Roughly 2.3 million Californians may have some kind of digital access but lack the high-speed capacity needed to navigate the employment landscape.
“Maybe you can fill out an application — but what if your internet connection is so unreliable you can’t finish the application before the connection drops? When it picks up again, you’re back to the beginning,” says Christian Castro of Teamsters Local 856 in Southern California. “And all the while you’re typing into a tiny screen.”
But, like Preciado and her family, some 2.3 million Californians may have some kind of digital access but lack the high-speed capacity needed to navigate the employment landscape. Day-to-day familiarity that comes with routine computer use helps people pick up the basic skills needed to negotiate the internet, says Steven Simon. Without that experience, it can be hard for a job seeker to know how or where to begin.
If you live in a wealthy neighborhood, you typically have two, maybe three ISPs in your area, and you can choose from different providers. Prices obviously are lower when there’s competition.Simon says there is a whole group of people for whom job seeking skills and the expertise required to master a given job have “migrated online.” Many who need the work haven’t followed along due to a lack of digital access. “They have not migrated along with those job processes,” he says.
“Study after study has shown that those who are on a mobile connection are at a disadvantage in terms of their ability to navigate, to take an opportunity, to take advantage of remote education, simply because when connections are less reliable, they’re less stable.”People in lower income communities are less likely to find available affordable internet than those in wealthier neighborhoods, Galperin says.
Angela Siefer calls the result “digital redlining.” She’s not the only one. It’s become a widely used designation to describe practices that, like the way residential redlining shuts Black or brown residents out of access to loans and other financial services, exclude low income neighborhoods from access to quality digital services. Governing.com defines it as an underinvestment by service providers in low income communities.
NDIA pushes on both local and national fronts to bridge the digital divide. The organization lends support to a network of local “digital navigators” across the United States — individuals from a trusted institution like a library, a social services agency or community organization. Navigators help neighbors figure out low cost home broadband solutions, when possible; connect them to a free or low cost device; and direct them to digital literacy programs to improve their skills.
The funds are aimed at enabling states to build out their digital systems — laying the fiber, setting up the towers. The infrastructure bill also included a $14 billion appropriation for the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program, a subsidy for low income households with an income of up to 200% of the poverty line — $26,500 for a household of four.
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