Broadband Breakfast on November 27, 2024 – Next Steps on Digital Equity Projects
The NTIA has now approved digital equity plans for several states as part of its broader Digital Equity Act initiative.
The Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration has approved digital equity plans for several states as part of its broader Digital Equity Act initiative. And the Digital Equity Competitive Grant program, another part of the initiative, closed in late September. What is the next step for these applications? How will funding for digital equity be allocated and managed? And how will these efforts align with other funding programs aimed at bridging the digital divide?
Broadband Breakfast
Panelists
- Angela Siefer, Executive Director, National Digital Inclusion Alliance
- Dylan Baker, Deputy State Librarian, Idaho Commission for Libraries
- Lisa Von Bargen, Deputy Director of Broadband, Alaska Broadband Office
- Scott Adams, Deputy Director of Broadband and Digital Literacy, California Department of Technology
- Drew Clark (moderator), CEO and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast
As the executive director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), Angela Siefer leads the digital equity movement. Since earning her master’s in sociology from the University of Toledo in 1997, she has been working in the field we now call “digital inclusion.” Starting with setting up computer labs in underserved areas and managing local digital inclusion programs, Angela’s first-hand knowledge led her to consulting for the US Department of Commerce and testifying before Congress. In 2015, Angela saw that the growing field needed its own place to build best practices and community, so she helped found NDIA, which advances digital equity by supporting community programs and equipping policymakers to act.
Dylan Baker is the Deputy State Librarian at the Idaho Commission for Libraries. He served in a variety of roles in Idaho libraries before joining the ICfL in 2017 as the agency’s first Broadband Consultant. He leads the team that developed and is implementing the Digital Access for All Idahoans Plan.
Lisa Von Bargen is the Deputy Director of the Alaska Broadband Office (ABO), a position she has held since February of 2023. Most recently, she was the Senior Project Manager in the Commissioner’s Office of the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development for the State of Alaska where she had various roles, including serving as the interim staff for the ABO, responsible for establishing the office and responding to federal broadband funding opportunities. Ms. Von Bargen has 25 years of experience in non-profit and municipal management. Between 2017 and 2021 she was the Borough Manager for the City and Borough of Wrangell, Alaska. Prior to that she was the Community & Economic Development Director for the City of Valdez, Alaska for 16 years. Lisa is a lifelong Alaskan who currently splits her time between Valdez and Wrangell enjoying all Alaska has to offer.
Scott Adams was appointed to head the state’s broadband efforts by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2021. His professional history includes positions as Rebuild North Bay’s first-ever scholar-in-residence and director of government and external affairs for Comcast in the Bay Area, where he implemented efforts to bring high-speed internet to low-income households.
Breakfast Media LLC CEO Drew Clark has led the Broadband Breakfast community since 2008. An early proponent of better broadband, better lives, he initially founded the Broadband Census crowdsourcing tool to collect and verify broadband data left unpublished by the Federal Communications Commission. As CEO and Publisher, Clark presides over the leading media community advocating for higher-capacity internet everywhere through topical, timely and intelligent coverage. Clark also served as head of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois, a state broadband initiative.
