AnchorNETS

State Broadband Officers Prioritize Community in BEAD Deployment

Officials said that community outreach is essential to digital equity

Ari Bertenthal

Oct 3, 2024 — 1 min read

From left: Panel moderator Scott Woods, President of Public-Private Partnerships at Ready.net; Tamara Holmes, Program Manager of the Virginia Appalachian Regional Commission Program at the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development; Kevin Hughes, Broadband Office Director for Washington, D.C.; Edyn Rolls, Director of Broadband Strategy at the Oklahoma Broadband Office

ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 3, 2024 – A group of state broadband officials said on Thursday that placing communities in the driver’s seat is crucial to successfully implementing the Biden Administration’s $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program.

“[We] can’t operate BEAD without engaging our communities,” said Washington D.C. Broadband Office Director Kevin Hughes on a broadband deployment conference panel that included Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development Program Manager Tamara Holmes.

Holmes noted the importance of community engagement in the deployment of BEAD funding, stressing the need to “pull in regional partners to [successfully] develop these plans.”

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AnchorNETS BEAD Kevin Hughes Tamarah Holmes Edyn Rolls DC Virginia Oklahoma SHLB