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Rural Policy

Digital Divide, State Policy and Rural Innovation Duxixi “Ada” Shen*, Mildred Warner, Natassia Bravo,

The digital divide is especially common in rural areas.  The COVID-19 pandemic made this divide more visible, and led to a major expansion in federal policy support.  Definitions of equity were expanded to include poverty and race as well as location.  Federal policy also encouraged non-traditional providers – such as municipal broadband.  While the federal policy environment is shifting again under the Trump administration, state policy and local action will continue. This paper explores innovative state and local approaches to address the digital divide with specific attention given to rural communities. Using regression models of state broadband grants we show that grants were given to lower density places with less broadband coverage. But broader attention to equity (poverty, race, education) was less commonly found in state grants.  In addition, state policy  – such as local match requirements and municipal broadband restrictions were challenges, especially in rural areas. We complement the regression analysis with case studies of innovative rural responses to get around state policy constraints.  This provides insights for future local action in a shifting federal policy environment.