The National Skills Coalition (NSC) aims to guide states through the implementation of the Digital Equity Act (DEA) and the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. The NSC released an informal resource to help states plan to apply for funds.
States have been hiring more employees and engaging partners to prepare for federal funding becoming available, Inside Towers reported. NSC’s resource, titled “Expanding Digital Inclusion Via The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” offers recommendations both for state officials and for workforce and education advocates and practitioners.
NSC Senior Fellow and report co-author Amanda Bergson-Shilcock explains two audiences — state government officials and advocates outside of state government —were looking for additional clarity on the implications of this legislation.
Of the 10 recommendations, the first six are focused on helping states develop a process for implementation, while the remaining four focus on policy. As Bergson-Shilcock notes, NSC thought it was important to help state officials think about both the short-term and long-term tasks related to digital equity and how to institutionalize the work so that when these federal funds are no longer available, the work can continue.
“As much money as is in the DEA and even the BEAD program, there are still going to be things that may not be able to be covered out of those,” she told GovTech. “We want to encourage states to be thinking with their policy hats on in terms of how best to approach that piece.”
There are two main ways that digital equity work and strengthening the workforce go hand in hand, according to Bergson-Shilcock. First, workers in most occupations and industries now require digital skills, so digital equity helps bolster economic vitality with a qualified workforce. The second piece is that there are workforce needs surrounding the building process for new broadband infrastructure, from tower technicians to fiber-optics technicians and more.
In many cases, state broadband offices are both new and small, contrasting other state agencies like state departments of education or labor. Bergson-Shilcock recommends that officials within these newly formed broadband offices collaborate with other agencies that have been doing work related to digital equity, as they can help officials access existing relationships with organizations in this space.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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