Poverty Advocacy Group Raises BEAD Funding Concerns
Advocacy group fears minority communities will miss out on BEAD funds.
WASHINGTON, April 22, 2026 — Children’s Defense Fund, the child poverty advocacy group founded by Marian Wright Edelman, has raised concerns that $700 million of Mississippi's BEAD funding may be reallocated away from the state’s poorest communities.
The advocacy group fears that Starlink’s competition for state BEAD funding will leave poor and minority communities underserved. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration rejected Starlink’s request for a waiver of certain state BEAD requirements.
“These dollars represent real opportunity for Mississippi communities and rural areas across the South,” said CDF regional office director Oleta Garrett Fitzgerald. “When they are not fully used or left on the table, it means fewer opportunities for our children, especially when technology is driving education and future economies.”
The Mississippi Broadband Equity Coalition joined the statement.
State officials maintained that the funding would continue.
“Alternative technologies are the right answer in certain situations and can provide acceptable speeds, especially as this technology evolves,” Sally Doty, head of the state's broadband office, told Mississippi Today. “Starlink will have a role in our buildout, but (it) is not the answer for all remaining unserved locations in Mississippi.”
Mississippi continues to await guidance from NTIA on how they may spend their non-deployment BEAD dollars.
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