This week: We're joined by reps from the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), plus the city of Philadelphia, and Door County, Wisconsin, to discuss the crucial work local governments are doing to close connectivity gaps.
This episode features Paolo Balboa, senior program manager with the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA); as well as Jessica Hatch, broadband coordinator for Door County, Wisconsin; and Ashley Pollard, the digital inclusion manager for the city of Philadelphia.
Both Door County and Philadelphia were recently selected as Digital Inclusion Trailblazers, which is a program organized by NDIA that sets a benchmark for local governments who are doing digital equity and digital inclusion work. We discuss that program in more detail, as well as the unique circumstances surrounding the digital divide in Philadelphia and Door County, what's working, where they're still facing challenges closing connectivity gaps and much more.
Learn more about the 2023 cohort of Digital Inclusion Trailblazers here.
Here are a few topics covered in this conversation:
About the NDIA and its Digital Inclusion Trailblazers program (04:00)
Why Philadelphia and Door County applied to be part of the Trailblazers program (08:15)
Details on Door County, Wisconsin's digital divide, what's working and where additional resources are needed (13:00)
How affordability is impacting broadband adoption in Philadelphia (24:00)
How municipalities have successfully promoted the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and what it will mean if that program ends (31:15)
Takeaways from the NDIA's latest cohort of Digital Inclusion Trailblazers (42:00)
For a lightly edited transcript, click the caption button on the player above.
Read more about:
The DivideYou May Also Like
.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
