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Benton Institute For Broadband Society Broadband Delivers

Bonisiwe Shabane
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benton institute for broadband society broadband delivers

Learn About the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act In the absence of federal leadership, state governments are working to ensure that every household can afford to get and stay connected. We engage in long-term planning and provide practical, day-to-day resources to strengthen the public benefits of broadband, protect democratic values, and communicate why it matters. Our articles are curated by Executive Editor Kevin Taglang who has 30 years of experience in this field. Benton provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, connecting communications, democracy, and the public interest. The daily digest is delivered via email Monday-Friday mornings.

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society talks about the impact of policy and broadband adoption… To improve broadband adoption, future growth will have to come from the same population segments that experienced adoption growth upon the pandemic’s onset. They are the segments where significant connectivity gaps remain—and thus are the most promising for attracting new subscriptions. The takeaways for policymakers and other stakeholders are: Today, The American Prospect published some of our original reporting on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was signed into law on Independence Day. In it, our Associate Director for Communications Sean Gonsalves writes:

"Sold to voters as a way to cut 'waste, fraud, and abuse,' a more honest assessment of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) is that it’s just a Big Brazen Bid to shred... Naturally, the looming cuts to Medicaid and what they will mean for rural hospitals in particular has received the most press. But there are numerous other ways those in need of government assistance will be further pressed into poverty, including through a particularly narrow-minded Sophie’s Choice: internet access or food? Last year, GOP leaders blocked bipartisan efforts to fund an extension of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which offered 23 million eligible households a $30-per-month voucher to help pay for internet service. As if letting the ACP die wasn’t a big enough blow, OBBBA not only increases the paperwork burden required to qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, it completely removes internet service costs... The journey to broadband connectivity begins with an internet service provider using its own funds and/or leveraging government funding programs to buildout or upgrade broadband to your specific area.

But funding a project is just the start of the journey to bring broadband to your home, business, or community. At times the process, from the initial decision or funding award to invest to completion of deployment, seems slow and frustrating for members of the community looking forward to a better broadband connection (or... The following report explains the numerous steps, and at times hurdles, that go into designing and delivering a reliable and robust broadband network and attempts to answer the often-asked question “why is this taking... Benton Institute for Broadband & Society 1041 Ridge Rd, Unit 214 Wilmette, IL 60091 © 1994-2025 Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. All Rights Reserved.

We are 90% funded by individual contributions. That means you create the reader-powered journalism that cuts through the noise, and delivers the trusted information Connecticut cares about. Four years ago, when the Biden administration tasked states with creating plans to drastically expand broadband in the U.S., there was a question of what the call would mean for Connecticut, already one of... Still, early federal maps identified thousands of places that needed help, suggesting there were more than 15,000 places — ranging from households in rural and geographically isolated communities, to small businesses struggling to afford... In the years since, the state has launched a variety of initiatives aimed at improving connections. The ConneCTed Communities Grant Program has provided some $34 million in state grants to help internet service providers build out broadband infrastructure, connecting thousands of locations.

Internet providers have also worked to improve service, further reducing the number of households in need. The federal government’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, a $42.45 billion initiative launched in 2021 and aimed at providing additional financial support, was intended to help states move even further toward achieving... Practical Intelligence to Today's Structured Cabling Professionals With the historic opportunity of billions of dollars flowing through states to achieve universal broadband and digital equity, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society recently released Accelerate: A Community Broadband Planning Program, a... The guidebook seeks to help community broadband planning teams: By empowering local leaders with knowledge, information, and a plan, communities will be well positioned to make progress on this significant challenge, contends Benton Institute.

The Accelerate guidebook is a collaboration of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and Blandin Foundation. Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, high-performance broadband. Blandin Foundation is a private foundation based in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. New Data Raises the Alarm that No Progress May Be the New Normal for the Digital Divide Between new 2024 Census data on broadband adoption and contemporary economic data on flat spending for low-income households, there's little reason for optimism on progress in closing the digital divide.

Details Benton Institute for Broadband & Society https://lnkd.in/euN6kXiN What Did the FCC Just Do to California? FCC Revokes State's Process for Checking Lifeline Eligibility https://lnkd.in/gd_3Rj7r We're just about to start -- Effects and Effectiveness: Evaluation Strategies for Digital Inclusion Programs https://lnkd.in/dp9Gkxbj President Trump is considering an Executive Order that would claw back BEAD funds and preempt state AI laws https://lnkd.in/gmtWZpdW In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Adrianne B.

Furniss, Executive Director of The Benton Institute. “Our goal is to bring open, affordable, high-performance broadband to all people in the U.S. to ensure a thriving democracy,” says Adrianne Furniss. In a rare interview and her first podcast, the Executive Director of the Benton Institute discusses the current state of rural broadband in the United States and her view of how to build capacity... The work being done by Benton and the research this famed institute relies on continue to launch what many call the “rural renaissance.” https://www.benton.org/.Adrianne Benton Furniss is Executive Director and Board Member of the... They strengthen local, state, and national leadership by providing the timely information, rigorous evidence, practical guidance, and advocacy needed to articulate and implement a broadband for all agenda.

They inform and give policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and advocates information they need to advance a broadband for all agenda. They research and build knowledge by providing a body of research and best practices to guide our field’s work. They partner and engage with communities to develop strategies for ubiquitous, high-speed, reliable, and affordable broadband to meet larger community goals. And they advocate and advance a broadband for all agenda at all levels of government through policymaker education, legal and regulatory filings, and coalition participation. The Intelligent Community Forum® (ICF) is a network of communities and partners in the business and nonprofit sectors that provides economic development, training, certification, membership and consulting services. In a century dominated by digital, our mission is to help communities build innovative, inclusive and prosperous economies and cultivate strong social connections and rich and meaningful cultures.

We do it for communities large and small, in urban clusters and outlying suburbs and rural places. We believe that digital connectivity and technology create the opportunity for almost every community to develop economic, social and cultural vitality – giving them all a chance to be great places to live, work,...

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We are 90% funded by individual contributions. That means you create the reader-powered journalism that cuts through the noise, and delivers the trusted information Connecticut cares about. Four years ago, when the Biden administration tasked states with creating plans to drastically expand broadband in the U.S., there was a question of what the call would mean for Connecticut, already one of... S...