LOC News
Open for Public Comment - Broadband Office Draft Digital Equity Plan
This week, the Oregon Broadband Office (OBO) released the DRAFT Oregon Digital Equity Plan, which outlines how Oregon will use federal funds to provide reliable, affordable, high-speed internet, computing devices, and digital skills training to people who need it most.
The DRAFT Digital Equity Plan is now open for a 45-day public comment period, from Wednesday, November 1, 2023, until 5 p.m. PST on December 16, 2023. Cities, as well as counties, tribal entities and the public, are invited to submit comments via the public comment portal as early as possible.
The draft plan is based on federal guidance from the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program and aims to align with their recommendations to ensure the greatest impact for funding for Oregon. This funding is separate from the BEAD infrastructure funding, and is open to all areas of the state, particularly the unserved, underserved, and historically underrepresented communities in the state.
The LOC will work with its members to develop comments for the LOC, but also strongly encourages member cities to simultaneously submit their own comments. This is an opportunity to provide feedback on challenges with providing devices to community members (modems, routers, laptops, etc.), lack of digital literacy skills due to age, disabilities, language barriers, affordability issues, and any other impediments to accessing the internet that are personal to your community.
The public has until 5 p.m. PST on December 16, 2023 to submit comments via the public comment portal. Review the DRAFT Oregon Digital Equity Plan and submit your comments as early as possible. If you encounter technical issues while using the Public Comment Portal to submit comments, please contact the Oregon Broadband Office at broadband.oregon@biz.oregon.gov.
Contact: Nolan Pleše, Lobbyist – nplese@orcities.org
Last Updated 11/3/23