Building Michigan’s State Broadband Plan, With Jessica Randall

In the second installment of the Information Technology and Information Foundation’s Access America series, Jess Dine discusses the challenges and opportunities of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program for the state of Michigan with Jessica Randall of Michigan’s broadband office. They talk about the way that Michigan intertwined BEAD's deployment mandate with broader inclusion and equity concerns in the Michigan State Digital Equity Plan. Jessica Randall said, "We think obviously that building out the infrastructure is tremendously important, but the ultimate goal of the program and honestly the ultimate mission of our office is not really just about deploying infrastructure, but it’s about empowering people to use technology to improve their lives. So digital inclusion and adoption are absolutely critical in ensuring the ultimate success of the work that we’ll do."