Robert W. Deutsch Foundation Issues Recommendations on NTIA’s Broadband Infrastructure Funding

The Robert W. Deutsch Foundation (RWDF) submitted comments to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) highlighting the need to connect broadband infrastructure programs to systemic inequity. In doing so, the Foundation elevated the needs of BIPOC communities who face compounded social inequalities in an increasingly digitized world. We believe a successful Bipartisan Infrastructure Broadband Program must require that all programs center racial equity in their outcomes, measurement, and evaluation goals. To this end, RWDF’s comments urge the NTIA to ensure programmatic support centers the communities who have lived with the racial inequality built into our infrastructure for far too long.  These communities now stand to gain the most through an equitable distribution of resources. In short, broadband dollars should flow directly to: BIPOC communities, low-wealth communities; refugee, asylee and migrant communities; communities with mixed immigration status, or speakers of languages other than English; communities with high levels of incarceration, rentry, or youth/adults under state supervision; disabled communities, seniors, and more.