this year and hope everyone else isn't too. we are very excited to welcome four wonderful panelists who will be able to speak to the

topic of today's discussion which of course is next steps on digital equity projects. before i introduce them, i want to say a few words about broadband back first -- broadband breakfast. we are excited to welcome c-span viewers. we do this event every wednesday at 12:00 noon eastern time and livestream it on multiple platforms including the zoom most of you are here on. i am especially pleased to mention i am broadcasting or we are broadcasting from the very first location at which c-span was broadcast at the national press club. brian lamb was here and it is kind of cool to be here where c-span started. welcome, c-span viewers and guests. i am drew clark with broadband

breakfast and we believe in better broadband, better lives which is our way of saying we need higher capacity internet but we also need to make sure everyone has access to the tools and technologies and the resources to take full advantage of high capacity internet. we are a news site and events community and bring people together as part of our mission to report everyday on america's broadband buildout and to be the community for better broadband, better lives. if you are here with us and you signed up to watch, thanks for being part of the broadband breakfast community. your access to these frequently -- these weekly events, and we are doing more than 150, 200 stories a month on broadband breakfast.

you can access our free daily newsletter and you get access to up to up to five news articles per month as well as unlimited experts opinions. we hope many of you will take the next step and become a paying member. that is just $99 a month or 590 a year and you get unlimited access to the news, content, reports, premium data and charts as well as exclusive reports and also the videos of our events. speaking of events, we are very excited we will be having one of our regular in person events just a few weeks from now. it is broadband and the trump administration. it will be held on gallery place thursday december 12 and we have panels on finishing the job, the broadband equity access and deployment program. a return to spectrum authority

question mark. reforming the universal service program and renewing the affordable connectivity program. also a question mark there should we will check the next administration. chevron deference can sound wonky but it was a pillar of the deference to administrative agencies like the federal communications commission's and others and so the fact it is now gone by virtue of the supreme court decision, it does change a lot of dynamics around communications, law and policy. we are excited for each of these topics. we are excited to welcome a leader in next-generation positioning, navigation and timing. that is a sponsor for broadband and the trump administration. i want to give a thanks to the sponsors of broadband breakfast

that allow us to do this free programming every wednesday at noon. we are going on five years since the start of the pandemic we have been doing this every wednesday at 12 noon. our sponsors include utopia fiber, comcast, the institute for local self-reliance is community broadband networks initiative, the california emerging technology fund, g fiber or google fiber, broadband now, cost quest, aca connects and an cta and the internet and television association. thank you to each of our sponsors. i'm going to open our view up to all of our panelists. they will only be on the screen for a short while before i turn it over to each of them to give up to five minute statements on this timely topic and we are talking about digital equity which i am sure some of you will

tackle in discussing it as a label and maybe the pluses and minuses of that label. but again, our panel is knowledgeable about all aspects of digital inclusion and the way that broadband, it is the better lives part of the better broadband, better lives. in our discussion on the next steps of digital projects, we are going to hear first from scott adams. welcome back. it was great to have you in person at the sacramento event. california broadband summit we had in june should the deputy director of broadband literature -- broadband literacy. he will be followed by dylan baker who is the deputy state librarian at the idaho commission for libraries and has served in a variety of roles at

libraries and digital inclusion and equity. next up will be lisa. she is the deputy director of rod band in the alaska brought and office. thank you for getting up early in the morning to be with us here. lisa has been in this position and prior to that she was senior project manager in the alaska broadband, the commissioner's office of the department of commerce, economic development for the state of alaska. she has come from another office in the state of alaska and i am sure you will talk about it when we turn to you. last but not least is angela. angela is executive director of the national gentle inclusion alliance. she has really pioneered the role of digital inclusion, digital equity and is a leader in this movement for many years.

let me go ahead and turn the microphone over to scott adams to take it away. we are going to try to limit our viewers on screen to a fewer number so we can be as utile for our television viewers. >> thank you, drew. it is such a pleasure to be back here with broadband live. giving reassuring thoughts on this important topic with you. i want to make sure to wish all of the viewers happy holidays. this is my favorite time of the year and i hope folks are getting prepared to spend some time with friends and family and eat some good food and just enjoy each other.

