Why is CA Doubling Down on Digital Redlining?
Hello friends in digital equity!
We hope you enjoyed an excellent summer, stayed cool, dry, and safe through the wild weather, and are gearing up for a fantastic fall!
Summer is closing out with a bang in digital equity land with a fast-moving item.
ACTION NEEDED: State funding poised to double down on digital redlining
On 8/3/23, without notice, consultation, or any mechanism for public input, the State released "optimized" maps for the middle mile network that included the removal of most or all segments in low-income communities and communities of color in urban areas across the state. In LA, the "optimized" middle mile map includes a new segment into Beverly Hills, but cuts all segments in South LA and South East LA.
Historically redlined communities are again being disinvested from, and cascading effects make it worse: competitiveness for other state funding requires leveraging the state's middle mile, so these changes cut our most vulnerable communities off from future investments.
A Mercury News article this weekend detailed the situation from Oakland’s perspective, read it here: “Good old-fashioned redlining”: Why was Oakland cut out of state plan for high-speed internet?
Action Items:
TODAY: sign on to this UNITE-LA letter thanking Sen Gonzales for her leadership and asking her to join us in ensuring these discriminatory middle mile maps are not the final word
THIS WEEK and NEXT: stay tuned for a GPSN social media toolkit to help amplify the issue, and for additional media coverage illuminating the stakes. Email hello@digitalequityla.org if you’d like to be on the list to get notified with these updates.
Maps documenting the State’s planned divestments from South and East LA communities:
Background
In 2021, a budget bill led by Senator Lena Gonzalez and supported by Governor Newsom (SB156) allocated once-in-a-generation public investments to close the digital divide. The investment included a historic commitment to a publicly-owned and open-access statewide "middle-mile" network.
An "open-access" network means it can be leased by all kinds of providers - private, municipal, nonprofit, etc. - enabling a wide range of solutions.
The "middle-mile" is the backbone network for connectivity, necessary to build "last-mile" - the networks that actually connect houses and businesses to internet service. Without middle-mile there is no last-mile, and without last-mile there is no service. There is a domino effect: communities that can’t affordably access a middle-mile network can’t build out last mile, so they can't get internet connections to their homes and businesses. (See here for a broadband 101 refresher.)
In LA and across the state, redlined communities that have a disproportionate share of disconnected residents have invested in building out plans to leverage the state's middle-mile network to build out last-mile networks to close the digital divide.
As always, thank you for your partnership and work to advance digital equity and hold power accountable to their commitment. Please don’t hesitate to be in touch with questions, ideas, and ways we should collaborate!