Today’s blog is about a report titled The Blueprint for Equitable Digital Participation that was sponsored by Public Knowledge, UnidosUS, and NDIA. It’s a lengthy report that takes a deep dive into issues related to digital inclusion and digital equity and looks at the problems experienced by homes that don’t have or can’t afford broadband.

The report is based on seven focus groups conducted in Colorado, Georgia, New Mexico, and Ohio. The focus groups included households with annual incomes no greater than $70,000, with many far below that. The focus groups were followed by a more detailed nationwide survey based on questions developed during the focus groups.

The report documents the same kind of findings that have come from many other sources. It’s worth reading the report just for the 60 footnotes that lead to a lot of other research in this area. The report documents the primary reasons why homes don’t have adequate broadband.

• The issue for many unconnected homes is the ability to afford a monthly broadband subscription.
• The focus groups included folks who settle for low-cost broadband alternatives that are too slow to meet household needs.
• There were people in the focus groups who lived in places with no good broadband infrastructure.
• There were focus group participants who have a hard time affording computers and devices to use the Internet.
• A lot of folks admitted to not having the skills needed to use computers and navigate the Internet.

The report reached some key findings and recommendations.

• The research found that many people without broadband have a sophisticated understanding of what they need to use broadband, but face systematic barriers to having a monthly broadband subscription.
• Being on the wrong side of the digital divide compounds other challenges facing struggling households. Lack of broadband contributes to problems with housing stability, healthcare, employment, and education.
• Programs to tackle the digital divide have to meet people where they live instead of being done at a statewide or county level.
• The report concludes that the size of the monthly subsidy needed to get broadband into homes has to be around $40 per month. This could come from the Universal Service Fund or some other mechanism. The report concludes that this is enough to get broadband into most homes.
• Federal broadband projects in the future should concentrate on network resiliency and ISP operational support, and not just on building infrastructure.
• There needs to be federal or state support for broadband adoption programs for digital skills training, digital access, and culturally responsive digital training and digital navigation.

The conclusion of the report is worth thinking about: The digital divide is fundamentally about power and resource distribution. Closing it requires not just building infrastructure but ensuring people can actually benefit from networks through comprehensive adoption support, community ownership models, and policy frameworks that prioritize human dignity over corporate profits. The communities most affected by digital exclusion possess the wisdom to drive solutions—they just need the resources and power to implement them.