As digital inclusion advocates look to get their bearings amid an all-out assault on federal broadband funding programs, the next Building For Digital Equity livestream offers a port in the storm.

Slated for March 13 from 3 to 4:15 pm ET – and once again co-hosted by ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) – the keynote speaker for the UTOPIA Fiber sponsored event will be Revati Prasad, Vice President of Programs with the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.

“Charting the Course: Adapting to Policy Shifts While Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize” promises to bring hundreds of digital inclusion practitioners together to regroup and recalibrate while hearing from those working in the trenches to adequately address broadband access challenges across the nation.

Registration for the increasingly popular live stream is now open here.

Prasad will focus on Benton’s recently published report: “The Human Infrastructure of Broadband: Looking Back, Looking Around, and Looking Ahead.”

At the “Municipal Broadband and Innovative Financing Models: Unlocking Economic Growth” webinar earlier today, attendees got an inside look at how successful community broadband networks have been funded – and how cities and towns can still finance networks even with the uncertainty now swirling around the federal BEAD program.

Co-hosted by ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative and the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB), the webinar featured a wealth of municipal broadband financing knowledge from four guests with deep experience navigating the numbers.

Co-host Gigi Sohn, who was joined by ILSR’s Sean Gonsalves, began the webinar with a brief explanation on why AAPB and ILSR are joining forces for what will be a series of webinars designed to assist cities and towns in how local and state leaders can deal with solving local connectivity challenges where the big incumbent ISPs have failed to deliver ubiquitous and reliable service.

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“I've been traveling around the country and I hear from a lot of communities who are very interested in a model where they control their broadband networks in their communities,” she said. “We want to kind of demystify the finance part and try to get communities more comfortable with how they can move forward.”

The first guest expert to take center screen was Ernie Staten, the City of Fairlawn, Ohio’s Public Service Department Director.

The American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) and ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative are teaming up to host a webinar later this month for local and community leaders interested – or on the fence – in pursuing municipal broadband solutions to local connectivity challenges.

“Municipal Broadband and Innovative Financing Models: Unlocking Economic Growth” will focus on ways publicly-owned broadband networks can be financed and feature municipal broadband providers and financing experts who have successfully navigated the maze of municipal finance.

The free webinar is slated for February 20, 2025, from noon to 1 pm ET.

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Registration is open now here.

Co-hosted by AAPB Executive Director Gigi Sohn and Sean Gonsalves from ILSR's Community Broadband Networks Initiative, organizers are encouraging attendees to bring their questions, as the agenda aims to foster information-sharing and actionable insight.

Panelists for the discussion will be:

• Ernie Staten, City of Fairlawn’s Public Service Department Director
• F.X. Flinn, ECFiber Governing Board Chair
• Laura Lewis, Principal and Co-Owner of LRB Public Finance Advisors
• Eric Rex, Vice President at KeyBanc Capital Markets

“There are more than 400 publicly-owned broadband networks operating right now across the nation,” said AAPB Executive Director Gigi Sohn. “That number has been growing rapidly. But, there's more work to do to address the fear and hesitation that’s stopping some communities from pursuing the public model.”

As states consider filing or supporting legislation similar to New York’s Affordable Broadband Act that requires large broadband providers to offer a low-cost plan for low-income households, ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative is hosting a special live forum focused on what New York lawmakers did with the law and the ripple effects it has created.

“Consider Affordable Broadband State-By-State” will be held live on Monday February 3rd from 3:30 to 4 pm ET on ILSR’s YouTube channel, or below.

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The agenda will focus on what New York’s affordable broadband law includes and what other states may want to consider in crafting similar legislation.

The livestream will be free to any interested participants. It can be viewed here.

Bring your questions as the live forum will hold space for Q&A.

Ahead of the live stream, you can read our analysis and our fact sheets on the law here and here.
 

With uncertainty swirling around the future of BEAD and Digital Equity Act programs in the wake of an Executive Order by the Trump administration freezing federal funding and loan programs, the next Building for Digital Equity (#B4DE) live stream is shaping up to be perhaps the most monumental one to date.

“Charting the Course: Adapting to Policy Shifts While Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize” promises to bring hundreds of digital inclusion practitioners together for the increasingly popular virtual gathering that aims to offer insights and ground-truth on how communities continue to their work in closing the digital divide at a time when the programs established to do so have been tossed into disarray.

