A Different Kind of Broadband Investor: Partners Aim to Provide BEAD Matching Funds

Two non-traditional investors are partnering to provide Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) matching funds and to directly invest in broadband for communities that do not win government grants. One of the entities is Connect Humanity, a non-profit fund focused on digital equity. The other is Appalachian Community Capital (ACC), which is a community development financial institution (CDFI). Connect Humanity and ACC are collaborating on a campaign to raise $25 million that would be invested in community-minded broadband providers that are looking to increase digital equity across 13 Appalachian states. The collaborators’ fundraising campaign, dubbed Investing in Digital Equity in Appalachia (IDEA), has its roots in Connect Humanity’s Appalachian Digital Accelerator program, which was created in partnership with the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). The goal of the accelerator program is to “empower” 50 of the least-connected communities in Appalachia by helping them to plan, develop and build broadband networks that will enable the communities they serve to thrive in the digital economy.