Localism

Joshua Edmonds, director of Digital Inclusion with the City of Detroit, said the city set up a program in 2019 called Connect 313 to help residents get access to broadband connectivity. The initial goal was “building a table for which everybody who was intersecting with the Digital Divide could sit. Whether that’s our telecom providers, residents, non-profits, community organizations, churches, big tech companies.” The program now has over 500 member organizations. The City of Detroit has done a number of things as part of Connect 313.

A group of rural Michigan advocates are urging state lawmakers to fund and staff the Michigan High-Speed Internet Office. Gov Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) created the office in June 2021 with the aim of expanding broadband internet access to more residents. But the office as yet has no budget and therefore no full-time staff.

A new compilation of projects funded by the American Rescue Plan Act shows that, among cities and counties with populations over 250,000, about 12 percent of money received by local governments has gone toward funding infrastructure investments.

As the federal government readies $65 billion for broadband adoption, local leaders should make thoughtful, culturally-responsive strategies that connect all of our communities.

Visionary Broadband in Wyoming focuses on providing quality internet service by customizing products for underserved and rural markets, with a recent emphasis on fiber technology. The company was founded 27 years ago in a small, blue house by three friends who merely wanted internet access. Once they figured out how to get themselves connected, they began getting requests to help others get access as well. Twenty-seven years later, Visionary Broadband employs around 160 people. The idea that the internet could and should be available to anyone was the reason Visionary Broadband came to be.

In a series of convenings beginning last spring, the NewDEAL Forum's Broadband Task Force brought together state and local policymakers who are making progress in closing the digital divide, along with advocates and other nonprofit and private sector leaders with expertise in improving access, adoption, and digital skills attainment. The initiatives outlined in this report, which constitute a selection of policy efforts drawn from those discussions, provide a blueprint for how other states and cities can tackle their broadband needs and inequities with new federal funds.

Southern Tier 8 Regional Board, a multifaceted planning and development agency in New York state, sees broadband as an opportunity to improve the economic situation of the rural communities it serves. Jennifer Gregory, executive director of Southern Tier 8, recently announced Project Connect, an initiative to connect the agency’s entire eight-county region to high-speed broadband.

In Fort Collins (CO), Connexion broadband service broke ground in early 2019, but the desire to equip the city with service dates back more than a decade. Broadband discussions have been incorporated into Fort Collins' strategic plans since 2014. The city's plans now include broadband as a specific strategic objective: “Encourage the development of reliable, high-speed internet services throughout the community.” After years of thoughtful planning and community feedback, Fort Collins began building a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network in February 2019.

Inequitable access to the internet became a glaring public health issue during the pandemic. Here’s how three communities addressed the digital divide equitably and quickly:

Municipal broadband access will expand to parts of underserved unincorporated Larimer County (CO) thanks to a partnership between the county and the city of Loveland (CO). Larimer County’s Board of Commissioners approved an amendment to an existing agreement between Loveland and the county as part of their partnership to provide broadband services to parts of unincorporated Larimer County through Loveland Pulse, the city’s municipal broadband service.