Few attend PA broadband input session in Pottstown

POTTSTOWN — An effort to gather input about the needs of those with limited or zero access to the internet attracted little more than a dozen people to a meeting Tuesday, few if any of them who have any trouble accessing the Internet.

The meeting was co-sponsored by state Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, R-24th Dist., and state Sen. Jimmy Dillon, D-5th Dist., who chair the Senate Communications and Technology Committee. Dillon did not show up.

It was held as part of Pennsylvania’s plan to make use of $1.16 billion in federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment funding, known as BEAD. It is part of President Biden’s “Internet for All” initiative to bring higher-speed broadband Internet connections to those who currently do not have them, or limited access.

“There are more than 276,000 Commonwealth households without internet access and over 52,000 without reliable access,” according to Brandon Carson, executive director of the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority. “The adoption of this plan puts us another step closer to making sure every Pennsylvanian has access to reliable, high-speed internet.”

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Pennycuick said at the meeting, held at North Hall of Montgomery County Community College’s Pottstown campus. “We need to hear from you, what you need and what you want.”

But given the fact that the meeting was not live-streamed, or even recorded, it was mostly the audience that heard from presenters.

“The people in this room don’t need to hear what you’re saying,” said Pottstown School Board member John Armato. “The people in this room are not the underserved.”

Courtney Accurti, public engagement specialist at Harrisburg-based consulting firm Michael Baker International, did most of the talking.

The organizers had hoped to hear from people in the greater Pottstown area about any problems they may have had in affording access, equipment or even slow speeds in order to forge a “five-year-action plan to delve deeper who doesn’t have access,” said Stephanie Perry, digital equity and workplace specialist for the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority.

Perry conceded that the effort is working toward getting to the people the program is actually meant to help, looking at showing up at events like job fairs or other “community anchors” “so we can partner with people who come to them. We need to meet them where they’re at,” she said.

Brian Jeter, senior director of government and regulatory affairs for Comcast praised efforts underway in Berks County to “try to connect to the key residents we need to.”

“They’ve got the right 20 people at the table they are talking to about where the gaps are,” Jeter said. “They’re really doing a good job and rolling up their sleeves.”

Accurti made a pitch for the USA Affordable Connectivity Program, which will contribute up to $30 per month toward the internet prover bill as well as a one-time $100 award to help offset the cost of buying a computer or other equipment to get online.

While the room may have lacked the very people the organizers had hoped to hear from, Rich Rehak, a consultant from Gigapower, noted that the majority of people in the room Tuesday work in education and that educators are key partners.

“We can’t focus on just the technology, because that’s only part of the puzzle,” he said. “It’s a huge piece but only one piece and we won’t tap into the people we’re trying reach without a social system to link them to what’s out there as well as educating people how to use these systems.”

The federal infrastructure law authorized a $65 billion investment into broadband to close the digital divide. Pennsylvania is guaranteed a minimum of $100 million and is expected to receive hundreds of millions in additional funding through formula or competitive funding opportunities.

“Far too many Pennsylvanians lack access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet access or face barriers to accessing the technology necessary to participate in our society and economy fully,” Carson said in a press release. “We are seeking to close the digital divide, and the feedback we receive through community meetings is essential as the Commonwealth develops its Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment and Digital Equity plans.”

“Without broadband, our kids are going to be left behind,” Pennycuick said Tuesday.

Evidence of that sentiment by a school official from the North Penn School District who outlined all of the digital initiatives the school district undertook to keep students connected to their schooling when the pandemic hit.

By contrast, during the pandemic when the Pottstown School District struggled to provide online education due the lack not only of computers, but in Internet connectivity in several hundred Pottstown homes. Students waited weeks to reconnect to teachers while the district provided paper copies of lesson plans and workbooks for the students to take home.