Michelson 20MM

In an era where internet access is as essential as water and electricity, many residents in Los Angeles remain digitally left behind due to rising costs, poor service quality, and discrimination. This report delves into the growing movement for publicly owned internet services, highlighting successful municipal broadband for all initiatives across the nation. These initiatives have proven effective in increasing access, lowering costs, and fostering stronger community engagement.

The Affordable Connectivity Program is ending and California has a monumental, once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead our communities into a new era of equitable affordable connectivity, not unlike the electrification of the United States in the early-to-mid 1900s. Internet affordability in California, like much of the country, relies on the goodwill of profit-driven Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and family enrollment in the federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), a subsidy program whose

The Michelson 20MM Foundation is proud to launch the Digital Equity in Tribal Communities Project, a new multi-year effort to address digital inequity in indigenous communities. This project looks to empower tribal nations with the knowledge, tools, and means necessary to access the internet and the opportunities that come with it. We aim to center the voices, expertise, and wisdom of tribal leaders in our efforts because the solutions for the challenges faced by the community must come from those most knowledgeable of the community’s needs.

In late March 2022, Tribal leaders from throughout California met in Temecula (CA) to discuss how to establish and maintain their own broadband networks with the ultimate goal of connecting their communities to the internet. Through a grant from the Michelson 20MM Foundation, and in partnership with other funders, the Institute For Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) hosted the second installment of a series of convenings aimed at providing Tribal leaders with the knowledge and tools they need to provide their communities with access to broadband.

From April 2020 to May 2021, the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), a Michelson Spark Grantee, studied the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on digital inequity, particularly among school-age children in California. Researchers leveraged 2019 census data from over 35,000 households in California to establish the pre-COVID baseline as they considered how ethnic groups, income levels, educational attainment, and locality impacted device access and connectivity.