Another $10 billion from the Treasury Department for broadband! But will urban broadband flourish as a result?

It depends. Lobbying forces tend to swing to rural, so city leaders must insist on urban equity in government's broadband funding, and community stakeholders must keep local and state politicians' feet to the fire. This Gigabit Nation session explores ways to bring accountability into the broadband buildout processes.

The 800-pound gorilla in the room is accountability in rural broadband funding. For nearly a decade $5 billion a year has been spent on rural broadband, but where's the beef!? More importantly, what can communities do to bring accountability for all of these billion of dollars in both rural and urban areas?

Today's digital equity warriors are:

Lori Sherwood is Director of Commercial & Market Development at Render Networks, and her managerial experience covers the both the client and the vendor side. Besides managing and facilitating broadband deployments, Ms Sherwood has also worked for county government as a broadband program director and cable administrator.        


Dr. Christopher Ali is an Associate Professor in Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. Ali's latest book, Farm Fresh Broadband: The politics of rural connectivity, examines the complicated rural broadband policies in the U. S., and analyzes the politics surrounding these policies.

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