- Net Inclusion 2025 Highlights
- Coalition on Digital Impact Launches
- Future of Federal Funding Uncertain
- FCC Reports on Internet Access
- Massachusetts Expands Internet in Public Housing
- Clallam County Plans Fiber Expansion
NET INCLUSION 2025 HIGHLIGHTS
This week saw Net Inclusion 2025 happen, Tuesday through Thursday, hosted by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) in the Gila River Indian Community near Phoenix, Ariz.
The annual event is the premiere digital inclusion gathering in the country; in 2024, it featured the Tribal Digital Inclusion Trailblazers program launch and an examination of artificial intelligence.
Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis addressed attendees this year.
“As a tribal leader, I am urging this administration to release broadband BEAD [Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment] funding immediately without delay,” he said, referring to the funding pause enacted by the federal government, arguing Congress should urge the funding to be released — “yesterday.”
He argued the money is essential for first responders to do their jobs, citing the importance of Internet in addressing the missing and murdered Indigenous people crisis. The governor underlined the importance of working together to advocate and fight to ensure the funding that was allocated to support net inclusion is directed where it is most needed.
Concern about attacks on congressionally approved federal funding like BEAD and the Digital Equity Act, and those more broadly directed at equity-related initiatives was a common sentiment expressed by Net Inclusion speakers. As NDIA Executive Director Angela Siefer put it on Wednesday, “It doesn’t just feel personal; it ... is personal.”
NDIA launched a toolkit last week to highlight successful examples of the Digital Navigator program; and at the event, it hosted two sessions to support that release. For those who could not attend, NDIA will host a webinar May 30 offering an overview.
The new toolkit outlines how program leaders can bring a successful digital navigator program from the planning stage to execution. It offers specific resources to support the process, such as worksheets and sample interview questions. In addition to the toolkit and sessions, NDIA has published a directory to illustrate where such programs are located and help those involved share information and partner with others.
Finally, NDIA announced this week it is going to offer an eight-hour, live webinar to provide digital navigator training for successful programming. The webinar will include an introduction, a resource guide, broadband basics, device options, terminology, client needs, and boundary-setting. This session will be held every other month, with the first taking place July 15-16.
NDIA has highlighted other available trainings, including one from digitalLIFT, one from World Education and Goodwill Industries International, and one from Marylanders Online.
Livestreams of Net Inclusion 2025 can be found on the NDIA YouTube page.
COALITION ON DIGITAL IMPACT LAUNCHES
This week marked the launch of the Coalition on Digital Impact (CODI), an alliance of technology leaders and advocacy organizations working together to break down barriers so people can more easily navigate the Internet in their native language.
Founding members of this alliance include Identity Digital, Internet Infrastructure Coalition, Internet Society, Indigenous Connectivity Institute, the American Library Association, LGBT Tech, and Public Knowledge.
The initiative is born from the recognition that, although there are more than 7,000 languages and dialects worldwide, about 10 languages make up the majority of content online. This imbalance, according to the announcement, can marginalize communities; AI may further widen this divide.
CODI will launch two projects in coming months: a study examining the impact of language on Internet access, and the creation of a monitoring system to identify websites and apps that recognize and accept domains that are internationalized or have more than three characters.
Other forthcoming CODI initiatives include the creation of a collection of multilingual digital resources, research, the launch of a fellowship program, educational campaigns, and advocacy.
FUTURE OF FEDERAL FUNDING UNCERTAIN
President Donald Trump recently called for the end of funding from the Digital Equity Act (DEA), which Congress passed as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but experts say the president cannot legally overrule a law. Even so, states have lost pre-awarded funding from DEA programs.
Advocates continue to express alarm over the termination of DEA grants.
“States and community anchor institutions around the country have already developed promising models, begun establishing resources and partners, and carefully navigated contracts,” American Library Association President Cindy Hohl said in a statement, emphasizing ending the DEA now would be a “devastating blow” to those relying on it, including veterans and students.
States are grappling with how to address the lost funding. Vermont’s Digital Equity Capacity Grant was canceled, which would have supported its Digital Empowerment Program, an endeavor officials say may impact 95 percent of Vermonters.
The Texas Broadband Development Office addressed the termination of its State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program in a newsletter, stating that it would have to leverage the state’s Broadband Infrastructure Fund in the absence of the $55.6 million allocation the state was planning to use.
On a separate but related note, Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program funding has been frozen while the initiative undergoes federal review, but policymakers continue calling for its continuation.
“It is imperative to follow the law,” a group of U.S. senators said in a May 16 letter to President Trump.
According to one estimate, broadband deployment delays caused by program changes could push deployments out two years.
A letter from U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick similarly urges the program’s continuation: “Your suspension of the program is needlessly hindering progress. … Please respond within fourteen days confirming you have lifted your suspension of the BEAD program.”
FCC REPORTS ON INTERNET ACCESS
A report released last week by the FCC, "Internet Access Services," compiles information about the status of Internet access as of June 30, 2024. Findings reveal total connections increased about 2.5 percent between June 2023 and June 2024.
The report includes information about downstream and upstream speeds, and also has charts illustrating correlations between subscribership rates and demographic measures like income, education and age.
In other FCC news, the agency has approved Verizon’s $20 billion acquisition of Frontier, expected to enable Verizon to upgrade Frontier’s network in 25 states and bring fiber to more communities.
Notably, as part of this merger, Verizon has committed to ending practices related to diversity and inclusion per the FCC’s record. Experts have previously expressed concern about the FCC investigating diversity training practices of private-sector businesses for being an overreach.
“Let’s be clear: diversity, equity and inclusion does not equal discrimination,” Commissioner Anna M. Gomez has previously said.
Finally, a letter from The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights opposes the confirmation of Olivia Trusty as commissioner until there is a written verification that the FCC will remain fully staffed with five commissioners representing both major political parties.
MASSACHUSETTS EXPANDS INTERNET IN PUBLIC HOUSING
In state news, the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) has announced $22,260,701 in grants for upgrades to Internet in 15,793 affordable housing units in the state, as part of the Residential Retrofit Program.
The program is “an ambitious effort to revamp decades-old wiring affecting low-income families,” according to a statement from MBI Director Michael Baldino.
This is the third and largest round of funding for this program, which has awarded $6.7 million thus far: $6.3 million in December and $10.4 million in March.
Through this program, the state also launched an $8 million Retrofit Ancillary Grantee (RANGE) Program, which supports digital literacy training for housing operators that previously participated in the Residential Retrofit Program.
CLALLAM COUNTY PLANS FIBER EXPANSION
In local news, Clallam County, Wash., is teaming up with Internet service provider Astound to bring high-speed fiber Internet to a rural area of the county. The project will help connect more than 1,500 homes to high-speed Internet service.
The $22.2 million partnership leverages $1.7 million from the county, $4.5 million from the Washington State Department of Commerce Public Works Board Broadband Program, and $16 million from the Washington State Broadband Office. The latter two sources leverage funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.
When construction is complete, Astound will maintain and operate the fiber-optic communications network, per the agreement.
