Marginalized Populations

In 2019, Governor Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) laid out a goal of 25 Megabits per second (Mbps) download and 3 Mbps upload broadband deployed to population centers of 500 or more by 2022. Approaching the end of 2022 and the time Arkansas set to achieve its original broadband goals, the state has received new funds through the US Department of Treasury's Capital Projects Fund to help achieve universal connectivity. The April 2022 Arkansas Broadband Master Plan, compiled by the Broadband Develo

The National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) awarded 18 grants to recipient organizations, who will together launch the National Digital Navigator Corps. The grants are part of support from Google.org, which will go toward hiring community-based digital navigators alongside programmatic and technical support to further develop NDIA’s digital navigator model for rural and Tribal communities. The grants, which total more than $6.6 million, are for two-and-a-half-year periods and range between $320,540 and $389,840 each, depending on the need and proposal. Seven of the grantees are Tribal-le

Analysis demonstrates that philanthropic organizations in the US have given little--less than 1% of overall giving by large foundations--to digital equity funding. Funding barriers may be overcome with greater participation of US institutional philanthropic giving to digital equity. Other key takeaways include:

Which rural minority communities are growing? What are the strategies behind these growth-oriented communities? Answers to these questions are central to this report; we illuminate inspiring leadership regimes and strategic policy models that are drawing in people and jobs to rural minority communities. We capitalize on a wealth of publicly available administrative data to outline these economies and deconstruct trends in employment, business creation, broadband adoption, and the labor force.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel added Brad Barry as Senior Advisor to the FCC for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Deena Shetler, as Deputy Chief of Staff for Administration. Barry will coordinate the agency’s anti-digital discrimination efforts, working in partnership with the Task Force to Prevent Digital Discrimination, which is led by D’wana Terry and Sanford Williams, Special Advisors to the Chairwoman, and Alejandro Roark, Chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, who oversees engagement with stakeholders to ensure that task force rec

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) and Microsoft launched “Get Connected,” an initiative to boost enrollment in the Federal Communication Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program, at a community Labor Day festival in Atlanta (GA). Additional events are planned throughout September and early October in Detroit (MI), Memphis (TN), New York City (NY), and rural North Carolina. In each city, CWA and Microsoft will work with local public housing authorities and other community partners to publicize the events and pre-qualify residents for the Affordable Connectivity Program.

The Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) awarded a $4.5 million Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act Recovery Assistance grant to the Port of Lewiston, Lewiston, Idaho, to expand internet connectivity for commerce, public health and safety and learning in North Central Idaho. This project will support the construction of a 95-mile segment of fiberoptic cable running from Moscow to Grangeville. This EDA grant will be matched with $1.1 million in local funds and is expected to create 120 jobs, according to grantee estimates. 

Seattle residents don’t have to be at a Seattle Public Library (SPL) branch to use the internet.

The Federal Communications Commission authorize $791,604,299 through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) to six providers to fund new broadband deployments to over 350,000 estimated locations in 19 states. The top three states receiving funding include Illinois, $212 million, Arizona, $140 million, and Iowa, $113 million. This round of funding supports projects using a range of network technologies, including gigabit service hybrid fiber/fixed wireless deployments that will provide end-user locations with either fiber or fixed wireless network service using licensed spectrum.

Indiana Governor, Eric Holcomb (R-IN) and Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch (R-IN) are leading the largest broadband investment in the state's history. Ball State University researchers found that thousands of homes across the state--urban and rural, low-income, and non-English speaking--experience the brunt of lacking access to broadband internet access. To combat this, Lt. Gov Suzanne Crouch created the Office of Broadband Opportunities in 2018 to identify needs and eliminate roadblocks to broadband deployment and digital literacy in the state.