Community Anchor Institutions

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.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced $930,021,354.34 to expand middle mile high-speed Internet infrastructure across 35 states and Puerto Rico.

The Federal Communications Commission committed over $21 million in a new funding round through the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) Program, which provides digital services for students in communities across the country.

Governor Brian P. Kemp (R-GA) committed nearly $15 million in preliminary grant awards for broadband internet expansion through the second round of the Capital Projects Fund (CPF) Grant Program. These awards will improve connectivity for communities, households, businesses, and anchor institutions in four Georgia counties. When combined with significant capital matches from the awardees, almost $30 million will be invested to serve over 3,500 locations in areas most in need of high-speed internet access. The county awardees are as follows:

Phones at school are "a disaster," said Jonathan Haidt, the prominent social psychologist, making the case for phone-free schools. "Smartphones impede learning, stunt relationships, and lessen belonging," says Haidt. Teachers and administrators see "clear links between rising phone addiction and declining mental health, to say nothing of declining academic performance. Back in 2019, Haidt asked school leaders why they couldn't just ban phones during school hours. "They said too many parents would be upset if they could not reach their children during the school day," he said.

The world is facing a pressing need for a skilled workforce that can meet the demands of the 21st-century century economy. That’s where workforce development comes in. Louisiana's broadband office is the Louisiana Office of Broadband Development and Connectivity, or ConnectLA.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) and the Michigan High Speed Internet Office kicked-off a statewide Michigan Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) Act Now initiative to increase awareness of the ACP, a $14.2 billion federal broadband benefit funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), that will connect more Michiganders to the long-term benefit that helps lower-income families pay for high-speed internet. The Michigan ACP Act Now initiative will unite a broad coalition of partner cities, community-based organizations and trusted institutions in partnership with EducationSup

On May 8, 2023, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth released its second annual report