Anthony Pipa - The Brookings Institution
Rural America disproportionately lacks access to high-speed broadband, an essential component of modern life. Though the issue—and many attempts to address it—go back much farther, the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act appropriated $42.5 billion for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program to close the gap once and for all. In this episode of Reimagine Rural from the Brookings Institution, Tony Pipa visits Macon County, Alabama, with Christa Vinson, Rural LISC Senior Program Officer for Broadband and Infrastructure and also talks with leaders from Jal, New Mexico, and Humboldt County, California to learn how they have overcome their challenges to bring broadband to their rural communities.