Digital Equity State Programs

Michigan

The Michigan Moonshot project addresses the lack of broadband access in rural Michigan and seeks to create an accurate picture of Michigan’s connectivity to reduce barriers to broadband network deployment in rural communities. The project includes three phases: access and availability data collection; investigation and community education in regard to infrastructure investment and societal impact studies. 

Tennessee

In Tennessee, Greeneville City Schools is using broadband access in its community for home use and virtual courses for at-risk students. Another district, Lenoir City Schools is using Kajeet SmartSpots to send home to their families that do not have Internet access at home. The district purchases the SmartSpot units and pays for the data to provide this access to their families in need or out of range for access. Many residents of the state live in rural and areas where local internet service providers have not installed fiber reaching to homes.

Virginia

Virginia Digital Equity Discovery Project. The Virginia Department of Education is working with rural and urban school divisions, the  National Telecommunications Information Administration, the U.S. Department of Education, and Dr. Robert Ballance, developer of the I3 Connectivity Explorer, to better understand community broadband data, and to take steps toward implementing solutions to address digital inequality.