For the past 15 months of the pandemic, broadband has become a lifeline for Pennsylvania’s disadvantaged and disenfranchised—low-income families, communities of color, and people with disabilities.
Now that the Biden administration is proposing long-overdue investments in physical and human infrastructure, we need to make sure that the $100 billion earmarked for broadband is spent where it’s needed most.
We need to prioritize those in pain, not those with privilege. That means directly helping low-income families connect with high-speed internet, not subsidizing additional networks in affluent areas already served by broadband.
MORE ON EQUITABLE TECH
Yes, about 4 to 8 percent of Americans live in remote rural areas without broadband access. The nation should wire these unserved communities, while guarding against the abuses that plagued earlier broadband buildout programs—like using federal funds to build new broadband networks in communities that already have them, which just squanders funds on wealthier suburban neighborhoods.
But the much larger problem—deferred for far too long—is the forgotten 23 percent of Americans in cities like Philadelphia who don’t subscribe to the broadband on their doorsteps.
To overcome this challenge, we need to understand it. The problem isn’t access to the pipes; it’s adoption.
Broadband is available in more than 99 percent of Philadelphia homes. But, in a city with one of the nation’s highest poverty rates—23.3 percent before Covid-19—many families face daily struggles to make rent, put food on the table, pay their utility bills and clothe their kids.
We need to prioritize those in pain, not those with privilege. That means directly helping low-income families connect with high-speed internet, not subsidizing additional networks in affluent areas already served by broadband.
For these hard-pressed families, broadband subscriptions may seem like a nicety. But, especially in the wake of this pandemic, broadband is a necessity—for education, health care, job opportunities and civic participation—and we need to help everyone get and stay connected.
And “everyone” has to mean everyone. Right now, the digital divide corresponds to racial and economic divides: Only 71 percent of Black adults and 65 percent of Hispanic adults have home broadband—compared to 80 percent of white adults.
The divide is particularly stark for Philadelphians with disabilities—a community with which I’ve worked closely for years through my association with agencies such as SPIN, Ken-Crest Services, JEVS and Horizon House.
A 2017 study found adults living with a disability were almost 20 percent less likely to have broadband at home, compared with those without a disability. That’s in part because the poverty rate for Americans with disabilities is more than double the rate of those without disabilities.
Broadband adoption challenges for this community are especially troubling given how vital high-speed internet connectivity has become for accessing telehealth and other critically important online services.
When it comes to addressing the urban broadband gap, business and government have stepped up—but more comprehensive solutions are still needed. Broadband providers offer low-income families home internet service for around $10 per month through low-cost programs. Unconnected students in Philadelphia public schools are receiving free home broadband through the ConnectED public-private partnership—a pioneering model for other major cities to emulate.
Congress has also addressed the challenge by enacting the Emergency Broadband Benefit. Low-income families can get $50 a month to stay connected during the pandemic.
But as the pandemic recedes, low-income Americans will continue to need help affording broadband connections. That’s why we need a permanent and universal solution, not partial and temporary stopgaps.
The nation’s major civil rights organizations—including the NAACP, National Urban League, and the American Association of People with Disabilities—have called on the Biden administration and Congress to make this benefit permanent.
We know Joe Biden values social justice. His administration has an opportunity to demonstrate that commitment by revising its broadband program to offer direct assistance for home broadband service to those with the lowest incomes and the greatest needs.
A Permanent Broadband Benefit would rightfully place broadband access in the same category as food, healthcare, and education—things that all Americans count on for survival and basic opportunity. This initiative would join Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP (formerly Food Stamps) and the Americans with Disabilities Act as landmark pieces of social legislation reflecting Americans’ commitment to the common good.
Disappointingly, the White House’s first draft for its infrastructure program doesn’t include the Permanent Broadband Benefit; the plan proposes instead to fund more speculative approaches, such as subsidizing duplicative broadband networks in high-income areas that already have high-speed internet. But research suggests that just adding additional networks won’t really help much with broadband adoption.
As President Biden often says, “Show me your budget, and I’ll show you what you value.”
We know Joe Biden values social justice. His administration has an opportunity to demonstrate that commitment by revising its broadband program to offer direct assistance for home broadband service to those with the lowest incomes and the greatest needs.
A Permanent Broadband Benefit makes sense. It’s simple justice. And now more than ever, it is an idea whose time has come.
The Citizen is one of 20 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the city’s push towards economic justice. Follow the project on Twitter @BrokeInPhilly.
State Representative Stephen Kinsey represents the 201st District in Northwest Philadelphia. He currently serves as the Democratic sub-committee chairman of Human Services and subcommittee chair of Health Equity for the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus.
The Citizen welcomes guest commentary from community members who stipulate to the best of their ability that it is fact-based and non-defamatory.
Header image by Surface / Unsplash