Digital Divide

California is Key to Closing the Digital Divide in America

  • The Digital Divide in California is the equivalent of having an Illinois, New Mexico, Maine, Alaska and Kentucky all inside one state. Californians not connected to broadband include:
    - 45% All Californians: 17M (15.6M urban) - equal to 5th most populated state, ahead of Illinois.
    - 64% People with Disabilities: 2.4M - equal to 36th most populated state, ahead of New Mexico.
    - 4% Californians in Rural Areas: 1.4M - equal to 40th most populated state, ahead of Maine.
    - 25% California Land Area: equal to the 37th largest state, about the size of Kentucky.
    - Majority of Native Americans: .68M - larger than the population of Alaska.
  • California leaders and representatives need to join forces to secure a fair share of ARRA federal funding for broadband deployment and adoption, which would be at least $1 billion.*

*13% of ARRA grants, loans and loan guarantees available for California broadband and related programs is estimated to be at least $1B. This calculation assumes:

  1. California will receive roughly 13% of $7.2B United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utility Services (RUS) & Department of Commerce (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), equivalent to $936M for broadband.
  2. A reasonable share of related programs that may have broadband components:
    • $715M Native Americans
    • $1.04B Housing
    • $3.497B Education
    • $513M Labor Training
    • $55.9M Rural Development
    • $375M Law Enforcement and R&
    • $702M Heath IT and Telemedicine