This article is the first in a series by Island Institute published in Maine Municipal Association’s Town and City magazine that explores the topic of broadband and digital equity in relation to Maine’s municipalities.
Mainers love their dirigo moments – those opportunities to lead the nation with shining examples of how we git ‘er done. Last month featured one of those moments, when Maine’s Digital Equity Plan was the first in the nation to be approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). When congratulating the Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA) “for being the first in the nation to hit this milestone,” NTIA’s Director of Digital Equity, Angela Thi Bennett commented that “the state’s intentional work…will make certain everyone in Maine possesses the digital skills, tools, and capacity to thrive.” NTIA estimates that 89% of Mainers identify as a population likely to be most impacted by the digital divide, referred to as “covered populations” in the Digital Equity Act. These important audiences include older adults, low-income households, people living in rural areas, veterans, individuals with a disability, individuals with a language barrier, individuals who are members of a racial or ethnic minority group, and people who are incarcerated.
What does digital equity mean for Maine’s municipalities?
Maine municipalities are already proving to be critical partners in the broader goal of digital equity for the simple fact that almost everyone in Maine has to interact with their town office or city hall in one way or another. Municipal officials often know who the most vulnerable residents are and the local organizations meeting their needs, and therefore are well positioned to help address inequities. Municipal officials and staff themselves are often among those who feel left behind in the digital age, not surprising given the 89% statistic mentioned above.
This article will provide an overview of the State’s plan, dig into the components of the plan that most directly relate to municipal roles and functions, and highlight some important Maine-based research on connections between municipal digital services and community resilience.
Overview of Maine’s Digital Equity Plan
Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA) is a quasi-governmental agency established in 2021 and charged with achieving universal access to high-speed broadband in Maine. According to MCA, the purpose of the Digital Equity Plan is to outline the steps the state will take to expand access to high-speed, reliable internet and break down barriers to connections, especially for populations most impacted by the digital divide. Its approval is the first step for Maine to qualify for federal funding through the Digital Equity Act as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in November 2021. Maine’s estimated allocation of digital equity funding will be between $12 and $14 million and will complement the $270 million Maine will receive for infrastructure improvements under the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.
To create this plan, MCA assembled a broad coalition of stakeholders to conduct significant public outreach and engagement efforts between January and June 2023. MCA also partnered with the Maine-based National Digital Equity Center and Maine Broadband Coalition to convene community meetings, focus groups, and more. Through the planning process, MCA identified several key challenges that need to be addressed to close the digital divide, including a focus on the affordability of service, access to internet-capable devices, digital skills, and online safety training. The resulting plan articulates several key strategies to reduce barriers to connectivity for those who face the most challenges.
Maine’s Strategies to Achieve Digital Equity:
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- Increase access to broadband through grant funding for local and regional infrastructure projects.
- Improve affordability of internet service by increasing enrollment in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and improving connections for those in subsidized housing. ACP is a subsidy program for low-income households administered by the Federal Communications Commission, which recently announced funding is slated to run out in April 2024.
- Secure at least 25,000 donated devices for refurbishment from businesses, institutions, and agencies statewide to provide access to no-cost and low-cost devices (e.g., desktops, laptops, tablets) that meet the user’s needs – and include technical support – by distributing 50,000 new and refurbished devices to Mainers in need of the resources.
- Improve Mainers’ digital skills through outreach and training.
- Help Mainers stay safe online by providing internet safety training.
- Make it easier to access government resources and programs online.
- Sustain and grow Maine’s investment in digital equity through outreach and education to policymakers, policy changes, and by establishing the Maine Digital Equity Fund to raise $15 million in additional capital to match federal funding by additional investment from the federal government.
Improving accessibility of online government programs is one of the state’s key strategies that resonates with town managers like Kathleen Billings of Stonington, who commented on this barrier during the planning process: “We are forced into more government interactions with State and Federal portals which don’t always work, complicated passwords, resetting passwords, no people to call if there is a problem, or it is weeks before you get an answer back and deadlines have already passed.”
