Pandemic shines ‘great spotlight’ on digital divide

The dual crises of changing census guidelines and the COVID-19 pandemic have shined a “great spotlight” on the impact that lack of access to broadband has in rural communities. “Access to education, access to jobs, it’s one of those areas where the whole partnership between business and government needs to happen, because it’s not going to be cheap,” said Lynden Schuyler, a director for census outreach at the Illinois Public Health Association. The state awarded $50 million in broadband expansion grants through the Connect Illinois program in June. Due to the requirements set for obtaining Connect Illinois grants, that first batch of funding was matched by $65 million in nonstate funds for a total investment exceeding $115 million. Another $50 is slated for release later in 2020. The focus of Connect Illinois has been on scalable, fiber optic cables to provide broadband, rather than wireless networks such as 5G, which is used for internet in some cities. That means while each household on Connect Illinois broadband can receive internet at speeds of at least 25 mbps, once the lines are down to provide internet, they can be affordably scaled up to provide a gigabit. Matt Schmit, director of the Office of Broadband in the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, said access to broadband is just “one leg of the stool” when it comes to ensuring digital equity. The two other pillars of equity are broadband adoption – making sure people are using the internet once the groundwork is there – and broadband utilization – ensuring underserved communities can use it at the same level as their urban or higher-income peers. “In my mind, if you look at it the right way, those are the components of a holistic approach to digital equity – how are you able to target resources and programming in a way that levels the playing field and makes sure that everybody has an opportunity to engage in the 21^st century digital economy.”