Connecting Albemarle County, Va.: ‘Universal Broadband Access by the End of 2025’

Brown: Broadband expansion efforts are underway across the country with a goal to provide high-speed internet access to every household. Hello. I'm Dara Brown and this is Getting Connected. Joining me is Jason Inofuentes, Program Manager of Broadband Access and Affordability for Albemarle County, Virginia. And Jason, thank you for being here.

Inofuentes: Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to share.

Brown: You are really ahead of the curve. Can you tell me about the state of broadband in your county?

Inofuentes: Albemarle County has been focused on this for over a decade. Getting Albemarle connected has been a priority of my boss, Mike Culp, who was the director of IT and is now the Director of the Broadband Office. And we had partners from the beginning at the state through the Department of Housing and Community Development's Broadband Office and the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative. That program is the mechanism by which we can bring state, federal, and private dollars into the community to invest in rural broadband. Since 2017, Albemarle County has invested $1 million in broadband and netted $60 million through grants through the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative. And that progress, those awards mean we can announce that we're going to achieve universal broadband access by the end of 2025.

Brown: What are the steps you're taking to expand digital education?

Inofuentes: We're focused on working with community partners to identify the needs of their populations and that involves coalition building. So we are focusing on first developing a digital equity plan for our area. And then implementing the recommendations from that plan in a way that makes sure that none of our community partners feel left behind.

Brown: So when you're going to be 100%, which you said is 2025, what is the plan after that?

Inofuentes: We are already working on affordability, making sure that those households that get connected can afford the broadband that is available to them. We're also looking at making sure that they have access to the devices that they need in order to fully utilize that connectivity. And lastly is skills. Every household needs to be able to keep up with the very rapidly-changing dynamic of the internet. Between AI and other technologies that are just now emerging, households are falling further behind in the digital divide. So we want to help them get beyond just basic skills and into advanced skills because that's going to be the future of the workforce.

Brown: Jason Inofuentes, thank you so much for your time.

Inofuentes: Thank you. Brown: And thank you for watching. I'm Dara Brown.