Penn State professors partner on digital equity grant to benefit Philadelphia

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Two Penn State faculty members recognized for their expertise in broadband and digital access helped shape an effort that secured a five-year, $11.9 million grant that aims to benefit residents of the city of Philadelphia.

Christopher Ali, the Pioneers Chair in Telecommunications, and Sascha Meinrath, the Palmer Chair in Telecommunications, both members of the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, co-funded and help run the Pennsylvania Broadband Research Institute (PBRI), which is a partner in the grant. Ali and Meinrath also contributed to the proposal, which was led by Philadelphia's office of Innovation and Technology.

“The Digital Equity Unit in the Office of Innovation and Technology is thrilled to be able to build upon our work helping residents access internet, devices and the digital skills required in today’s world. This funding will tie together several systems across the city making it easier for residents get the support they need to be prepared for the digital future,” said Juliet Fink-Yates, broadband and digital inclusion manager for Philadelphia’s Office of Innovation and Technology.

The grant was part of an overall effort to support 24 projects across 39 states and territories announced by the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The funding came from the $1.25 billion Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program, one of three Digital Equity Act grant programs created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

This project aims to increase access to the internet and devices, as well as other digital inclusion resources; increase digital skill development through basic to intermediate digital skills classes and workshops; and provide professional development and technical support to community-based organizations supporting digital inclusion programs.

The PBRI will provide ongoing in-depth qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the multi-stakeholder effort. That includes ensuring program measurement is integrated into the program design, data analysis and reporting, analysis of measurable impact on covered populations, and annual evaluations of performance and reporting.

According to the proposal, the grant should have impacts on economic stability, including workforce development and employment opportunities; education access; health care access; social and civic engagement; and community access to the benefits of internet technology.

“Our faculty members, who are among the best and most respected in the nation in the field of broadband and digital access, are committed to serving the residents of Pennsylvania with what they know,” said Dean Marie Hardin of the Bellisario College. “They put their expertise into practice on a daily basis, in meaningful ways.”

Ali has provided advice and testified before lawmakers in Washington, D.C., and in Pennsylvania, about broadband and telecommunications policy and regulation. He’s the author or editor of five books on related topics, including the forthcoming, tentatively titled, “If These Maps Could Talk: Tales from the Digital Divide” that amplifies and uplifts community stories and experiences to make meaningful public policy changes in broadband and digital equity spaces. His other books include “Farm Fresh Broadband: The Politics of Rural Connectivity,” which was published by MIT Press in 2021.

Ali’s research interests include media and telecommunications policy and regulation, broadband policy, critical political economy, critical geography, comparative media systems, qualitative research methods, media localism and local news. Ali uses critical, qualitative methods to research broadband policy, planning, deployment and digital equity in the United States.

Meinrath is a technology policy expert and is internationally recognized for his work over the past two decades as a community internet pioneer, social entrepreneur and angel investor. He is the founding director of the X-Lab, a think tank focusing on the intersection of vanguard technologies and public policy, and has been named to the Time Magazine "Tech 40" as one of the most influential figures in technology, and named among the "Top 100" in Newsweek's Digital Power Index,

Meinrath is a recipient of the Public Knowledge IP3 Award for excellence in public interest advocacy, and he is widely published in both academic and media outlets. He founded the Open Technology Institute and built it into one of the largest public interest tech policy organizations in Washington, D.C. He also founded the Commotion Wireless Project, which works around the globe to strengthen communities by providing tools to build their own local communications infrastructures, and co-founded Measurement Lab, a global online platform for researchers to deploy Internet measurement tools that empower the public and key decision-makers with useful information about broadband connectivity.