State Digital Equity Planning Grant Program

Following months of public outreach and stakeholder engagement, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) released a draft Digital Equity Plan for public comment. Once approved by the PSC, the Digital Equity Plan will guide the state’s strategy to improve digital equity, ensuring all in Wisconsin have the skills, devices, and broadband service necessary to fully participate in society and the economy. The public comment period for Wisconsin's draft plan closes on October 19, 2023.

Puerto Rico’s mountainous geography and experience with natural disasters play a role in the digital divide that leaves too many without the ability to access broadband internet. Widespread damage to the island’s existing telecommunications infrastructure as a result of recent natural disasters—such as Hurricanes Irma and Maria, Hurricane Fiona, the 2020 earthquakes, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic—highlighted the importance of reliable and affordable broadband access, particularly for remote work, online learning, telehealth services, and connecting with the government.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) $2.75 billion Digital Equity Act Programs are critical for communities in need of access to affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet. Recently, NTIA requested input from our stakeholders through a Request for Comment (RFC).

The goal of the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Digital Equity Plan is to establish a roadmap that ensures everyone, regardless of their background or community, has access to the necessary technological resources to fully engage in our society, democracy, and economy. The Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet’s (ELC) Department of Workforce Development (DWD) has made the state's draft plan available to the public for feedback until October 15, 2023.

The Kentucky Office of Systems Equity in partnership with the Office of Broadband seeks public input on the draft of Kentucky’s first Digital Equity Plan. Obtaining input from Kentuckians on high-speed internet expansion and digital access throughout the commonwealth is part of the federal funding process.

Affordability, reliability, dependability, and digital literacy are the tenets of Tennessee's draft Digital Opportunity Plan.

The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) released the draft Wisconsin Digital Equity Plan for public comment. Once approved by the PSC, the Digital Equity Plan will guide the state’s strategy to improve digital equity, ensuring all in Wisconsin have the skills, devices, and broadband service necessary to fully participate in society and the economy. After the public comment period, the PSC will review the public comments and finalize the plan during an open meeting for submission to the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA).

The Washington State Broadband Office released its draft Digital Equity Plan in September, giving the public a full 60 days to submit comments and feedback. This wide berth for civic participation reflects the state's vision of ensuring every Washingtonian has affordable broadband and the tools to participate in our digital society. Here's a look at how exactly Washington plans to achieve its vision, and what this means for state residents experiencing the digital divide.

Through a series of acquisitions and mergers over three decades, prison technology companies like JPay and Global Tel Link (GTL) have dominated the prison telecommunications space, effectively becoming virtual monopolies. Anticompetitive practices have allowed corporations to gouge families with high prices and ancillary fees for prison phone calls, a practice that reportedly left one in three inmate families in debt.

With the common aim of ensuring that all people and communities have the skills, technology, and capacity needed to reap the full benefits of our digital economy, each of the 50 states is currently drafting a digital equity plan through what one official called “the largest demonstration of participatory democracy that our country has ever seen." The states are tasked with developing long-term objectives for closing the digital divide by addressing the needs of eight "covered populations"—incl