about 20 years,” Breitbart said, “the holistic approach, strategy, and vision for ConnectALL was thrilling and inspiring.” New York’s ConnectALL initiative is a combination of five programs:
- A Digital Equity Program to support internet adoption so New Yorkers can “participate in our society, democracy, and economy”
- The ConnectALL Deployment Program, for broadband expansion to the state’s unserved and underserved locations
- Regional and Local Assistance to help local leaders make deployment or digital equity plans
- A Municipal Infrastructure Program for towns, nonprofit organizations, utilities, and other entities to deploy broadband infrastructure
- The Affordable Housing Connectivity Program, which retrofits affordable housing with high-speed broadband
Ultimately, Breitbart understands that the legacy of ConnectALL will depend on how successful Empire State Development is at realizing the initiative’s ambitious, holistic vision.
BEAD and Beyond: New York’s Broadband Director Has a Holistic Vision to Fulfill