Amid a slew of executive appointments and policy changes, local government workers will feel assured that Mayor Cherelle Parker (D-PA) plans to continue the City of Philadelphia’s digital equity work. Without digital inclusion—access to the internet, devices and digital literacy skills—you can’t provide economic opportunities, Parker said at Net Inclusion 2024, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance’s (NDIA) annual conference, which was hosted in Philadelphia. The mayor’s experience working with digital inclusion goes back to her time as a state representative in the Pennsylvania General Assembly where she worked to expand broadband across the state, she said. Over the last 10 years, Philadelphia has been working toward closing the digital divide. Mayor Parker recapped those efforts for a crowd of digital equity advocates from across the country. Among them:

• During the pandemic, the City of Philadelphia launched PHLConnected, a program that connected over 23,000 pre-K-to-12 families to free internet services and affordable devices.
• In 2021, the City conducted a household internet survey and found that 84 percent of households in Philadelphia have high-speed internet, up from 70 percent in 2019. 
• The City published a five-year digital equity plan in 2022 and established an executive order for digital equity. The plan outlined four main goals: devices, training and workforce, connectivity and ecosystem.
• The City expanded the digital navigator network, which offers free support for digital equity resources, and in spring 2023 partnered with PCs for People to refurbish and distribute low-cost devices.
• The Digital Literacy Alliance, a 2017-founded coalition of Philly organizations funded in part by the region’s internet service providers, has given out over $1 million in grants to local access efforts, including funds for adult digital skills classes.

The other day some preschoolers were pretending to be one of their favorite Sesame Street characters, a baby goat named Ma’zooza who likes round things. They played with tomatoes—counting up to five, hiding one, and putting it back. A totally ordinary moment exploring shapes, numbers, and imagination. Except this version of Sesame Street—called Ahlan Simsim (Welcome Sesame)—was custom made for children like these: Syrian refugees living in camps in Lebanon who otherwise don’t have access to preschool or, often, enough to eat. Educational interruptions due to the pandemic, climate disasters, and war have affected nearly every child on Earth since 2020. A record 43.3 million children have been driven from their homes by conflict and disasters, according to UNICEF—a number that doubled over the past decade. And yet, points out Sherrie Westin, the head of the nonprofit that produces Sesame Street, “less than 2% of humanitarian aid worldwide goes to the early years”—that is, specifically supporting care and education, not just food and medicine. The Ahlan Simsim program is the largest-ever humanitarian intervention specifically intended for small children’s development. The Sesame Workshop partnered with the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian-aid nonprofit, to win a $100 million grant competition administered by the MacArthur Foundation. The results, released in May 2023 but not yet peer reviewed, have been startling: they have provided the first evidence that 100 percent remote learning can help young children in crisis situations. 

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is reopening an application window for nominations to the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC). On December 27, 2023, NTIA published a Notice seeking nominations to the CSMAC with a deadline of January 31, 2024, for submissions. In reopening this application window, NTIA seeks to expand the pool of applicants and best ensure that the composition of the committee reflects balanced points of view. Applications must be postmarked or electronically transmitted to the address below on or before March 4, 2024.