Digital Equity

One option would provide an affordable monthly broadband plan through a local nonprofit, while the second option would come through a proposed agreement with SiFi Networks to build fiber-optic lines across the city.

The Oakland Housing Authority plans to supply 1,117 households in the city's five largest public housing communities with free wireless Internet access by 2024, city officials said.

Plus, a new report looks at what digital inclusion efforts are lacking, a pair of organizations are partnering to promote broadband careers to students and more.

K-12 schools and universities in several states are using gamification to teach science through virtual experiments, simulators and LMS integrations like those offered by the global ed-tech company Labster.

A laptop-building seminar for younger Florida students is a highlight of Remake Learning Days, an initiative to bring computer literacy and other learning opportunities in STEM subjects to low-income communities.

High school and college students will be part of Massachusetts' Digital Equity Partnerships Program, a grant funding initiative to train seniors in technology skills and how to use devices.

Plus, Oklahoma is the latest state to launch a broadband listening tour, FEMA is teaming with the New Orleans Library for a digital literacy workshop, and more.

Butler Tech and Butler County Educational Services Center are coordinating with telecommunications providers, as well as federal and state school funding through Broadband Ohio, to expand broadband access.

A $10 million project to bring broadband to rural areas of Lancaster County is underway, thanks to federal stimulus dollars earmarked by Lancaster County commissioners for the project.

Crawford County commissioners are expected to ratify a contract to expand broadband service to 2,000 homes in the next three years. The county has committed $3 million of its American Rescue Plan Act funds to the project.

The Placer County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved $31 million in funding to bring broadband infrastructure to Sheridan, Newcastle, Loomis, North and South Auburn, Meadow Vista and a neighborhood in Granite Bay.

Plus, philanthropists have launched a new effort to support women in the digital economy, New York City has announced a new Gigabit Center on Staten Island, and more.

Eden Town Supervisor Melissa Hartman, who ran against Republican-endorsed incumbent Michael Kearns for the county clerk's seat last year and lost, has been hired as executive director of Erie County's ErieNet Corp.

With a historic amount of funding coming from the federal government, state governments are increasingly starting to hire full-time staff to focus on digital equity work.

Plus, more states announce new broadband deployment funding, the White House launches a $1.5 billion innovation fund related to the telecommunications supply chain, and more.

Officials revamped workforce efforts by implementing new virtual training models, creating digital literacy programs and designing a data-centered platform to connect users with job opportunities based on work history and skill sets.

County commissioners have approved a $2.5 million grant application to the Appalachian Regional Commission to help incentivize the buildout of broadband infrastructure in the region.

According to The Center for Digital Equity at Queens University of Charlotte, more than 14 percent of homes in Mecklenburg County, almost 56,000 households, do not have Internet access.