my name is scott adams. i am the deputy director of broadband and digital literacy at the california department of technology's similarly named officer broadband and digital literacy. for those of you who don't know me, our department and our office share significant responsibilities for broadband in the state of california with the california utilities commission who are joint partners and implementing the state's broadband for all program. i think drew, you teed this up and we learned during the pandemic today's technology driven society, having access to broadband and internet is the difference between being able to fully engage in modern life and being cut off. as will have experienced it is critical for access to education, health care, essential services etc. it is my pleasure to be working in this space and be sharing thoughts with you today.

a bit about the state's broadband for all program. it was really you know, something the state has been working on for a long time but it acknowledges access and availability, affordability and adoption are critical components of digital equity which you just mentioned. the state's broadband for all program has three main goals for all residents. that is that they have access to high performance broadband at homes, schools and businesses could they have access to affordable services and devices and access to training to enable digital inclusion. about our department, we chaired the california broadband council who coordinates the states efforts in defining the governor's executive order and we have also overseen the

development of the state's agile equity plan over the last year in partnership with over 50,000 stakeholders in california. one thing that is interesting to point out is our office is responsible for not just implementing the governor's executive order on broadband in the broadbent action plan but for developing multi-million-dollar state broadband network. that is open access to help deploy and promote access and availability throughout the state. we work in partnership with the public utilities commission and have an additional historic suite of last mile programs that fund -- that fund the deployment and adoption of they are administering the beat program. up to $4 million to and sent and

assist last mile entities to develop network to connect people to homes. we have invested billions in infrastructure to address access and availability and to a certain extent affordability. but with our digital equity plan , our just received allocation of state digital capacity funding, we are focusing on those critical pieces to connect people to homes that are those non-infrastructure pieces like enabling local and regional entities to develop digital equity plans that conform to the state. to do digital navigation and conduct digital literacy training which are negating factors to folks being connected and doing targeted device

distribution programs for those most in need. we are grateful for the responsibilities we have been tasked with to address this very important issue for the people of california and looking forward to engaging further in this conversation today. drew: thank you's, -- thank you, scott. we are going to shift to dylan. take it away. dylan: it is great to be here with you all today. i love being here with my fellow panelists from western states and from our -- and with our panelists who are representing the national stage. angela, it is great to be here with you too. i met the idaho commission for libraries. we are the state library agency in idaho and we have been around since 1901. i am honored to be here with you today.

a big shout out to our idaho office of broadband. we are a small -- we are small but mighty under the state of idaho. we don't have quite the population or size of state government so it takes collaboration to work together. i was generously invited by our idaho office of broadband to speak here to you all about the digital equity efforts in idaho. we are in a unique situation in idaho where we as the state library agency have been tasked with the digital equity efforts for our state should it is a unique situation and really a rare and -- opportunity. libraries have been operating under the digital equity space since computers have been around. public computers, access is something libraries have had for a long time and it is something i am passionate about. i was hired here at the idaho commission for libraries eight years ago as their first broadband consultant and have rows to be the deputy state

librarian. the intersection of analogy, people, broadband, that is near and dear to my heart. i will give you an overview of what we are working on with our digital access plan. and its implementation. we were honored to receive the third state digital equity capacity award last month and have already gotten down to implementation. we have opened up some sub-grants of idaho's allocation to over 80% is going to be sub-granted out to regional entities. idaho is a vast state but not heavily populated. had a few statewide solutions but we are looking at a regional local community approach and it is going to take all libraries, anchorage the tuitions, workforce development, higher education so we have developed a variety of subgrant programs to get arc at -- our capacity money

out to communities that can serve those populations most effectively. we have some grants that are open right now. we are going to move as quickly as possible to implement. we know folks are eager to getting support to their communities. as we work closely with our idaho office of broadband, they are handling the infrastructure deployment and we are handling the digital equity. we like to explain, the human side of things. once we get high-speed connectivity, we have to make sure folks have all the necessary advantages and abilities and skills and infrastructure to be able to access that connectivity. looking forward to talking with you all more and it is great to be here. drew: let me just ask a quick question. if you don't mind, if the others could turn your video cameras off so we can play around with

