Digital Divide

Far too many Americans still don't have access in their homes to the technology and affordable high-speed broadband they need to succeed in today's economy. We need to think of it as a civil and human right.

You may have heard the term “digital divide” thrown around in conversation or online, but what exactly does it mean? How can something that is seemingly readily available to everyone, and introduced to the world at the same time (the Internet, and new forms of technology) be seen so differently by so many? How is it that one person can pick up a smartphone and seemingly intuitively know how to use it while another can look at it, not even certain of what its purpose is?

To combat this, an organization entitled Plugged In began giving the community access to the future. Through their computer cluster and teaching programs, they are turning people on to the importance of technology. Our project will explore the current state of the "Digital Divide" and its related causes.

Even as technology becomes more affordable and internet access seems increasingly ubiquitous, a “digital divide” between rich and poor remains. The rich and educated are still more likely than others to have good access to digital resources according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

COVID-19 shines a harsh spotlight on California’s digital equity; we need action now from state leaders to extend the reach of broadband to all.

The California Bridging the Digital Divide Fund is a joint effort of the Governor’s Office, State Board of Education, California Department of Education, and CDE Foundation. The CA BDD Fund is a centralized resource for state leadership to provide essential devices, connectivity, and related digital learning supports for PK-12 students, teachers, and their families.

CPUC Sponsored FCC Staff Webcast on Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF)
Wednesday, June 10, 2020

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced today the creation of a new task force to close the digital divide for California students who lack access to resources such as internet connectivity and devices.

Education for at least 90% of the state will have to be held online. Schools cannot reopen unless their county’s coronavirus infections and hospitalizations are stable.

Closing the “Digital Divide” and ensuring affordable, high-speed broadband access to all Californians has been a critical component of the California Economic Summit’s ongoing efforts in creating a more equitable, safe, and prosperous state. In the Regions Rise Together meetings that California Forward hosted with the Newsom Administration this year, it was the most frequently cited issue across all geographies as being the key to unlocking growth in the state’s regions.

Ontario, California, a fast-growing city in the Inland Empire, leverages its growth with an ambitious fiber-to-the-home network.

Progressive communities are relying upon municipal fiber-optic networks to thrive in the new digital world. As municipalities continue to adopt technology platforms, more emphasis is being placed on meeting the growing demands of their constituents through digital systems. Municipalities that have invested in fiber infrastructure realize the importance of these assets to their governmental operations and are beginning to leverage them to bring next-generation broadband to their communities.

CETF provides leadership statewide to close the "Digital Divide" by accelerating the deployment and adoption of broadband to unserved and underserved communities and populations.

From telehealth to online schooling, COVID has made high-speed internet access more critical than ever. Yet 1 out of every 8 households in California still lacks broadband. Former State Senator Martha Escutia discusses how to close the digital divide.

The California Broadband Council (CBC) was established by SB 1462 (Chapter 338, Statutes of 2010) to promote broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas of the state as defined by the Public Utilities Commission, and broadband adoption throughout the state.

In the face of the COVID-19 crisis, the County must strengthen its commitment to sustainability, equity, and resilience in order to create a pathway for investment in a safe, healthy, and inclusive future.

High-speed internet networks have connected America to an extent unprecedented in our history, bringing advances like digital commerce, telehealth, online education, and digital media to large cities, small towns, and everywhere in between. In recent months, the COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the importance of our collective connectivity, with millions more people working and learning from home and nearly all of us looking to stay in contact with friends and loved ones.

However, using conservative assumptions, we estimate that more than 6,500 U.S. municipalities – nearly one-third of all cities – still lack access to the fast, reliable internet that makes all this possible.

The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare all manner of social issues and disparities, from child care accessibility to the weaknesses of an underfunded public health system.

In our roles as directors of free clinics, we have become intimately involved with the complexity inherent to the care of underserved populations, including how seemingly innovative programs can sometimes not meet their intended goals.

San Francisco officials are readying an unprecedented educational assistance program for the fall meant to help up to 6,000 children with their distance-learning needs, as parents and students confront the reality of starting the school year without classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Calbright College, California’s online community college, may have survived elimination in the state’s budget, but the pressure is on to prove its value to the state.

Patient portals offer great potential to improve patient engagement and participation in their health care.² However, while use of portals has continued to rise in the aggregate, this growth has not been distributed evenly across Americans, with low-income, African American, rural, and older adults repeatedly showing lower rates of use of these technologies.

Distance teaching is turning into what could be a giant step back to the days of de facto segregation in American education.

Sub-topics: New Revenues Without Raising Taxes; Support for Small Business; Protections for Working Families; Investments in our Green Economy

The digital and technology resource divide is not a new phenomenon facing school-aged children of color and children experiencing poverty. A recent study found that, nationally, around 17% of children are unable to complete their homework due to limited internet access.

Now,  more than ever, broadband internet access (BIA) must be recognized as a social determinant of health. Disparities in access should be treated as a public health issue because they affect, "the health of people and communities where they live, learn, work and play."

A week before some California districts start school, many parents remain in the dark about what online learning will look like as teachers unions and districts negotiate instruction plans — in some cases behind closed doors.

Stay connected with affordable internet

A citywide campaign in Oakland raised $12.5 million to purchase computers and Wi-Fi hotspots to equip students for distance learning, but school began on Monday and many students did not have what they needed to join in virtually.

By early March, the need for an immediate adaptation of our clinical care delivery system was clear. Within a week, clinics had transitioned from in-person visits to telehealth involving telephone or video. Screening processes for COVID-19 were quickly made available on a free online platform through which at-risk individuals were directed to drive-through centers for in-person testing.

The problem was that many of our patients could not access the online system.

From the end of the 1990s onwards the digital divide, commonly defined as the gap between those who have and do not have access to computers and the Internet, has been a central issue on the scholarly and political agenda of new media development. This article makes an inventory of 5 years of digital divide research (2000–2005).

The digital divide limits opportunities for those without ready access to Internet. Movement online of essential activities during COVID‐19 took inadequate Internet service from inconvenient to emergency/crisis for many households. A negative correlation between rurality and Internet speed was found at the county level, highlighting the struggle for rural areas.

The Wireline Competition Bureau of the FCC will soon open a comments period, seeking input on how to best distribute the $7.1 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF), aimed at helping close the so called homework gap.

Our nation’s vast resources and technological capabilities
have never been greater, nor has the need for all Americans
to be connected.

Best Best & Krieger LLP, together with Spiegel & McDiarmid, filed reply briefs Wednesday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that upholds FCC rules limiting local authority to control the placement of small wireless facilities and to obtain fair rents for use of public property.

In early 2020, talks of preparation for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were furiously circulating around the healthcare system nationwide, and having seen what was occurring in China, and later in Italy, we feared what was to come.

Cell towers posing as palms, pines? That’s so L.A. A gentle breeze rustles the eucalyptus tree, its dark green foliage quivering under a cloudy Santa Ana sky.

This research presents evidence on the relationship between broadband pricing and labor market outcomes for low-income individuals.

It’s no secret — students need the internet. But without reliable access and time to spend in digital environments, rural students are falling behind their urban counterparts.

The Federal Communications Commission started a temporary program to help eligible families pay for Home Internet service during the COVID-19 Pandemic.