Opinion: Celebrating West Virginia's Digital Equity Progress

By: Derek Zelkowski, West Virginia Office of Broadband
October 6, 2024

October 7 marks the beginning of Digital Inclusion Week (DIW) 2024. Created by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) in 2017, DIW is meant to spread awareness of the digital divide, celebrate the work done thus far to promote digital inclusion, and expand visibility of existing programs and services across the United States. In West Virginia, there is plenty to celebrate on the digital equity front, and many exciting opportunities to ponder moving forward.

The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare many of the internet and technology related inequities West Virginians experience. Grandparents raising their grandchildren struggled to help them with virtual classes. Those who lacked reliable broadband service at home had to idle in fast food parking lots to access public Wi-Fi. One library director I spoke to recounted an elderly couple who had to use a library desktop to attend a virtual funeral because they didn’t have internet access at home. The intense need for universal high-speed internet and digital inclusion resources was more clear than ever before.

With the passage of the Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act (IIJA) in 2021, a historic opportunity has presented itself to the Mountain State. West Virginia has been allocated $1.2 billion under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program to achieve universal connectivity. This funding arrives on top of Governor Justice’s Billion Dollar Broadband Strategy, which combines state, federal, local, and private funds for high-speed internet infrastructure.

The goal is ambitious–West Virginia is a uniquely rural, mountainous state, which makes deploying broadband networks difficult. Despite this, much progress has been made in deploying fiber-optic cable networks to homes and businesses across the state. West Virginia has led the nation by being among the first states to complete and submit its BEAD planning documents and satisfying administrative requirements–all while continuing to connect households. The remaining funds will allow the West Virginia Office of Broadband to connect the thousands of remaining unserved and underserved addresses.

Another key aspect of the IIJA is the Digital Equity Act (DEA). With DEA funding, West Virginia was among the first states in the nation to complete and submit a State Digital Equity Plan. Through public outreach, the Office of Broadband and our partners collected important data on barriers to internet adoption, and laid out an ambitious plan to expand digital inclusion activities across West Virginia.

Our effort over the past two years has produced exciting results. West Virginians can view detailed maps and dashboards on internet availability, fiber project routes and their status, and digital equity assets. We’ve brought together stakeholders, including public universities, libraries, industry partners, labor organizations, nonprofits, and more. We’ve created websites, media campaigns, and hosted public events. We’ve supported digital equity planning at the local level in partnership with Generation West Virginia, Regional Optical Communications, and Connect Humanity.

For Digital Inclusion Week 2024, the West Virginia Office of Broadband wants to celebrate all of our team’s accomplishments, and we look forward to the work that lies ahead. #DIW2024.

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Derek Zelkowski is the Digital Equity Coordinator in the West Virginia Office of Broadband