this as i ask a quick question or two for dylan. you used a word i think would be useful to define which is covered populations. could you speak to that and what is the basis for a entity or person or type of person being included as covered population in the digital equity sphere? dylan: that is a great question. we are looking at the national telecommunication information administration's guidance on what those populations we serve our should they cover 8 -- we serve are. they cover a wide range. there are folks who maybe are low income, who could be aging, who have a language barrier. who might have a disability or are rural or a couple other categories. in many states that is a significant portion of the population.

over 76% of the population falls into one of those covered populations. those are the ones with the digital equity dollars that were put forth, we are trying to make sure we address. we know everyone experiences digital equity access issues and could use some support from time to time. those covered populations are where we are trying to focus but we want to reach everyone as well. drew: thank you for answering that question. let's get you to turn your camera off and for he said to turn your camera on. -- for lisa to turn your camera on. will spotlight you to hear more about -- is the son up in alaska yet? lisa: it is not which is why it is so dark behind me. it will probably be another hour before it gets fully daylight here. drew: over to you. go ahead please. lisa: thank you for this invitation to speak and to

participate with the distinguished panelists i have sitting here with me today pit the alaska broadband office is very new. we were created officially in august of 2022. we were established specifically for the role of managing the digital equity program managed by the national telecommunication and information administration. not unusual across broadband offices, we are scheduled to sunset. we will be extended on what are 2030 sunset date is. that is when we are scheduled to terminate our existence. we have vast geographic expenses we have to cover. the state of alaska, lots of people don't realize this. if you cut alaska in two, texas would be the third-largest state.

we have vast geographic expenses full of mountain ranges and tundra and lakes and rivers and all sorts of things that provide additional difficulty. i should not say difficulty. additional engineering opportunities for us to get our broadband infrastructure deployed across our state. it is a privilege for me and for the broadband office to be doing what we are doing in alaska especially for our indigenous populations. alaska has 229 federally recognized tribes and many of those have their own villages or communities in which they practice traditional subsistence lifestyle. currently because of the lack of internet access, not only internet access but digital equity in those areas, people are having to choose and alaska is suffering what is called rule flight. -- called rural flight.

what infrastructure deployment and digital equity will mean is people will no longer have to choose between living a traditional subsistence lifestyle and having the ability to fully participate from their home in the global economy and global society. that is an amazing privilege for us to be able to help provide these tools and this infrastructure for people to make whatever life decisions they want not only about career and society but also access to education and health and all those things talked about in the digital equity sphere. alaska has received our digital equity capacity grant award. we are in the final phases of approving our in state competitive grant program we will be running. about two thirds of the money we

received in the equity capacity grant will be going toward this competitive grant program. we just like idaho are going to be likely relying on a regional or local approach. the geographic expanse between locations is so vast and we have very few things that are able to cover an entire state. from the tip of southeast alaska all the way to the northern part of the state as well and on out the aleutians, it is not practical. we are looking to the regional and local approach. i look forward to answering questions and discussing other things with the panelists. thank you so very much. drew: stay on camera for a quick moment. i'm going to ask you another question too. we want to make sure we explained to the people who are not familiar with the arcadia of bureaucratic programs.

could you speak to how does the digital equity related programs connect to the broadband equity access and deployment programs? that is a question for our panel later on to i thought i would ask you so you could speak to this in terms of the funds that are going to build and the funds that are going to help those to make use of the things that have been built. lisa: please or any other panelist jump in if you think i'm going to far to the beginning. the infrastructure investment jobs act in 2021 created two new programs on the broadband sphere. broadband equity and access deployment which was 42.5 billion for infrastructure deployment across the united states and its territories. and then the digital equity act which included three different programs for digital equity. one, digital equity planning

which each state and territory received formula based funding to develop a digital equity plan. second, the digital equity capacity program which was formula funding to states to be able to implement digital equity plans in the digital equity competitive grant program which is being run specifically by an tia and is open to a vast array of entities across the country and i am certain is woefully oversubscribed based on need. the broadband, equity, access deployment program includes the component of digital equity and we have to make sure those two plans, our deployment plan and plan for digital equity and inclusion activities are tied together. each state and territory are doing those in a way that most reflects what their internal needs are.