Staying safe online is another pressing concern for municipal offices across the state. Cybercrime is on the rise, and the cost for robust cybersecurity can be a burden on small and large towns alike, but not compared to the cost of a ransomware attack. Having a well-trained municipal office and citizenry is the best protection for a local government that doesn’t want to miss out on the rich benefits of increased civic engagement and government efficiency created by online tools. Participation in remote and hybrid meetings can now play a much larger role in government processes thanks to recent years’ statutory changes. Palermo community member Bob Kurek in Waldo County welcomes these changes for making it easier to accomplish the hard work of local government. “I’d rather sit here in my slippers and do work electronically and share it with my other board members.” In neighboring Liberty, Joe Meadows notes that Zoom has made it easier to engage volunteers – local champions who are the lifeblood of Maine’s towns and cities.
Digital skills training and adequate funding are critical for helping municipal offices take advantage of 21st century technology. Philip Pinto is a select board member in Roque Bluffs, a downeast town that is investing in a municipally owned network funded by a grant from the USDA Rural Utilities Service.
As a leader of the broadband effort, Pinto had helped the town build a website a few years ago, but as he put it, “anyone can make a website, it’s maintaining and keeping stale info at bay which is the real challenge.” This brings us to the issue of “municipal digital capacity.”
Municipal digital capacity and community resilience
Municipalities of all sizes have a role to play in advancing digital equity in their communities and by doing so, they might also become more resilient in the process. This topic has been explored through an ongoing research collaboration between three of Maine’s higher education institutions starting in 2020. Led by Vanessa Levesque of USM, Kathleen Bell of the University of Maine, and Eileen Johnson of Bowdoin College, the early research points to the strength and resiliency specifically of smaller Maine communities during the COVID-19 pandemic that were better able to communicate information and conduct transactions with residents remotely, thanks to the availability of digital services.
Digital communication and information sharing is just one aspect of the conversation. Public safety and emergency response are intrinsically tied to broadband and digital technology in the modern world, and access to crucial information or resources during a time of crisis is the glue of community resilience. Enhanced civic engagement and participation, thanks to provisions of digital platforms and features such as Zoom selectboard and council meetings, along with consistent nuanced communication, can strengthen the social fabric of communities. In their most recent article, published in the March issue of Government Information Quarterly, Levesque, Bell, and Johnson conclude that “incorporating digital capacity as a component of community resilience may help minimize the potential for exacerbating inequities, particularly in rural communities.”
The correlation of climate resilience and broadband is another topic worthy of more study. In coastal and island communities, town offices are oftentimes right on the waterfront and their paper documents are sitting on the floor, unprotected in the case of flooding. Having digitized municipal records not only protects critical assets, but also enhances planning processes as municipal staff and local volunteers can access information remotely. This is especially significant for many rural Maine communities that experience an influx of seasonal residents in the summer, many of whom bring valuable knowledge and skills that can fill local planning capacity gaps. Improving digital literacy among municipal officials and planners can also support efforts to map and record changes to their natural environment and provide access to the concrete data that towns can use when applying for funding to address climate impacts.
What’s Next
Over the next four months, this series will dive deeper into municipal digital capacity topics and stories of communities navigating uncharted waters toward the goal of digital equity. We’ll explore the value of local-level digital equity planning, as well as the collaborations with community anchor institutions like libraries and regional entities that can assist municipalities to build digital capacity. We’ll follow the process of a small island town tackling a goal in their updated comprehensive plan “to modernize the town’s IT practices,” which includes replacing the capacity of a venerable tech wizard whose generous voluntarism the town has relied on for years. Finally, we’ll highlight local leaders who see digital equity planning as part and parcel of the work they are doing to prepare their communities for the next pandemic, storm surge, or economic upheaval.
This series will celebrate many dirigo moments, but also reveal gaps in the funding and resources needed to support municipalities to achieve digital goals. The journey ahead may feel daunting to towns and cities trying to catch up, let alone keep up, with our rapidly evolving digital world. MCA and its partners have committed to “create a foundation for digital equity” in Maine. This work will be deeply local but involve collective advocacy to achieve greatest impact. Maine communities can begin by telling their unique stories and sharing solutions with each other, which is the secret sauce to how we lead.
