Libraries know all about dealing with digital divide issues. We are here to share ideas across all people in our communities – not just the ones who are fortunate enough to have high-speed internet and computers. We are sharing an excerpt here from the website Campus Technology; the whole thing can be found here.

“The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition, a nonprofit that promotes “open, affordable, high-quality broadband connections,” has issued a roadmap for 2021, laying out what it will be pursuing in its mission of supplying internet access to an estimated 42 million unconnected people in the United States. At the heart of the solution is reliance on “anchor institutions” that need high-speed connectivity for their own operations and are well positioned to be able to share that with the surrounding community. Such organizations include K-12 districts, colleges and universities, libraries, hospitals, health clinics, public housing communities and houses of worship.

The “2021 Policy Roadmap” listed nine policy priorities for closing the “digital divide”:

1. Turning to anchor institutions to help families gain access to free and low-cost broadband programs, computers and digital literacy training through a number of programs, including the emergency broadband benefit program enacted by Congress in the December 2020 COVID-19 relief legislation and the Lifeline program run by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
2. Doing a “more accurate and granular” job of mapping those areas most in need of broadband and identifying the anchor institutions that can serve them. The roadmap called existing broadband maps “flawed”: “They overstate broadband availability, lack pricing information and rely too heavily on industry-provided data.”
3. Strengthening the E-rate program, by streamlining the application process, expanding the list of eligible services to include WiFi on school buses and implementation of cybersecurity solutions, permitting non-schools or libraries to receive Category 2 funding and expanding E-rate to cover expenses related to remote learning.
4. Bolstering the FCC’s Rural Health Care Program with funding and improved administration, to accommodate a spike in telehealth usage.
5. Including college-age students and their unique needs in any projects for developing student broadband access.
6. Reforming the Universal Service Fund (USF), whose fees rose from 21.2 percent in the beginning of 2020 to 31.8 percent in 2021 in response to shrinking telecommunications revenues, and identifying alternative funding mechanisms to support the various programs run through USF.
7. Promoting additional spectrum availability for anchor institutions, including expanded use of Citizens Broadband Radio Service (3.5 GHz), TV White Spaces and 6 GHz WiFi spectrums.
8. Encouraging a reduction in local fees for accessing poles and rights-of-way to “change the economics of deploying broadband to unserved areas.”
9. Pushing for a reintroduction of the “Internet for All Act” in Congress or an alternative that can help “strengthen broadband infrastructure through anchor institutions.””