Community Anchor Institutions

Utah continues working to close the state's digital divide. On June 20, 2023, the Utah Broadband Center released its draft State Digital Equity Plan in conjunction with its Digital Connectivity Plan. Both plans will help guide the allocation of federal funding to the state for broadband access and adoption expansion over the next five years. Here, we take a look at Utah's digital equity plan.

I know the evolution of libraries as the place where the public goes for books to the place where the public goes for everything is creating new challenges as you address new needs. But we know millions of people in this country are on the wrong side of the digital divide. Libraries help fill that gap. You have computer labs. You teach digital skills.

A partnership between Common Sense Media, Arizona State University (ASU), and the Digital Equity Institute is working to increase awareness of and enroll eligible households in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Through a multipoint marketing campaign targeted to low-income communities with high eligibility for the federal broadband subsidy program, Common Sense Media is directing Phoenix residents toward the ASU Experience Center, a call center with more than 100 phone specialists.

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is leading some of the City’s investments in digital equity and is partnering with the Brooklyn Public Library, the New York Public Library, and the Queens Public Library to support low-income New Yorkers on using technology. A significant portion of the agency’s Section 8 households include an older or disabled adult and many are bilingual.

There are at least seven reasons why states should consider connecting anchor institutions early in the broadband deployment process rather than at the tail end:

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Powered by a contribution from AT&T, the Public Library Association (PLA) has selected more than 200 public libraries across 45 states to host digital literacy and Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) workshops.

The Federal Communications Commission announced an important update to its Mapping Broadband Health in America platform to incorporate maternal health data, enabling policymakers, public health experts, clinicians, researchers, innovators, and other public and private stakeholders to better explore the intersection of broadband and maternal health.

Colleges are seeing a surge in technology majors, but rural students are lagging behind on opportunities to take advantage of the growing, high-paying fields. From 2018 to 2022, Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services majors increased 23 percent, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, from 423,315 to 518,844. Rural students, however, face two pressing issues: the digital divide of internet reliability and technology access and education opportunities. The National Center for Education Statistics said that in 2019, around 76 percent of rural students

Digital equity is a core social driver of health. Digital equity refers to the condition in which all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, democracy and economy.