it really boils down to making sure as several people have said this morning that once broadband infrastructure is in place so that they have access to the internet, they have the skills they need to use it, the technical knowledge, the devices they need to use the internet for their given individual purposes and that they have affordable internet should that is really where -- affordable internet. that is where digital equity and the affordable side of things tied together. drew:drew: that is what i appreciate you doing. lang out the infrastructure investment and jobs act which passed in november 2021 included not just the 42.5 billion but smaller programs like digital equity plan and digital equity capacity plan, digital equity competitive grants and we will talk through this more. go ahead. lisa: i apologized it i went to to mention i said they were only two.

there were four also. the tribal program was extended in the investment and jobs act and there was the middle mile program for specific to middle mile broadband infrastructure deployment as well. drew: thanks for clarifying. i was speaking about those specifically. let's get you to turn your video off and get angela to turn your zone -- turn yours on. let's get your thoughts on this topic. you are on mute so you have to unmute yourself. angela: got it should after all -- got it. after all these years. this is very exciting. i love we are doing this with my digital equity friends across the country. i am the executive director of the national digital inclusion alliance. i live in columbus, ohio. this is an important time for the work we do. this webinar is incredibly timely.

this is a moment for us to recognize the possibilities of digital equity. when i say digital equity, one of the first things we did when we got started was create a definition for digital equity. this is the same definition that was included in congress's language. it is the idea that all individuals and communities have full access to information communication technology to do whatever they need to do. full participation in our economy, our society, our democracy. i think we should say -- sometimes people don't like the word equity. when we talk about digital equity, we are talking about really specific work. work these folks are doing. we have over 1900 affiliates. folks on the ground doing this digital inclusion work should there helping -- inclusion work. there helping folks learn digital skills. helping them learn how to find a job.

helping them have their needs. helping them get to that access. an older adult needs a laptop or a tablet, you don't give them the other one because that is what you think they need. you give them what they actually need. when we talk about digital equity, that is what we are talking about. this is time for us to figure out the sustainability of this work. when i got started, we called it community technology. nobody calls it committed to technology anymore. terms come and go but the need of people to have access to technology, that is consistent. the possibility we have with his federal investment is we are able to develop these ecosystems and local communities -- somebody is serving over -- serving older adults. someone is serving youth. someone is serving older adults

who don't speak english. there are a variety of folks who are serving these populations. others are getting computers from that entity refurbishing computers. that is the idea of an ecosystem with different organizations helping each other in the digital inclusion ecosystem do this work. the possibility we have right now is to figure out how to strengthen those in figure out how to continue the on this federal investment. we have an amazing opportunity in front of us. the fact all the states have a digital equity plan, we never had that level of planning, the engage in direct engagement with folks about what they want and what they need. it is an incredible time for us. it is a time where we have to make sure we are pulling everyone in and everyone understands the value of this work so they don't misunderstand the work we are doing. need to make sure all folks get

that. there has been increased awareness within internet service providers that they understand it in ways they did not before. they talk about broadband adoption should many have grant programs that have broadband adoption because they see the value to their own work. that is something we did not have prior to the pandemic we could say. thanks for having me and i'm excited to embark upon this conversation with you all. drew: keep your congress -- keep your camera on for a quick moment. i want to start the controversial question with you and we will let others weigh in. put aside the infrastructure program and whether they will or will not be changes with the incoming trump administration. its focus on the digital equity programs and i appreciate how lisa laid out those programs, the planning, the capacity grants in the competitive grants. what are the chances -- both

from a political standpoint and from a legal standpoint the trump administration code change, reverse, abolish, what are the ways the trump administration could if they wanted to change the digital equity programs we just talked about? angela: congress can certainly do it. i think in particular so there is the 2.7 5 billion for digital equity. the competitive grants right now, the first round of those, there used to be three a round. folks have summit applications, reviewing those now. the trump administration could say we are not doing that. that would be a huge problem because folks will have received notices they have received those grants. that is a challenge but they could do something crazy like that to not -- like that.

