Community Broadband & Digital Equity
Access NTIA's updated BroadbandUSA Federal Funding Guide here!
The Community Broadband and Digital Equity Committee focuses on the critical role local governments can play in driving broadband deployment and adoption among the underserved. The committee generally meets on the second Tuesday of the month at 2:00 pm Eastern. Contact Jennifer Harman to be added to the Committee's listserv.
The Committee has embraced an ambitious agenda for the coming years, where we seek to share information on challenges facing local governments as they consider community broadband and digital equity programs.
Broadband Infrastructure
- Broadband Infrastructure Models - Develop best practices to support and guide local governments in their consideration of various government-owned and public-private partnership broadband infrastructure models to meet internal organizational and external community objectives.
- Pole Attachment Practices - Compile best practices to address operational and policy issues related to wire attachments to utility poles for local government supported broadband projects, as well as the attachment of small cell wireless installations onto municipally-owned streetlight, traffic, and electric distribution poles
Digital Equity
- Digital Inclusion Programs - Develop best practices for effective digital inclusion programs to combat the digital divide and develop the tools for full community participation in the information economy.
- Homework Gap Solutions - Develop best practices and models to assist local governments implement programs to address the homework gap in their communities.
- Telemedicine Project Models - Compile effective models to assist local governments create telemedicine projects that reduce costs and reach unserved and underserved populations.
- Broadband Empowerment Zones - Compile innovative models to assist local governments create broadband empowerment zones to encourage entrepreneurs to experiment in the creation of new businesses in the Information Economy.
- Workforce Development Practices - Develop best practices to assist local governments in implementing workforce development programs for the Information Economy
Collaboration and Policy Development
- Partnership with Federal Reserve Bank System - Work in collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank System to assist in the development of objective criteria for banks to provide funding for municipally-supported broadband infrastructure projects under the Community Reinvestment Act.
- Broadband Project Certification - Develop elements of a certification process to recognize local government projects that follow NATOA's best practices for broadband infrastructure models.
- Policy Development - Study broadband technological innovations, industry developments, state and federal regulatory agency regulations, court cases, and state and federal legislation impacting local governments in the area of broadband deployment.
NATOA Broadband Principles
NATOA’s own Broadband Principles support and strengthen our resolve to help our nation achieve the broadband capacity and access it needs for the future.