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Local digital access projects around the country stand out because they are driven by residents maximizing their own creativity, imagination, and energy to do more than just provide internet service. They are cultivating relationships to solve their own problems and more importantly promote community well-being. In the process, they are bridging the digital divide. As Congress and the Biden-Harris administration consider a bold infrastructure funding package that could make broadband more accessible and affordable, they should support these local efforts.

Thirty House and Senate Democrats unveiled a new $94 billion proposal to make broadband Internet access more accessible and affordable nationwide, aiming to remedy some of the digital inequalities that have kept millions of Americans offline during the coronavirus pandemic. The new effort, chiefly authored by Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), marks one of the most expensive, ambitious broadband packages proposed in recent years.

Federal and state officials said Wednesday that the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed grave disparities in education and the digital divide, posing challenges at all levels of government. “The laptops that many of our schools are providing, if you aren’t able to connect that somewhere, you still have a problem,” said Rep Alma Adams (D-NC), a member of the House Education and Labor Committee.