The state of digital equity

• New NDIA maps show home internet connection rates by census tract throughout the US, posted December 11, 2018
• NDIA’s “Worst Connected Cities” Page, updated October 2018. It includes an interactive map and links to the report for 2017 and previous years
• Broadband’s Impact: A Brief Literature Review – January 2018 by Roberto Gallardo and Brian Whitacre  https://www.pcrd.purdue.edu/files/media/Broadbands-Impact-Final.pdf
• Unequal deployment of broadband services = September 11, 2017 – ://connectyourcommunity.org/ndia-report-strategic-investment-in-digital-equity-for-cleveland/
• Seattle 2016 Digital Equity Plan – https://www.seattle.gov/tech/initiatives/digital-equity

Library Impacts

• Libraries Evolve to Bridge Digital Divide, published by the online Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Denver’s Morgridge College of Education, published November 2018

National/International Organizations

1. The National Digital Inclusion Alliance  was founded in May 2015  to provide a unified voice for home and public broadband access programs, and local technology training while serving as a bridge to policymakers and the general public.Take a look at their site and consider joining. See NDIA’s recommendations to the federal government on digital inclusion as an example of their good work.
2. The Benton Foundation has published a report on Digital Inclusion and Meaningful Broadband Adoption Initiatives, available as Benton-Foundation-DI-Report
3. There is an initiative called “ConnectHome” led by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) working to accelerate broadband adoption by children and families living in HUD-assisted housing across the nation.

Research Studies

The NDIA Digital Inclusion created a Digital Inclusion Resource Library – collection of documents, reports, teaching aids and other assets used by digital inclusion practitioners. The platform can point to interactive content as well. 

In addition, here are a list of resources, particular focused on economic impact of digital training.

• US AID Report: Feb, 2017 Connecting the Next Four Billion: Strengthening the Global Response for Universal Internet Access
• US AID Report: Feb 2017 Closing the Access Gap: Innovation to Accelerate Universal Internet Adoption
• Papers on Digital Skills and Earning:
  • Benton-Foundation-Digital Inclusion and Meaningful Broadband Adoption Initiatives
  • Chapter 6 New Technology and Digital Worlds Analyzing Evidence of Equity in Access Use and Outcomes
  • Colleges teaching digital skills can bridge middle skills gap 1
  • Connect Your Community – Employment Impact Survey
  • Developing digital immigrants computer literacy the case of unemployed women
  • Digital inequalities and why they matter
  • Does having digital skills really pay off
  • Employer Perceptions of Critical Information Literacy Skills and Digital Badges
  • Gallipolis 2 pager
  • Make Money Surfing the Web – The Impact of Internet Use on the Earnings of U.S. Workers
  • Measuring_Relationship_between_Digital_Skills and employability
  • Prospects for Poor Neighborhoods in the Broadband Era Neighborhood Level Influences on Technology Use at Work
  • Rethinking Digital Inequalities The Experience of the Marginalized in Community Technology Center
  • Searching for work in the digital era
  • The empty rhetoric of the smart city from digital inclusion to economic promotion in Philadelphia
  • The Key to a Good-Paying Job Is_Microsoft Excel_ – At Work – WSJ
  • The Training Difference – How Formal Training on the Internet Impacts
  • New Users
  • What the Experts are Saying_DW_final_updated

Lifeline Services and Broadband

For the latest information on Lifeline and Broadband, check out USAC’s Lifeline Modernization Implementation Newsletter.

The FCC is reconsidering the policy to extend  Lifeline’s monthly credit for low-income households to include broadband which was made in December of 2016. See this link for the Modernization document, and this link for the Order of Reconsideration revoking Lifeline Broadband Provider designations for 9 carriers. For reactions to the revocation, and other FCC policies see:

• NDIA’s December 2017 blog post onImpending Changes to FCC’s Lifeline Program
• NDIA’s blog on September 2017 Blog on broadband for all Americans
• NDIA’s open letter to FCC Chairman Pai
• Benton Foundation’s The FCC is Sucking the Life out of Lifeline
• Wired Magazine’s Millions need the broadband program the FCC just put on hold
• New York Times editorial An Anti-Consumer Agenda at the F.C.C.

For additional perspectives on the original extension of lifeline to include broadband, see:

• Benton Foundation newsletter about Lifeline
• Policy Brief summarizing the FCC lifeline vote, news release, and statements.
• Connected Nation’s national fact sheet.

City- and State-based Initiatives

1. Austin’s Digital Inclusion Page, containing updates to city initiatives in implementing their Digital Strategic Inclusion Plan
2. There is an initiative in California to provide Internet for all, raised originally in the context of a Comcast-Time Warner merger http://www.internetforallnow.org/
3. Kansas City has the Kansas City Coalition for Digital Inclusion page and has published a research paper on Community Learning Centers
4. Minneapolis’s Digital Inclusion Page describing the efforts in their city
5. New York efforts include
   1. June 2018 launch of Digital Equity Lab
   2. City initiatives for broadband in public housing and universal broadband
   3. Statewide initiative to bring broadband to everyone by 2018
6. Philadelphia has funding for Digital Inclusion initiatives available. Details at Digital Literacy Alliance
7. Portland’s page on Broadband and Digital Equity (October 2018)
8. The San Francisco Department of Technology’s page on Digital Inclusion
9. Seattle has a mature and robust program for increasing digital literacy. Here are links to Seattle’s take on Digital Equity and  their Digital Equity Initiative.
10. Chicago’s Technology Resources and Services Page
11. Charlotte (NC) Digital Inclusion Alliance has published a playbook,
    providing a road-map of strategies for reducing Charlotte’s digital divide from 19% to 9% by 2026.

If you are aware of others, please send us an email or use the contact form.