not recommended. and then congress could take its own action. congress could say we are going to call back the money. it could happen in congress or it could happen at the ntia level. drew: i'm not trying to scare but from a practical process standpoint, from these programs, the planning has been done. angela: everybody has their digital equity plan which is amazing that exists. all the states either have been awarded their capacity funds -- they have been awarded the first tranche of the capacity funds. some of them. the others are in process. we have not heard any attacks. we should all keep that in mind.

this is a big thing coming at us. it is senator cruz. you all get what i am saying. the capacity grants i am not as worried about. the fact they are in all the states, they are spread around, every state and the politically that would be chaos. i think somebody has decided the competitive grant proposals, that is 1.2 5 billion. that is a lot of money that if it is not released into the community holds our country back. we need to make sure all of our citizens have the digital skills to compete globally. we are already behind the curve could we have folks who are not dissipating online who do not know how to be safe online. who don't know how to look for a

job online. we cannot take more steps backwards. drew: thank you. i'm going to invite other members of our panel to raise your hands. let's see if i can do this -- we are trying to do this so we can facilitate viewing and i definitely want to hear from each of the other three. we are in five of our six time zones in the country right now. isn't that great? east, central, mountain, west, and alaska. may i ask you to turn your camera on, lisa? i want to ask about the digital equity capacity grant and again, what are your states doing on those? if you want to link it back, please do so but let's go west to east and hear from you first, lisa. lisa: alaska has split our

programs we are proposing to do under our digital equity capacity grant program into three different components. we are going to do baseline studies called out in our digital equity plan that need to be done to we are going to do a plan update with that information. the vast majority of the information, it is a very small amount. our first tranche is only $5.6 million. we are using two thirds of that money to run a competitive grant program within our state. we did not take a specific track when we prioritized that pit have left it as open as possible and said if you can obviously tie what you are doing back to one of the key performance indicators that is outlined in our plan, you are eligible to submit a grant application.

we have not set a ceiling on what those applications can be. we are trying to leave it as open as possible and give people the opportunity to apply for grants for programs that will fit their community level or their constituency within their organization that serves one of the eight covered populations. that dylan talked about earlier as best as it needs to under our funding source. that is what we are doing with our first tron show funding. if the two subsequent tranches of funding remain in place, we will be using those to extend our competitive grant program within our state. we only anticipate the next two tranches that will be about $1.8 million a piece. not very much. drew: let's hear from you, scott. can you speak specifically to the capacity grant for the state?

just as we mute and unmute, let's video on and off as we go through the discussion scott, over to you. scott: i want to preface what we are doing with our capacity grant referencing what some of the other panelists have said. given the size and scale and level of need in the state, we have our geography, 164 thousand square miles. we have 33 million residents in our state that identify as one of the members of the covered population. we have a fairly sizable capacity grant. 70.2 million. there is a lot of need. the way we have looked at designing our capacity program like in the entire program is how do we take what we learned during the planning process and what was suggested by our partners and stakeholders that

there are a certain level of services a state can leverage its power. and then develop centralized services, a workforce development program, campaign materials. that is one bucket our department, our office will lead. the other is state managed digital inclusion efforts. there are certain state departments through whether it is corrections or housing and community development that have the ability to connect with large numbers of covered populations. we are looking at finding some of those. lisa and others have said we have taken great care of what we have learned through the planning process. it is at the regional and local level the funding is needed. most of the work is going to be done should we are developing a subgrant program that is focused

on like angela said building local and regional ecosystems. further building them out, empowering them to develop digital equity plans that align with the state plans. with the placing -- we will be placing a priority on of the mentation and programmatic work. having a uniform set of activities that were identified by the population during the planning process so conducting digital navigation specifically in community, in language. connecting folks to low-cost offers. providing access to digital literacy, doing targeted device training programs. that is how we are setting up our grant program. we are currently in -- currently coming out of the public process where we have sought input from our stakeholders. we also have a second track we

