Signing on for the Digital Renaissance - FCC's Digital Inclusion Recommendations

ZeroDivide was on-site today for “America’s Digital Inclusion Summit," where the FCC released six key recommendations to expand broadband adoption, excerpted from the much-anticipated and historic National Broadband Plan. After months of intensive public input, the full plan will be released on March 17th.

In just the few hours since the release of the recommendations, 40 organizations including ZeroDivide have stepped up and signed on to a letter to FCC Chairman Genachowski expressing support for the Commission’s recommendations. The signers represent a broad cross-section of the American public: from the National Urban League and Communication Workers of America, to the National Black Programming Consortium, Rural Broadband Policy Group, and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). [See letter and full list of signers.]

All of us agree that leaving one-third of America without broadband at home is simply not acceptable. Don't you?

But even with broad recognition of the role broadband adoption has for our future competitiveness as a nation, getting funding for these recommendations will be a difficult sell.

We encourage organizations to sign on to the list of supporters of the FCC's recommendations.
To sign on, simply send an email to endorse@zerodivide.org with your contact information.
You can see the growing list of signers and ongoing updates via our Facebook and Twitter feeds.

At ZeroDivide, we endorse the principal focus of the FCC recommendations on ensuring broadband in every home. For the past 10 years, ZeroDivide has also witnessed significant community-building outcomes in economic opportunity and civic engagement by investing in improving the “social infrastructure that enables non-adopters to become comfortable with broadband” - another of the key broadband plan principles.

All six of the FCC’s recommendations make strong sense. The suggestion to expand the government’s successful Universal Service Fund beyond phone service to include broadband would make approximately $8 billion available annually for buildout to underserved communities. The calls to establish a Digital Literacy Corps, and for new mechanisms to increase public-private partnerships are also welcome, sound proposals.  

Fortunately, solutions and successful programs to overcome the digital divide do exist.  At the Summit today, ZeroDivide’s Chief Community Investment Officer Laura Efurd participated in an Inclusion Showcase that demonstrated applications and programs that are already working to effectively bridge the digital divide and promote broadband adoption.

The digital era is ushering in a new renaissance — but only for those who can participate. Today’s FCC recommendations on increasing adoption for underserved communities are a crucial step forward in extending participation to all – a true zero divide.

Remember: Add your organization to the growing list of supporters of the FCC’s recommendations.
Simply reply to endorse@zerodivide.org with your organization’s contact information.

To see the ongoing list of signers and other relevant updates, join us on Facebook.

Follow ZeroDivide on Twitter for news updates and opportunities.

Learn more about the National Broadband plan.

Read more about the FCCs six recommendations for increasing broadband adoption.