Technically Baltimore

Technologist Jason Hardebeck is no longer serving as the City of Baltimore’s director of broadband and digital equity. And Hardebeck’s former department, the Mayor’s Office of Broadband and Digital Equity (BDE), will no longer be housed within the Mayor’s Office. BDE is now located within the Baltimore City Office of Information and Technology (BCIT). Kenya Asli, BCIT’s director of strategic initiatives, will be the interim director of broadband and digital equity until a permanent hire for the position is found.

In Baltimore (MD), nearly one-quarter of households lack internet access at home and 18% lack access to a device. The Baltimore Digital Equity Coalition includes 50 organizations from across the city to address the digital divide that has existed in Baltimore for years, but is being exacerbated in a time when school and work often require device and internet connectivity at home, and gathering points that would provide access like schools and community centers are closed.

Newly sworn-in Baltimore (MD) Mayor Catherine Pugh took the opportunity of a handshake in the bowels of M&T Bank Stadium during President-elect Donald Trump’s appearance at the Army-Navy game to hand-deliver a letter. Mayor Pugh is looking to get President-elect Trump’s attention politically, writing that the city is the “perfect place” to provide the big-dollar infrastructure spending that Trump said he will propose once he takes office.

Referencing the Smarter Baltimore report completed during Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s term, she said the city schools system will be applying for $8 million in funding from the federal government’s E-rate program that could help install fiber Internet in public schools. “The plan will strategically use the E-rate program to both enhance the City’s educational capabilities, while also leveraging private and City funds, to lay additional fiber to spur economic development, job creation and more robust internet access,” she writes. “A cost-effective fiber network will lead to competition, lower Broadband costs and more connectivity for Baltimore residents and businesses.” She said the city also wants to apply for grants from federal departments like the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.