included in our program that addresses some of the outcomes that the federal government is asking states to lean into. outcomes in education, health access, essential services, building a separate subgrant track for select entities that could work at a state level to do that. that is where we are at now. really excited about moving forward. drew: we will come right back to this so let's invite dylan to turn your camera on. and let's get the same question from you and we will go to other topics. thank you for the discussions on zoom. if you are watching on c-span or any of our other channels, by signing up you can get access to the discussion taking place here. about the capacity grant program

in the state of idaho. dylan: i know we have lots of other questions so i will keep this short. we are similar to alaska and california in how we are implementing this. most of our capacity funds, idaho's first trunk is 6.3 million. it is going to be going out and a sub grants. we have our first set open and i will provide a little more context on those. a bulk or going to be in monetary grants like what lisa illustrated in alaska to address any of the issues identified and are digital access for all idahoans plan should we have a couple of the programs we are hoping folks will take advantage of. one cold connecting committees and the other called tech refresh. we are going to provide devices, some for the connected communities that are organizational partners that applied to this will be able to distribute to the covered populations and a tech refresh to provide refreshed public computing access at libraries and other institutions

throughout the state so we are trying to address a few different ways with our subgrant programs. in addition to those we have some programs we will be working on that we are bulking up our digital navigator service as well. trying to take a multitude of approaches as i think the other states are. drew: awesome. let's invite angela to turn your camera back on. if you would not mind addressing the question you wanted to address. read it out and answer it. angela: jim asked, does your organization or state have anything planned regarding responding to senator cruz's recent letter to ndia. he has a request to modify the program. he has two letters. drew: focus on the digital equity one. angela: asking if we are encouraging local community and digital equity organization to

submit comments to senator cruz. ndia is encouraging all those who have digital inclusion programs and care about digital inclusion programs to submit comments and letters and reach out to all our congressionally elected officials. this is a situation were not a lot of folks knew about that work. you see the name of the program but you don't know what that program is pretty you think you want to cut the budget but if you know more about the program, you maybe think that is not the place to cut the budget. you're encouraging that kind of reach out and educate your policy makers as to what it is this work is about and the impact of this work. the way folks can find jobs, the way they can access their doctors online. all the reasons this work is important. drew: we have so many questions. if you are on the panel, send me a check message or try to raise your hand.

i hope i will be able to see them. let's ask this question. in a time where there is a war of words with the new administration, can we use the word affordability instead of equity? your organization is the national digital inclusion alliance. this has been kind of a point of discussion but could you speak to, is digital equity a word that is overly politicized? angela: i don't think we are at digital equity being over politicized. i think the word equity is overly politicized. because this is codified into the law, the name of the program is the digital equity act, the competitive grant program is the digital equity competitive -- it is here. we cannot just say we are not going to use that term anymore because congress already made the decision. what we can do is make sure folks know what we need by that. in our local context, we use whatever words make sense to

folks locally. i just sent an email to our community yesterday saying do what you need to do. there are folks who cannot use the word equity because it keeps them from getting new allies. it keeps them from partnership spread it may keep them from losing their jobs. we need to make sure those of us who care about this issue are supporting everybody no matter where they are and whatever words they are using. use the words you need to use . this is good to remember. we don't always use the same words anyhow. diddle divide. community technology centers co. have lots of words in this state. that is ok. if you want to call it digital opportunity, super as long as you are doing the work. drew: welcome any others on the panel to speak to this.

i put in the link for a resume audience. you can go to broadband rec fest and see a certain number of stories for free each month. a story five days ago, senator cruz planning substantial changes. the senator asked ndia to pause the digital equity grant program. scott, thank you. go ahead and tackle this question of the points either senator cruz or others have been making about the digital equity programs. scott: to know that there is a dialogue that is going on in other states and across the nation. i think what i would like to underscore is what angela said is that there is a distinction between equity obviously and digital equity.

