Indicator
Digital Divide:
Providing access to computers and reliable high-speed internet for all Californians ensures that everyone can participate civically and have equitable access to services and opportunities.
Each indicator page features a series of charts, insights and analysis, case studies, and related indicators.
Insights and Analyses
In 2021, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched the Affordable Connectivity Program to subsidize monthly internet costs for lower-income households to bridge the digital divide. About half of Californian households eligible for this program were enrolled. However, due to a lack of continued funding for this program, the nearly 3 million enrolled Californian households no longer receive ACP discounts, as of June 2024.
Despite federal, state, and local interventions to eliminate the digital divide, particularly among families with school-aged children, disparities in broadband access persist, especially among low-income families, Black and Latino families, and families headed by someone who has less than a bachelor’s degree.
An analysis by the Public Policy Institute of California showed that although the digital divide has narrowed overall, equity gaps persist as approximately 6% of Black, Latino, low-income, and non-college-degree-holding households have no internet at all.
Data from 2021 showed that 45% of Latino, immigrant households and 45% of Native American, U.S.-born lacked at home high-speed internet connection, a computer, or both in California. In Los Angeles County, many neighborhoods that lacked internet access and or device accessibility were those classified as high poverty neighborhoods, which are historically Black and Brown.
Households headed by undocumented Angelenos have consistently experienced the highest level of digital inaccessibility—at 42 percent in 2021, compared to only 24 percent of households headed by someone who is U.S.-born.
In 2021, 46% of Latino immigrant, 29% Black U.S.-born, and 23% of mixed/other immigrant youth in grades K-12 experienced a digital divide in the state. This lack of connection may further reduce educational opportunities for Black and Brown youth, setting them further behind in school.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for equitable Internet and computer access, especially for immigrant communities, became even more apparent—particularly in times of crisis.
As our world continues to shift onto online platforms, digital connectedness has become vital to complete everyday tasks and responsibilities–such as professional life, access to government services and resources, and schooling. Despite this, 33% of immigrants and 26% of the U.S.-born population in California did not have access to a computer or high-speed internet at home as of 2019. This gap was even more apparent when disaggregating by immigration status, as 48% of undocumented residents, 32% of lawful permanent residents, and 27% of naturalized citizens lacked access to a computer or high-speed internet at home.
In 2020, The Greenlining Institute conducted a study assessing how Californians in Fresno and Oakland were impacted by the lack of access to the internet. Their analysis included a 2020 heat map of high-speed internet accessibility in Oakland, revealing that quality high-speed internet was less available in low-income communities of color, primarily in census block groups that tend to be both low-income and have a high share of Black residents. Since 2020, The Greenlining Institute has also partnered with Oakland’s city agencies and community organizations to create the Town Link Program as part of the city’s larger #OaklandUndivided digital equity strategy. The Town Link Program focuses on increasing access to affordable Internet, digital literacy skills, and computers for families facing barriers to digital equity – including those in immigrant communities. In 2022, the program hosted digital literacy courses for 230 Oakland residents; reached nearly 10,000 people in outreach campaigns seeking to enroll people in free and affordable broadband programs; distributed over 260 laptops to residents; and collected nearly 770 survey responses about barriers to digital access. As part of a 2023 report on the program, Greenlining also made recommendations for state and community entities applying for nearly $3 billion of federal funding to increase digital equity within the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), suggesting that applicants invest in broad community coalitions; target digital inclusion efforts to places as well as populations with the lowest Internet access; and focus on recruiting trusted organizations with pre-existing connections with priority communities.
Since Greenlining’s report, the State of California has released its Draft Digital Equity Plan as part of the IIJA funding process, which has echoed many of the same themes as Greenlining. The draft plan also found that immigrants demonstrated the greatest interest in opportunities to build their digital skills, but also raised concerns about the lack of such trainings in non-English languages, in particular, Indigenous languages – issues that the State will seek to address as part of its digital equity strategy. California also adopted Broadband for All (SB 156), designed to expand affordable and reliable internet to underserved areas of the state.
To read The Greenlining Institute’s full report on digital equity in Oakland, click here. Read California’s Draft Digital Equity Plan here, and read more about the state’s full broadband infrastructure plan here.
Photo credit: WOCinTech Chat, Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)
The Mixteco/Indígena Community Organizing Project (MICOP) is a key grassroots organization working to support, organize, and empower Indigenous migrant communities in California’s Central Coast region – including Indigenous migrant youth.
Organizations like MICOP and their partners estimate that there are about 20,000 Indigenous Mixteco migrants from Mexico living in Ventura County in the Central Coast. Many such Indigenous migrants in California have been misrecognized as Latinx and assumed to be Spanish speakers at school and at work, when in reality many are not proficient in either English or Spanish. This has contributed to a widespread lack of access to educational, working, and health infrastructures, even in areas with more concentrated Indigenous migrant populations.
Work by scholars sheds light on the challenges and discrimination that Indigenous youth, in particular, face – especially in the school system. In this context, it is not uncommon for Indigenous migrant youth to be tracked into special education classes, even when they do not have a learning disability, hindering their academic progression and participation in the U.S. school system. Further, effective communication between parents and schools can often depend on whether translation is available, so parents’ ability to advocate on behalf of their children is often limited by a lack of translation services (or dependent on another family member being available to translate). As highlighted by a 2020 CalMatters article, educational barriers for Indigenous migrant youth were compounded when schools transitioned to remote learning during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. On top of the existing linguistic barriers, Indigenous youth had to now further contend with the digital divide to access class materials and with economic imperatives to work in the agricultural fields when family members experienced job loss or contracted COVID-19. Some of the youth featured in that article were members of MICOP’s Tequio Youth Group, which focuses on leadership development to promote Indigenous pride, promotes educational attainment, and advocates against bullying. For example, in 2012, members advocated for the implementation of a policy prohibiting the use of derogatory terms used against Indigenous students in local school districts. In 2014 and 2015, youth also partook in the “Fields to College” campaign, advocating for language resources for both students and their parents in the Oxnard Union High School District. In addition, the group established the Tequio Scholarship Fund to provide funding to Indigenous college students in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.
In general, it is important to note that shared languages and cultures are critical components of MICOP’s success in building trust with community members – and as of 2021, 80% of MICOP’s staff are from the Indigenous communities the organization intends to serve. To learn more about MICOP visit their site here. Read more about MICOP’s other efforts during the pandemic here.
Photo credit: MICOP
