States Embrace Digital Skills Development for Economic Benefit

States Embrace Digital Skills Development for Economic Benefit

As all 56 states and territories move forward to build multi-generation broadband networks to support their citizens and communities, all recognize that simply providing access is only a part of building a wider set of tools for unlocking increased economic opportunities and additional quality of life benefits, especially in at-risk groups and sectors of the community.

“States are viewing digital equity as the keystone, the cornerstone, whichever analogy you want to use for unlocking economic opportunity, and that is because of what we call the downstream benefit,” said Kathryn de Wit, Project Director, Broadband Access Initiative, The Pew Charitable Trusts during the November 27 Fiber For Breakfast webinar. “It is the application of technologies, the application and usage and skills as applied to job skills, healthcare, education. Just to be clear, broadband alone, digital skills, those are not going to solve the economic challenges that are facing this country. Those are not in themselves a silver bullet. However, what we do know now is that you cannot solve those access gaps, you can’t solve those opportunity gaps without broadband and without digital skills.”

The Pew Charitable Trusts has spent the past six years examining the role of states in advancing and achieving universal access to broadband and how that access provides and improves the economic and quality of life for communities. While equity is a “charged word,” said de Wit, both Congress and states envision the $42.45 billion BEAD program and digital equity efforts working together, regardless of party.

“Republican governors may not like that word equity, so they call it digital opportunity, but they understand why those funds are needed,” stated de Wit. “They understand the populations that are being impacted by the lack of digital skills, the lack of competition, you know that folks aren’t employable in some ways.”

Engaging with at-risk populations requires a systems-wide approach on working with different sectors and segments of both public sector agencies and industry to ensure communities and citizens are fully benefitting from and able to participate in today’s digital-driven society. “Going back to research from the Brattle Group and others, it’s not just the presence of technology that drove those [positive] economic outcomes, it’s what you can do with it,” said de Wit.

As states execute their plans for increasing broadband network access through BEAD funding, work through getting more affordable service plans for economically challenged households, and devices, they are also examining ways to unlock further economic opportunities through specific focus areas.  Multiple states are working to create high-tech jobs involved with broadband and technology, 18 states and D.C. are boosting workforce development skills, and several states are tying their digital equity efforts to additional state priorities, such as developing more robust use of telehealth and remote education.

To learn more about the Congressional and state-level commitments to fostering digital skills and the efforts to unlock more economic opportunities from broadband, listen to the latest Fiber for Breakfast.