if we look at equity as acknowledging that people are at different places into different levels. -- in different levels. we learned very much during the covid pandemic that when folks are able to work and go to school from home, they have degrees to get the services they needed. the work we did with our ecosystem during the planning process to identify the common digital equity barriers for all californians and the digital equity barriers for each of the populations acknowledges there are different barriers and constraints that have to be addressed if our ultimate goal is to ensure for the long term health and sustainability of our communities and our states and our nation that folks are connected and have the ability to get there.

at least for california, it is an important framework for us to look through that in order to cover the inequities, we have to look at the equity framework. drew: we have a question from steven that raised a number of points but i want to pull out the point about workforce development. his workforce development part of digital -- is workforce development part of digital equity programs and what exactly does that mean insofar as your state? lisa, thanks for tuning your video on or whoever from the panel would like to answer. lisa: workforce development is very much a part of digital equity and bead. we have to be addressing the workforce shortage in the state of alaska not only for broadband but for all of the

infrastructure active programs that were funded not only in alaska but the entire united states coupled with the other non-infrastructure act development that is going on in our state as well. that is the part that is an issue. the issue for digital equity is making sure -- bead requires we make sure populations that are typically underrepresented in the telecommunications industry have equitable on ramps to these jobs so that is where our workforce development plan is partially focused is making sure we are getting the only the eight covered populations that are identified in the digital equity act but also all populations that are typically underrepresented in the telecommunications industry including a manner in which they can pursue pate in these job opportunities that are coming

along as part of the huge investment in broadband and the other infrastructure areas as well. drew: i know this is controversial but this is by the person who could be the chair of the senate commerce committee. senate -- ted cruz asked the ndia to ask the 1.2 5 billion subset call the digital equity capacity grant program that he said the program engaged in impermissible race-based funding efforts to get other groups online. want to give you the opportunity to react. do you have any concerns about that over how do you address this question of these groups being a race-based approach? lisa: i am not prepared to give an answer on that right now. that is something we will have to take as it comes as things

begin to unfold. drew: completely fair point. scott, you can either take this question or another aspect of the workforce you were raising earlier on. scott. scott: i really wanted to reiterate i am glad lisa had framed the response the way she did because the way we are approaching it in california is workforce development is important to bead and digital equity. like lisa said, it is incumbent upon us to divert resources to support workforce development to meet labor supply needs but also sustain labor supply needs once infrastructure projects are developed. it is a whole host of other functions and to ensure as we develop those to the extent we can, those positions are in the

community's and regions where those jobs are being created. the second piece i also wanted to underscore end reiterate is when we are looking at the future, what is the long-lasting change the internet for all investments and the broadband for all investments can make in our communities and that is we are setting ourselves up for not just the economy of today but the economy of tomorrow. there is a whole host of digital knowledge based skills and jobs as we created digitally inclusive and digitally equity -- equitable society, folks across our vast state are able to seek training and improve their economic outcomes for their own families. really could not underscore enough workforce development is critical to both the

infrastructure side but also the digital equity side for looking at the future. drew: angela, you have your hand raised. let's turn to you to tackle this question. angela: i think as a nonprofit organization, as a non-governmental organization, we can be part of these political conversations in a way that is more difficult for our government friends on the call. i am happy to take those for the group. the question senator cruz raised is one of the eight covered populations being racial minorities. the reality is digital inclusion programs serve everyone. if one looks at the populations they are serving, they are serving individuals who are in more than one population. it happens.

to be honest with you all, the laptops that get distributed, they are not macbooks. they are affordable, right? the fact that the programs that are out there are serving multiple covered populations i think kind of makes this point moot. that is not actually a thing that is happening. drew: right. thank you and thank you for stepping in on this question i don't want to overemphasize any particular point but we do want to talk about the future of these digital equity programs. i want to raise the affordability question. we have a question that highlights the analysis showing households are willing to pay $10 a month on average for home internet service. three of four say any cost is

too much. can we speak to the affordability question momentarily and this raises another issue, the affordable connectivity program which was another part of the bipartisan infrastructure law and that is now over, expired. how do we get low cost options to people who are not online but primarily because of cost? let's let you go first but i would love to hear other officials from the state speak to the affordability and how the digital equity programs may play a role on the affordability front. angela: affordability is a problem 100%. it is the top reason people don't subscribe to broadband. if you are not subscribing to broadband, it means they are using it less, they are using it as a workaround. they find public access. they have a data limited -- i

want to make it clear it is not that people are or not online . it is that they are doing in ways that are more difficult. how we get there, we need lots of solutions particularly since we don't have a full broadband benefit right now. we need options that are low-cost so folks can cover the cost as they are able to. we need a benefit for those who need to have the benefit. the opportunity in front of us is never so service refunding needs revamped. potential is have the broadband benefit included in one of the programs of the universal service fund. it is a huge lift to get the universal fund revamped. that is a whole other show drew has done and probably will do more of. drew: let's go to lisa. go ahead and turn your video camera on and tackle this question. thank you for raising your hand.

lisa: we have not determined solutions yet because it is going to be varied at best but one of the things i want to drill peoples attention to a special i believe alaska and idaho to some three as well is our population density is such that there is an intersection between what is affordable and what is sustainable in terms of owning and operating infrastructure, broadband infrastructure. in alaska, our affordability -- when we talk about what affordable broadband is, where the urban areas are at, a decent internet plan is $100 or more in urban alaska. when you talk about going into room alaska -- into rural alaska, some villages have pollution in the dozens any talk about bringing broadband infrastructure to those locations should the operation

and maintenance associated with that is incredible there is no amount of monthly fee that is going to be able to pay for with the ongoing operations in its are even with their -- operations and maintenance are even with complete coverage of the original cost of that. i want to make sure people are reached -- are realizing as we talk about the affordability side of things and the idea internet has to be free or so reduced some sort of federal programs can pay for it, you have to look at it in terms of the sustainability model of those infrastructure networks as well. drew: our time has sped by and we are not going to be able to get every question in but i do want to give each panelist and opportunity to make a closing thoughts and you can respond to whatever you would like.

we are going to go in the order we started in. scott, let's turn it over to you for 60 seconds in the future of the digital equity programs. scott: for some reason i'm having it's been a great pleasure to be here and part of the conversation. like others, this is one of our greatest challenges and that collectively we have all been working to get it right, to empower our nation and humanity. the size, scale, amount of funding is always going to be a challenge, but the national ecosystem, and that and california has shown a great capacity for collaboration and alignment. and while it's essential to have federal and state funding seed these efforts, on the digital equity side we are very much encouraging our folks to also

look down the road and other sources of funding to expand the table in their local communities and develop room for public-private partnerships and philanthropic funding to do that. i think at the end of the day, regardless of what happens, we just -- here in california and the department of technology and the broadbent office want to give a thanksgiving shout-out to our team and our staff. keeping our heads down and doing the work that we planned for over the last two years and looking forward to continuing to implement over the next five. drew: awesome. thank you very much. let's go to dylan. you will respond to questions about curriculum and other programs. your final thoughts on this topic, dylan? dylan: thank you so much, drew, and everybody participating. i just want to highlight my last

shout-out here, when we are looking at sustainability long-term, and five years it is going to be an ongoing effort. you have changing digital skills. we'll encourage folks to work with their libraries, state libraries, local libraries. libraries are a trusted institution, as well as community institutions that can address the digital divide and equity we are working on. wishing everyone a happy holiday, too. drew: thank you very much. lisa, quick final thought, and then we will give angelo the last word. lisa: i want to say thank you to everybody. anybody that had a question or comment about alaska in the chat who wants to get in touch with me, google the alaska broadband office and i'm happy to have a one-on-one chat. thank you very much to everybody. drew: wonderful to see the sunrise in alaska. angela, you get the last word here. angela: i welcome and encourage

everyone to contact their elected representatives to talk about digital equity, what it really is, the work on the ground, helping people get connected to the internet, the digital skills, the devices, and if folks are uncertain how to do that, we know how to talk to elected representatives to educate them on this. drew: wonderful. well, wonderful. with that, we are going to thank each of our panelists for being with us on spending this hour one day ahead of thanksgiving. on behalf of scott adams, lisa van bargain, dylan baker, and angela siefer, i'm drew clark with