Connecting Opportunity Communities to Broadband During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned and Recommendations

The recommendations in this report focus on the Federal Communications Commission's Community Equity and Diversity Council's mission of “advancing equity in the provision of access to digital communication services and products for all people of the United States, without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, location, sex or disability.

• The federal government should continue the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP).
• There should be greater outreach efforts to educate families about the benefits of the ACP. Those outreach efforts should include many more languages than English.
• Make it easier for families to enroll in the ACP.
• Broadband service providers can implement their own low-cost broadband service programs with quality service and comparable speeds as high-income households and provide broadband connectivity centers within communities.
• Non-profit organizations, and community anchor institutions (such as libraries) can develop Wi-Fi centers within local communities funded by the federal, state, local government and/or in partnership with industry.
• To identify and overcome the challenges to broadband adoption, affordability, and greater participation in digital literacy skills training programs, broadband service providers and federal and state governments must collaborate and leverage the trusted relationships that anchor institutions have with their local communities.
• To develop broadband adoption and digital literacy skills training on a national scale, the non-profit and private sectors need to develop best practices for more broader collaboration.
• The federal government must ensure states receive funds to develop their digital equity plans.