South Bend, Indiana, hosts broadband conference with state and national partners

Between the American Rescue Plan Act and the possible Build Back Better legislation, there’s a lot of federal funding headed to states and cities for investments in broadband. Representatives from across the state and the country were in South Bend (IN) on March 3 to talk about how to best use that funding. The city of South Bend partnered with Next Century Cities and the Pew Charitable Trusts to host a municipal broadband conference at the Innovation and Technology Conference Center on the former Studebaker site. In his opening remarks, South Bend Mayor James Mueller (D-IN) said the pandemic had driven home the importance of digital connectivity “in a 21st-century economy.” Mueller and several other presenters touched on the urban-rural divide in digital access, and that the best solutions often come from partnerships between local governments and their state and regional counterparts. Participants also discussed how cities could prepare to improve their broadband infrastructure and improve digital equity and inclusion.