From draft of the Alabama Statewide Digital Opportunity Plan (released October 2023) | See Benton summary
The State of Alabama has long identified broadband internet as the infrastructure of our era. Alabama recognizes that the internet is a platform for economic and community development in the 21st century just as electricity and phone service were in the 20th century.
In light of this recognition—and the state’s commitment to ensuring that the benefits of the digital world accrue to all Alabamians—Governor Kay Ivey and the Alabama legislature have made considerable investments in broadband and digital opportunity for nearly a decade.
The state’s commitment arises from Alabama’s recognition of the criticality of digital opportunity to economic opportunity in the 21st century. Meaningful access to the internet is an essential ingredient for thriving in the economy of our era and of the future. Digital opportunity enables economic opportunity and activity for Alabamians—from applying for new jobs to learning new job skills; from running a home-based business to working remotely for a distant employer; from banking to managing personal finances online; from selling homemade products in distant markets to attracting interested customers—and all these hallmarks of the digital economy require broadband access and digital opportunity.
To meet the needs of our 21st century economy, the State of Alabama envisions a connected, interconnected future. In that envisioned future, all Alabamians—including those who are not currently connected or who face other barriers to digital opportunity—will have the opportunity to benefit from broadband internet, for purposes of economic opportunity, education, healthcare, and all the other ways the internet offers digital opportunity.
In that envisioned future, all Alabamians will have access to the following five critical elements of digital opportunity:
- Availability of affordable, reliable internet connectivity at home
- A computing device and the opportunity to maintain it
- Opportunity to learn digital skills
- Tools and information to be safe online
- Online state resources that are accessible and usable
To achieve this vision for digital opportunity, the State of Alabama will adopt the following three framework principles for its digital opportunity efforts:
- Prioritize data and rigorous information gathering: As it has done in awarding broadband infrastructure grants, Alabama will adopt a data-driven approach to grantmaking in the digital opportunity area, making awards based on data regarding both the need for the work and the capacity of the grantee that seeks to do the work. Data will similarly be the basis for measuring both needs and achievements over time and ADECA will continue to lead in data collection through the Alabama Broadband Map, which will be updated at least twice a year and ADECA’s digital opportunity scientific phone survey, which will be undertaken periodically.
- Engage and collaborate: Digital opportunity work will require collaboration and partnerships. As it has done in visiting all 67 Alabama counties and preparing county profiles detailing broadband and digital opportunity needs and strategies in collaboration with county partners, ADECA will continue to engage with its local government, ISP, labor, and Anchor Institution partners to solicit ideas, insights, priorities, and lessons learned. ADECA will similarly continue its efforts to collaborate with Tribal Nations, MSIs, and HBCUs.
- Build on existing achievements and collaborations. The State of Alabama will leverage and benefit from the efforts of other entities that have spent years developing expertise and capabilities in digital opportunity. Rather than attempt to replicate or recreate those capabilities, ADECA will provide data, support, and resources to entities that already have developed—and proven the efficacy and efficiency of—existing programs to address digital opportunity. In this way, the State of Alabama will respect local and community experience and know-how, working to support its local government and nonprofit partners that have proven capabilities in digital opportunity.