Registration is now open here.

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Slated for March 13 from 3 to 4:15 pm ET, the upcoming live stream will once again be co-hosted by ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) and sponsored by UTOPIA Fiber.

Digital inclusion advocates are bracing themselves for an uncertain year ahead.

As the incoming GOP regime takes aim at key aspects of the Digital Equity Act (DEA) and the BEAD (Broadband, Equity, Access, And Deployment) program, those working to bridge the digital divide have more questions than answers just as states are preparing to dole out federal grant money yet to be awarded to grant recipients.

One major question looming over both BEAD and the Digital Equity Act is whether a new Congress can leverage the Congressional Review Act – a tool Congress can use to overturn certain federal agency actions – to undermine the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law behind the national “Internet For All” initiative.

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“The Congressional Review Act only applies to things that were adopted in the last six months. I know that there were a number of things the FCC did to make sure that they were done and would be non-reviewable under the CRA and I suspect NTIA did that as well (with BEAD),” former FCC Chief of Staff and now New Street Research policy advisor Blair Levin said during our final Building For Digital Equity (B4DE) livestream of 2024.

In the wake of the election, and with potential major changes ahead for the national "Internet For All" effort, many in the broadband world are wondering: where do we go from here?

That's what the next Building For Digital Equity (#B4DE) livestream event seeks to answer, inviting you to wear your ugly sweater, join the free virtual gathering, and dive into what a post-Biden administration broadband world may look like.

Slated for December 16, 2024 from 3 to 4:15 PM ET, the "Reflect, Recharge, Reach Forward" themed livestream promises to offer penetrating insights and practical ideas on the way forward.

Registration is now open here.

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Co-hosted by Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR) Community Broadband Networks Initiative and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), the popular (and free) online event will feature two prominent figures in this space: NDIA Executive Director Angela Siefer and New Street Research Policy Advisor Blair Levin.

As Digital Inclusion Week 2024 swings into action, frontline digital inclusion practitioners from across the nation will come together for a timely Building for Digital Equity (#B4DE) livestream event today that focuses on “Coalition Building for Success.”

The popular (and free) virtual gathering – co-hosted by Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) Community Broadband Networks Initiative and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) – will go live today from 3 to 4:15 PM ET.

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For Digital equity advocates or interested guests who have yet register for the event, there is still time to register here.

The third #B4DE of the year will delve into how coalitions are finding success in pushing the digital equity movement forward as Digital Equity Act grant programs are being established.

The keynote speaker for today’s livestream will be Georgia Savage, Deputy Director of #OaklandUndivided, who helped lead the way in securing $38.5 million in grant funding that will expand broadband infrastructure and distribute Internet-connected devices to thousands of low-income households across East and West Oakland, California.

With Digital Inclusion Week 2024 only a month away, we are encouraging digital equity advocates to save the date for the next Building for Digital Equity (#B4DE) livestream event.

The popular (and free) virtual gathering – co-hosted by Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR) Community Broadband Networks Initiative and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) – will be held on October 7, 2024 from 3 to 4:15 PM ET.

You can register for the event here.

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For our third #B4DE of the year, the theme will be “Coalition Building for Success” and will bring together hundreds of frontline digital inclusion practitioners from across the nation to delve into how coalitions are finding success in pushing the digital equity movement forward, especially as Digital Equity Act grant programs are being established.

As with the previous #B4DE events, the Digital Inclusion Week livestream will once again be sponsored by UTOPIA Fiber and co-hosted by NDIA’s Pamela Rosales and ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative Director Christopher Mitchell.

As Georgia prepares to administer $1.3 billion in federal BEAD grants to build new broadband networks, as well as an additional $22.4 million in federal Digital Equity Act funds, digital inclusion advocates in the Peach State are gathering in Atlanta this week to discuss how these once-in-a-generation investments can be made to ensure “every Georgia resident is fully equipped to participate in our digital revolution.”

Among those who will take part in “The Path to Digital Equity: Elevating Local Voices To Drive Impact on Digital Equity” is our own Jordan Pittman, Digital Equity Coordinator with ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks initiative.

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The event – co-hosted by Public Knowledge, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), and the Digital Equity and Opportunity Initiative – will be held on Thursday (August 29) beginning at 2 p.m. at the Fernbank Museum.

Opening remarks will be given by President and CEO of Public Knowledge Chris Lewis, who also serves on ILSR's board of directors.