Diversity

Apple shareholders approved outside proposals recommending audits of the company’s civil-rights impact and a public report on its use of concealment clauses in employment agreements, marking a rare instance of investors defying the tech giant. The votes were part of Apple’s annual shareholder meeting, held virtually on March 4 for the second year in a row. Investors also reelected the company’s board and approved its executive compensation plan.

In 2021, twenty-five community leaders from across Baltimore came together with national experts in areas related to network engineering, federal policymaking, community broadband networking, and grassroots organizing for a five-week online program, called “The Digital Equity Leadership Lab (DELL).” DELL was created by Rober

This Black History Month, it is impossible to ignore how economic disparities that have tormented Black and Brown Americans for centuries have also invited digital inequities into the most impoverished communities. Broadband funding is not enough. It is time for transformational broadband policies that support economic resilience in every household. At a time when the labor of Black and Brown Americans was still being used to build wealth from which they were systematically excluded, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was at the center of a movement to welcome all Americans into the U.S. economy.

Digital equity is having a moment. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the country to stay home in March 2020, the importance of digital equity became clear. While many folks had reliable high-speed Internet in their houses, up-to-date devices for accessing that Internet, and the skills to use it in meaningful ways, but across the country — in rural, suburban and urban communities — there was consistently a remaining percentage who did not.

African Americans 50-plus are increasingly more comfortable using technology and continue to spend above pre-pandemic levels on tech devices they use daily. Nonetheless, their ownership and use of technology have remained constant from 2020, and so has their desire to connect with others and learn new skills.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced it has awarded two additional grants as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. These grants, totaling nearly $1 million, are being awarded to Pinoleville Pomo Nation (CA) and the Ketchikan Indian Community (AK). These grants will fund broadband use and adoption projects to improve healthcare, workforce development, education, housing, and social services in these communities.

Today, it is very easy for us to take the internet for granted. But broadband has such a huge impact on our lives. 90% of Americans say that the internet has been essential or important to them during the pandemic. Yet, we know that access to broadband and the internet is not created equal, with more than 30 million Americans lacking access to reliable broadband, and the problem is worse in minority and rural communities.

On the morning of Februaru 23, millions who depend on a 3G wireless connected device for medical emergencies, fires, burglaries or carbon monoxide detection will find their lives needlessly at risk. These devices will not work when AT&T shuts down its 3G network on February 22, threatening tens of millions of people relying on them in their homes and businesses. Known as the 3G sunset, those affected include hundreds of thousands of people who have personal emergency response systems (PERS).

As the federal government readies $65 billion for broadband adoption, local leaders should make thoughtful, culturally-responsive strategies that connect all of our communities.