Rather than allowing E-rate funds to sit on a lofty but unattainable shelf without fulfilling their promise to our kids, policymakers should empower schools and libraries to continue supporting the growth and development of America’s children, even if from a distance.
Op-eds
Broadband: Bringing Our Children Out of the Cold
Rural and urban communities need to have broadband available in their communities. We need to pinpoint precisely who has broadband and who does not. Then we have to create an environment so that they can afford the technology and utilize it effectively to adopt it in their daily lives.
Reform This Lifeline for American Families
Alarmingly large numbers of American families are currently excluded from the digital world. Either they live in regions where it is uneconomical for the broadband providers to deploy infrastructure or they find the services to be unaffordable. Solving the affordability problem will be the province of both the FCC and Congress through reform of the 36-year-old Lifeline program, initiated in 1985 and largely underutilized today.
Improving Broadband Access Does Double Duty for Biden’s Top Priorities
Making broadband accessible and affordable across the country would help President Biden with his top priorities—fighting Covid-19 and improving the economy.
Why a government-owned 5G network is still a bad idea
Don’t give up on market-led innovation when we need it most
Viewpoint: Throw the Neediest a Modernized Lifeline
Updating key federal telecom program would narrow digital divide.
Prevent the Homework Gap from Turning Into an Educational Sinkhole
IIA’s Kim Keenan and Common Sense Media’s Amina Fazlullah highlight the need to act now to prevent the homework gap from becoming an educational sinkhole for a generation of children.
It’s Time to Shore up the Universal Service Fund So It Can Live up to Its Name
Congress needs to create a solution that reflects how Americans actually use telecommunications services rather than how we once did.
Americans Are Voting for Broadband
For most of us, it’s hard to imagine having spent the last six months without access to reliable, high-speed broadband internet. But for at least 18 million Americans, that’s been their everyday reality – limited options for staying in touch with family and friends, lost work opportunities, no connectivity for distance learning and no way to benefit from telehealth visits.
America’s Digitally Powered Racial Awakening
Whether you live on a reservation or in the middle of a crowded city, the need to share the reality of our human experience has never been more relevant or urgent. The internet is enabling this like no generation before; empathy and understanding are finally within reach.
Pandemic Shows Why All Americans Need Broadband Access
We have come to realize that, for our national well-being, the internet must be available and affordable to all.
Bridging the Digital Divide has Never Been More Critical
As Americans continue to persevere through the COVID-19 pandemic while simultaneously confronting a deep recession and persistent social injustice, we need to come to grips with one of the challenges these convergent crises have brought into bold relief: the digital divide.