Digital Equity

Whiteside County, Ill., is taking the first step in providing the entire county with reliable and affordable fiber broadband Internet access, joining a regional planning program with a number of its neighbors.

The county’s public library and information technology department partnered to assemble a task force that is developing a long-term plan to increase access to affordable and reliable broadband Internet.

Various organizations have come together to create Tech Equity Miami, an initiative that aims to provide $100 million over five years to improve equity in the Miami-Dade tech sector.

The COVID-inspired pivot to remote court hearings may be here to stay. While virtual proceedings may need improved tech support, overall they allow more people to be heard in the justice system.

With evidence that algorithms can treat people unequally, society must question why that is. Research into equity and algorithms indicates that no algorithm can mathematically fulfill all notions of fairness.

Plus, the FCC authorizes $313 million more through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, Maine creates a web page to track broadband work in the state, government agencies look to hire digital inclusion staff, and more.

The brain implant, which was co-developed by a Carnegie Mellon University professor, was tested in four Australian patients for a year and proved successful. A U.S. trial is approaching.

A report released last week by the American Library Association underscores the role of public libraries in expanding digital equity during the COVID-19 pandemic through partnerships with government entities and other efforts.

Many Alaska Native tribes and organizations are imagining what they can do for the people they serve as they eye a slice of the $3 billion in federal funding set aside for high-speed Internet expansion.

Digital redlining shares many things in common with traditional redlining, the deliberate withholding of loans and other key resources from residents of certain neighborhoods, largely along racial divides.

Beaver County Commissioners have released a two-year plan to bring Internet to about one-third of the county where logging on is slow or impossible, greatly boosting connectivity in the area.

Tucson Connected, a public-private partnership, hopes to combine the digital inclusion efforts at play across the region to connect a range of stakeholders to the subsidies and all residents to more equitable Internet.

Plus, a rural broadband association has launched a new digital inclusion series; New York is hiring its first-ever digital equity director at the state level; ConnectMaine has won a $28 million grant; and much more.

Community Health Center Inc. has received the grant from the Federal Communications Commission to expand telehealth services for low-income and veteran patients in Connecticut, the Middletown-based provider announced.

About $250 million from the state will focus on expanding broadband access after the Legislature and the governor reached an infrastructure spending agreement following weeks of negotiations.

While seniors have long been a population on the wrong side of the digital divide, the evolution of tech like video chatting and telehealth makes digital inclusion for older adults more important than ever.

Gary Community School Corp. is working with local partners to put free Wi-Fi in six city parks, increase broadband subscriptions, attract e-commerce and provide technology training for seniors.

Plus, the FCC has opened an inquiry seeking public comment on what constitutes digital discrimination, New York state undertakes major effort to enroll eligible families in federal broadband programs, and more.