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.

“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.”

“This is about creating a space for those who have put community broadband solutions into action to share how they handled financing network construction with those who are considering how to replicate or innovate on that success in their own communities,” added ILSR’s Community Broadband Director Christopher Mitchell.

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.

While Posit Conference 2024 notes that “not all superheros wear capes,” our Senior GIS Analyst Christine Parker will be flying into Seattle, Washington this week to join a breakout session at the annual gathering of open source data scientists.

Christine will join a panel of data analysts to discuss Data Wrangling for Advocacy: Tidy Data to Support the Affordable Connectivity Program.

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Her focus will be on how the ILSR Community Broadband Networks research team used “messy datasets” to create the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) dashboard and how by doing so made ILSR one of “the few organizations that worked with these data to translate them into meaningful insights.”

The two-day conference, slated to begin tomorrow, offers virtual tickets to view the live stream of all keynotes and sessions.

Christine’s session is slated for August 14 from 2:40 p.m. to 4 p.m. PDT.

Registration is still open here.

Full agenda here.
 

Tomorrow, Gigi Sohn – one of the nation's premier broadband-for-all advocates and Executive Director of the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) – will join ILSR's Community Broadband Networks team and an emerging network of local digital inclusion champions in San Antonio to delve into what it takes to create an ecosystem for digital opportunity.

Hosted by the Digital Inclusion Alliance of San Antonio (DIASA) and the Texas Digital Equity Network (Texas DEN), the free event - "Eco-Bytes: Weaving the Digital Opportunity Web" - will be held on June 27, 2024 at the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) headquarters beginning at 8 am.

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Similar to other ILSR Urban Digital Bootcamps in other cities across the nation, the agenda is packed with informative content designed to support community leaders working to close the digital divide in San Antonio.

The day will include interactive activities and opportunities for engaging conversations, as well as a fireside chat with Gigi and Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) Community Broadband Networks Initiative Director and event co-organizer Christopher Mitchell.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to visit San Antonio and the growing network of connectivity champions doing the important advocacy work for telecommunication policies and infrastructure investments that promote a healthy democracy and a just society," Sohn said.

“It’s vital that we foster community centric solutions that ensure everyone has access to the technologies necessary to fully participate in our society, our economy, our health care and education systems."

Event Highlights: