The U.S. Department of Commerce will give the state $5.5 million to expand high-speed internet access to unserved and underserved communities.
Gov. David Ige announced the U.S. initiative 'Internet for All' at a press conference on Wednesday. The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration will implement internet expansion programs, as part of the Biden-Harris administration's efforts to make the internet affordable to communities across the U.S.
$5 million of the sum will go to the Hawaiʻi Broadband Office to make outreach plans to connect high-speed internet to rural areas and Native Hawaiian communities. The remaining half a million dollars will go towards improving the rate of digital literacy.
"30% of our workforce is going to struggle with basic computer skills," said digital literacy trainer Kaʻala Souza. "You're not gonna be able to pass some of the basic computer assessments that we have. That's 30% of our workforce it’s 20,000 people. Not even talking about people that aren't in our workforce."
Souza said that the goal is for everyone in Hawaiʻi to be digitally literate and ready for anything the future has in store. "If you don't have it, you can't adapt and you can't pivot."
Roughly 56,000 households in Hawaiʻi are not connected to the internet.
For more information on 'Internet for All,' click here.
