In a bid to bridge the digital divide, the City of Phoenix passed an ordinance to add $10 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to an existing Intergovernmental Agreement with Phoenix Union High School District, its 13 public elementary feeder schools and Maricopa County Community Colleges District during a formal meeting of the Phoenix City Council.
This Intergovernmental Agreement is intended to build a community wireless network with the end goal of closing the digital divide. The City of Phoenix defines a digital divide as “the economic, education, and social inequalities between those who have computers and online access, and those who do not.”
“Connectivity is so important whether you’re filling out your FAFSA or doing your homework and I’m glad the City of Phoenix can be a partner,” Mayor Kate Gallego said.
The COVID-19 pandemic simply widened this digital divide as families without proper internet access were unable to provide their children with the same educational opportunities as families that have connectivity.
“As we know when the pandemic hit, students were asked to continue their education digitally from home, and many students didn’t have access to the internet and some didn’t even have a computer for schoolwork,” Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari said.
As a matter of fact, a Pew Research Center study found that “15% of home broadband users in the United States say they have had trouble paying for their high-speed internet service during the coronavirus outbreak. That includes 34% of those with household incomes of less than $30,000 a year.”
Now that in-person learning has resumed, however, the gap remains, as many people still do not have adequate internet access.
“We know the digital divide will continue to be an ongoing issue even after the pandemic, whether it’s our local businesses on South Central to our farms and mountainside homes in Laveen to seniors and parents in West Phoenix, many, many communities stand to benefit from this,” Ansari said. “We need to make sure that everyone has access.”
On May 14, 2020, an initial budget of $2 million from the City’s allocation of federal Coronavirus Relief Funds was approved to be used to broaden Citywide WiFi by the City Council. Afterward, a group composed of the the City of Phoenix, Phoenix College, Phoenix Union High School District, the Greater Phoenix Economic Council and the Arizona Commerce Authority came together to work towards long-term solutions for the digital divide.
The team has successfully conducted testing at several of the beta-sites, which included the Phoenix College campus, Maryvale High School and the Phoenix Union High School District, since the approval of the $2 million.
The project is ready to “scale-up and increase the WiFi system’s capacity and reach for the broader community” now that data has been collected according to the City of Phoenix.
The next phase of this project includes expanding the existing WiFi system to a four square mile area. This will provide over 1,000 students, who otherwise would not have proper internet access, with connectivity.
Vice-Mayor Carlos Garcia called the projects some of the best the city has undertaken in recent years. “These are some of the best investments we can make, especially with the permanency of this program, and the fact that it’s infrastructure that’s going to be here for a long time and for future generations,” Garcia said.
Additionally, the city has taken other approaches to solve the digital divide issue including allowing residents to check out hotspots from their local libraries and the expansion of programs like College Depot Councilwoman Ann O’Brien explained.
“These items are just natural next steps to closing that digital divide amongst our students,” O’Brien said.
Contact the reporter at lbrazele@asu.edu.
