Americans made more than 280,000 calls, emails, and social media posts to Congress in support of funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). The program needs $7 billion in funding from Congress to ensure people aren’t disconnected from the internet in 2024. Don’t Disconnect US Day, which took place on January 25, spurred those who care about affordable internet to contact their congressional representatives. The resulting actions from supporters calling for Congress to fund the program included:

• More than 281,000 emails, calls, and tweets to Congress in one week
• More than 225,000 emails and calls to Congress in one week
• More than 114,000 emails and calls to Congress on one day alone (January 25)
• More than 55,000 posts on social media, including from Sen. Peter Welch (VT) and Rep. Yvette Clark (NY-09)
• Dozens of op-eds, blogs, and news reports published in a variety of publications, including The Dallas Morning News, News Center Maine, Broadband Breakfast, Benton Institute, and more

In 2023, Democracy Fund invested $3 million in grants to support state and local leaders advancing digital equity. We believe this work is vital for an inclusive, multiracial democracy. Democracy Fund is proud to announce the 2023 Digital Democracy grantees who all share a commitment to action toward community-focused media policy and tech accountability. 

1. #BlackTechFutures Research Institute, $200,000 over two years for their work in building a national network of city-based researchers and practitioners conducting research on sustainable local black tech ecosystems. The outcomes of this work are actionable policy recommendations and a national public data archive.
2. Detroit Community Tech Project, $750,000 over three years to use and create technology rooted in community needs that strengthens neighbors’ connection to each other and the planet.
3. Digital Equity and Opportunity Initiative, $500,000 over two years for their work to jumpstart building a lasting civic infrastructure. DEOI will provide core funding support to state broadband coalitions with broad-based community engagement that have the mobilization capacity to maximize the opportunity and drive equitable outcomes in digital access.
4. Generation Justice, $200,000 over two years for their work as New Mexico’s premier youth media project to raise underrepresented voices, heal from internalized wounds, and lift narratives of hope and inspiration that build pathways to equity and leadership.
5. Independence Public Media Foundation, $200,000 over two years for their work transforming the Greater Philadelphia region into a hub for community-owned media by expanding community internet that is collectively owned and managed by local communities, and strengthening community organizing for digital equity.
6. Institute for Local Self-Reliance (Tribal Broadband Bootcamp), $250,000 over two years for their work toward thriving, diverse, equitable communities by building local power to fight corporate control through research, advocacy, and partnerships nationwide.
7. People’s Tech Project, $600,000 over three years for their work in Pennsylvania to win a future where technology builds dignity, justice, and liberation rather than exacerbating oppression and harm in the hands of big corporations and the state.
8. Petty Propolis, $200,000 over two years for their work on policy literacy and advocacy, data and digital privacy education, and racial justice and equity.
9. ProgressNow New Mexico Education Fund, $300,000 over two years for their work to center justice for systemically excluded communities through partnerships, trusted digital communications, and issue-based and civic engagement campaigns.

High-speed internet is something we count on to function day to day. The service elevates the lives and livelihoods of Americans whose broadband needs have been previously unmet. The 2023 Cox Expansion Impact Survey found 86 percent of consumer respondents with recently available high-speed internet said their lives have improved. This report outlines three ways that high-speed internet enriches the lives of rural Americans:

1. Younger people are more likely to remain in their communities when there’s a highspeed internet connection at home.
2. High-speed internet drives local economic prosperity.
3. A high-speed internet connection at home helps bridge the income and education gap.

The internet is a tie that binds people and communities together: four out of five respondents say they are better connected to friends and family because of their new highspeed internet connection. High-speed internet access is crucial for rural residents’ quality of life.

Gigi Sohn, executive director of the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB), discusses municipal broadband networks in the US, including why and where they're popping up and which are most successful. Sohn, a telecommunications policy veteran who withdrew her nomination to become an Federal Communications Commissioner after a contentious confirmation battle, also explains how her organization is working to defend against efforts by incumbent service providers and "dark money" groups to derail community networks. "What I find somewhat galling about some of the advocacy against public broadband is that it's not only a matter of 'I don't want you to compete with me.' It's like, 'I don't even want you to serve the places I don't want to serve'," says Sohn.

In January 2024, the US Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology released the 2024 National Educational Technology Plan (NETP): A Call to Action for Closing the Digital Access, Design, and Use Divides. The NETP examines how technologies can raise the bar for all elementary and secondary students. The 2024 NETP frames three key divides limiting the transformational potential of educational technology to support teaching and learning: The Digital Use Divide, the Digital Design Divide, and the Digital Access Divide. As has ever been true, educational technology holds vast potential to improve teaching and learning for every student and teacher in the United States. In recent years, driven by the emergency of a pandemic, schools have found themselves with more connectivity, devices, and digital resources than at any other moment in history. The nation can close the digital access, design, and use divides. The NETP includes examples from every state in the country where schools, districts, and their partners are proving it’s possible. For this possibility to reach all students will require an understanding that the kinds of instructional tasks students need to prepare them for the world they will inherit cannot rely on content alone.

Rep Doris Matsui (D-CA) released new, updated state-by-state data from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (SCRP). Previous data from the FCC was attributed to the location of a company’s corporate headquarters rather than the location of actual project sites – leading to a misrepresentation of the nationwide distribution of projects. The data is available HERE. Rep Matsui is the co-author of the bipartisan Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, which was passed in 2020. The legislation reaffirmed a bipartisan commitment to protect America’s communications networks’ supply chain and worked to prohibit Huawei, ZTE and other equipment from threatening America’s telecommunications networks by establishing the SCRP. While Congress appropriated $1.9 billion to the SCRP, the FCC has approved reimbursements for approximately $5 billion in projects—a significant funding shortfall.

Broadband vendors continue to speculate on when network operators will resume spending on equipment. According to the latest data points, that might happen in 2024 but could take until 2025. For example, Calix's newest 2024 financial outlook "was significantly weaker than expected," wrote the financial analysts at Rosenblatt Securities. Indeed, the vendor cut its outlook again this week, after initially doing so late last year. But Calix officials promised that demand for the company's broadband equipment will pick back up – eventually. "We have seen a significant broadening in the number of customers interested in competing for BEAD [Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program] funds. Today, nearly all our customers are either assembling a BEAD strategy or actively pursuing funds," Calix CEO Michael Weening said during the company's quarterly conference call. Allocation of BEAD funds is taking longer than expected, forcing network operators to stall their deployment plans until they have a better sense of how much funding they might get.