Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio made the list, which is this year’s largest.
“Bridging the digital divide between Dallas residents will help create an equitable city. Access to the Internet and knowing how to use it are important tools to success in today’s world,” Dallas Councilmember Jaime Resendez said in a news release. “I am proud to see that the city of Dallas is a leader in these efforts.”
Dallas, meeting all standards, commissioned the Broadband and Digital Equity Strategic Plan in partnership with Dallas Independent School District in 2020. A digital inclusion plan is the second of the six standards listed.
To receive a trailblazers designation, local governments must meet one of a set of six requirements:
- Full-time staff working on digital inclusion.
- Having a digital inclusion plan.
- Building an open-access coalition.
- Conducting related survey research.
- Funding digital inclusion programming.
- Supporting efforts to increase the affordability of home broadband service.
Austin, a 2021 trailblazer, adopted the Digital Inclusion Strategy plan in 2014. The city met five of six standards for 2022.
Houston is in its second year of the “Dismantling Digital Deserts to Increase Equitable Outcomes” project and has met the four first-year deliverables outlined in that document. It met one of the six standards for being a trailblazer.
The San Antonio and Greater Bexar County Community Digital Equity Plan was created by SA Digital Connects, a public-private partnership. The city met all six standards.
“As part of this ongoing work, the city will work with its community partners to implement the digital equity plan and roadmap goals, promoting the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) to eligible San Antonio residents, partnering with local independent school districts on the Connected Beyond the Classroom program and more initiatives to bridge the digital divide,” according to the city’s news release.
The NDIA — a national nonprofit that has led the way for digital inclusion work in the government space — reports that in addition to this year seeing the most trailblazer designations, this was also a record year for government agencies applying for trailblazer status. Last year there were 17 trailblazer designations.
The trailblazers project also features an open-access catalog of materials that local government agencies can use to support digital equity in their jurisdictions.
“Trailblazers is not only a showcase of high-quality digital inclusion work, it is also an invaluable cache of information for those looking to replicate tested tactics and strategies that push the envelope of what it means to pursue digital equity,” said Angela Siefer, NDIA executive director, in a statement with the announcement.
Digital inclusion work generally has seen an influx of support after the COVID-19 pandemic made clear how important the three pillars of digital equity are, those being access to an affordable Internet connection, access to a device to use that connection, and the skills needed to use them both in meaningful ways. This has sparked all kinds of new support, from cross-sector partnerships to interest from elected officials to the first-ever federal allocation for digital equity, to the tune of $2.75 billion.
Looking ahead, this increase in trailblazers may indicate a trend that will carry through to the next year as the money coming down will go through the states.
“As the Infrastructure Act continues to roll out, city and county digital inclusion plans will prove more necessary and influential. As states create plans under the Digital Equity Act, they will be required to consult and include existing city plans within their states,” NDIA officials wrote in this year’s announcement.
A version of this story first appeared in Government Technology, a sister publication of Industry Insider — Texas.
