Since the Federal Communications Commission announced the wind-down of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) in January, there has been a flurry of activity across the country as digital inclusion practitioners and advocates prepare to support the wind-down process while also advocating for the program’s extension.
Today’s episode of the TechTank Podcast brought together some of our favorite researchers to discuss the impacts of the ACP according to recent data, and what’s at stake for individuals and communities with its potential loss.
We need a permanent broadband subsidy. […] Paying for the internet is often a choice between paying for the internet and paying for food for that month. As long as we have poverty in this country, we will always have a digital divide.
– Dr. Rhinesmith
During the conversation, host Dr. Nicol Turner Lee, the Digital Equity Research Center’s Dr. Colin Rhinesmith, and Dr. Fallon Wilson, vice president of the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) and director of Black Churches for Digital Equity shared their perspectives on current events. They discussed the connections between broadband connectivity and poverty, the program’s role in closing the digital divide, and the role of politics in the ongoing fight to get the program re-funded. Listen here:
TechTank, a biweekly podcast from Brookings’s Center for Technology Innovation, explores today’s most consequential technology issues.
