Broadband Federal Funding Allocations and the U.S. South
My initial hypothesis about the strategic imperative of a breakthrough in the U.S. South so far seems to have been correct.
Yesterday President Biden and Vice President Harris kicked off the Administration-wide “Investing in America” tour by announcing over $40 billion in funding allocations to each U.S. state, territory, and D.C. for high-speed internet infrastructure. This commitment rivals the federal government’s historic investment in bringing electricity to nearly every home and farm in America, when millions of families and our economy reaped the benefits.
If you’ve been following my work you know that I’ve been focused on efforts to bridge the digital divide in the U.S. South since 2020 first by joining #Starlink and later by helping launch a collaborative philanthropic initiative known as the Digital Equity and Opportunity Initiative (DEOI). My hypothesis about the centrality of the South seems to have been correct based on data about where broadband dollars are being allocated.
The U.S. South will receive both more total broadband funding than other regions and more funding on average than other regions.
6 out of the top 10 allocations are in southern states specifically Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.
I’ll be sharing more analysis in this newsletter about a southern strategy to close the digital divide and build lasting civic infrastructure but for now I will admit that I feel validated by focusing on the South. I also have a sense of where this discussion on broadband may be 18-24 months from now too.