Our Children This Month, July 2022

Digital Inclusion is a Basic Human Right: Broadband

The “digital divide” between those who have access to reliable and affordable broadband and those who don’t was with us before the pandemic. Like the universal electrification of our country in the 1930s, access to broadband has become a basic right. During the 50-year explosion of the internet, however, there has been a growing disparity to reliable and affordable access. This hidden reality became impossible to ignore once the pandemic tore off the blinders. For example, overnight, schools across the Central Valley scrambled, with almost nothing in place for virtual learning—devices, trained staff, digital lessons and, in far too many homes, decent access to broadband service. As families struggled to cope, the already existing disparities and impacts for Black, Latino, and low-income children were quickly exacerbated. The American Community Survey in 2020 reported that while broadband access has been steadily expanding, significant racial/ethnic and demographic gaps persist: 80% of Latino households and 83% of Black households reported having broadband compared to 87% of white households. Demographic disparities also persist. Statewide in 2020, three demographic groups reported low access: 83% of households headed by adults 65 and over; households with annual income below $50,000; and 80% of households headed by non-college graduates.

Due to the complexity of considerations presented by the digital divide, OCTM will explore this topic in two issues: This issue explores the challenges of the “middle-mile,” often described as the internet highway—the segment of a telecommunications network linking the central core network to regional and local networks. The August issue will explore the challenges of the “last mile” in providing reliable and affordable connection from the middle-mile to end users, especially in rural and poor urban neighborhoods, and in ensuring the know-how (digital literacy) that allows for competent daily broadband use. 

Fresno Has Taken Significant Steps to Collaboratively Implement Solutions

The pandemic showed us just how much everyone is affected by internet access, and while everyone sees the problem every day, no one owns it. Fortunately, there is a strong commitment to collaborating to solve for this problem. The Fresno Coalition for Digital Inclusion (FCDI) emerged from community conversations and builds on 15+ years of work by multiple local actors who have deep knowledge around the challenges and solutions needed for countywide internet access. The FCDI is a cross-sector collaboration of 30+ organizations with a shared commitment to digital inclusion. FCDI builds upon the strong cross-sector partnerships built by leading networks like Fresno’s C2C (Cradle to Career) and Fresno DRIVE (Developing the Region’s Inclusive and Vibrant Economy) including The Children’s Movement. TCM helped to create and is leading the Digital Literacy Coalition (DLC) as part of the larger group. Earlier this month, FCDI organized a Virtual Town Hall - Solutions for All at the Speed of Broadband, hosted by Senator Caballero and Assembly member Arambula with a video appearance by Senator Padilla. More detail regarding the last-mile, including digital literacy, will be in the next issue.

Accurate Data and Local Knowledge Are Essential for Any Meaningful Solution and Are Currently MIA

Based on its knowledge of existing and planned routes, FCDI has developed a series of recommendations to provide middle-mile and last-mile services.  A priority is given to unserved/underserved households in high poverty urban areas, multi-tenant complexes, and low-density rural areas. Reliable data—identifying the actual speeds and quality of connectivity—is essential to this effort but is currently lacking. Broadband policies and investments are guided by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) maps that identify the existing infrastructure, the geography of broadband services already provided, and anticipated expansion.  Unfortunately, the current CPUC map of middle-mile routes  based on this information do not reflect on the ground broadband reality, especially in SE and SW Fresno. (see current CPUC middle-mile routes)
 

The data used in the development of these maps is provided by self-reporting  from incumbent carriers who vastly overstate both service availability and quality in high poverty urban areas, multi-housing units, and low-density rural areas. If a single household in a census tract has service, the entire tract is deemed to be served. Fresno County has about 1,000,000 residents [2020 census] across 6,000 square miles. The CPUC data shows 3% of households are unserved as of 2022.  These are households without internet access at 25Mbps downstream. Meanwhile, the 2020 Census shows 17% of households in Fresno County did not have an internet connection – this is about 174,000 residents. Microsoft, using a modern data gathering method, found in October 2020 that 1 of every 2 people in Fresno County were unserved without access to internet at 25Mbps downstream [489,000 residents].

The CPUC maps are used to develop “preferred scenarios” that guide the determination of investments in open access middle-mile routes that make new or improved last-mile services possible. Based on data gathered by FCDI, the number of under/unserved could well exceed 75,000 including 49,715 students, 2 out of every 3 Fresno Unified students, who are underserved without access to internet at 100 Mbps downstream. Recent research shows that mapping of the areas on the wrong side of the digital divide echoes the 1930s redlining maps that graded neighborhoods for real estate investment risk from “Best” to “Hazardous.” So, without a serious course correction, like redlining, the present broadband maps which drive investment decisions--$61 million in State funding for last mile in Fresno County—will exacerbate existing racial inequities with serious consequences extending far into the future.

In the Face of the Unreliable Data Maps, Fresno is Innovating

Given the implications of the official undercounting, this past year, FSUD took matters into its own hands and installed technology to gather real time internet experience data on thousands of devices provided to students in the pandemic. And Fresno County Superintendent of Schools (FCSS) will be expanding this data gathering effort across the county. FCSS and FSUD have put themselves in the middle-mile business by bringing fiber into former fiber deserts. FCSS is bringing fiber to 11 rural school districts with funding from the BIG grant. FUSD several years ago started the move to leased fiber. By early 2023, 114 locations will have new fiber delivering reliable internet to schools at 40 times the speeds available in 2020. The City of Fresno is moving the middle-mile needle through a public/private partnership with CVIN that has brought fiber to many locations throughout the city.



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