Organizations - Broadband Diary

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Last Updated on February 6, 2024 by Todd O'Neill

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Advocacy Groups

ACA Connects—America’s Communications Association: ACA Connects is the premiere association delivering high-impact advocacy for independent broadband, video, and communications providers.
Alliance for Affordable Internet: AAPB embraces all members of the governmental sector, industry/thought leaders, vendors, and advocacy groups. We understand that we cannot connect America without the help and assistance of the entire community.
BlackChurches4Digital Equity: We are Black Churches 4 Digital Equity (BC4DE) and we are building a collaborative movement across the nation to make sure that our communities–communities with the least access–get digital equity. This is a fight for justice and access to affordable and reliable internet our communities need to thrive in the digital age. Our coalition works to educate members of our community about broadband internet assistance programs, encourage unconnected households to get online, train and organize leaders as advocates to get their communities connected, and advance digital equity through the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP).
#BlackTechFutures: #BlackTechFutures Research Institute works to build robust, sustainable Black tech ecosystems locally and nationally. Through its national network of city-based researchers and Black tech ecosystem builders, it highlights black-created organizational solutions to disrupt racial tech disparities and strengthen Black tech ecosystems.
Broadband Commission: Through impactful public-private partnerships, thought leadership, and actionable policy recommendations, the Broadband Commission aims to bridge the digital divide and boost the importance of broadband on the international policy agenda.
Broadband Mapping Coalition: The National Broadband Mapping Coalition is the nation’s only neutral coalition dedicated to openness, transparency, and verifiability in broadband coverage data.
Stakeholders include organizations and individuals in digital inclusion, technology, research, and policy.
BuildJUSTLY – Increasing technology participation sustainably and equitably: Enabling the building of more equitable technology to empower our country’s full economic potential.

CAST – Until learning has no limits®: CAST is a multifaceted organization with a singular ambition: Bust the barriers to learning that millions of people experience every day. We do this by helping educators and organizations apply insights from the learning sciences and leading-edge practices to educational design and implementation.
Center for Race and Digital Justice: The Center on Race & Digital Justice exists as a nexus that grounds and inspires research, action, and care. We see our role as connective tissue in service of supporting and coordinating a shared purpose to cultivate change and sustain impact. Our mission is to strengthen a community of academic researchers, leaders, and practitioners operating at the intersection of data, technology, power, and racial justice. Our work cultivates accountability, drives equity, and seeks to contribute to the restoration and expansion of civil, sovereign, and human rights that are threatened by digitally networked systems of power and control.
Center on Inclusive Technology & Education Systems: The goal of the Center on Inclusive Technology & Education Systems (CITES) is to empower school districts to create and sustain inclusive technology systems that serve all students, including students with disabilities who require assistive technology or accessible educational materials.
Close the Gap Foundation: The digital divide is the gap that exists between those with reliable internet and devices and those with very limited access or none at all.; Coalition For Local Internet Choice (CLIC); The Coalition for Local Internet Choice – CLIC – represents a wide range of public and private interests that support the authority of local communities to make broadband Internet choices that are essential for economic competitiveness, democratic discourse, and quality of life in the 21st century.
Community Broadband Networks.: A project of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
Connect Humanity: We work with communities to build the internet infrastructure and skills they need to participate fully in a digital society.
Your Community

Digital literacy and access for all our neighbors and neighborhoods.
Connected Nation: We develop and provide the tools, resources, and methods that help states and communities create and implement solutions to their broadband and digital technology gaps.
Connecting the Heartland: We’re working to ensure that American families in the heartland have the high-speed, affordable internet service necessary for full participation in life in the digital age.
The Copia Institute: Ideas In Abundance: A new, digital-native take on a think tank from Mike Masnick and the team behind Techdirt. We provide tools, data, and inspiration for tackling the major tech business challenges and policy issues of our time.
CoSN: CoSN is the premier membership organization designed to meet the needs of K-12 education technology leaders. CoSN’s resources support the entire IT team in a school system/district. CoSN offers members the opportunity to access their peers, thought leadership, and participate in local chapters (in 30 states).
Data Privacy Project: Initiatives to inform and support libraries and librarians.
Digital Cooperation: Reshaping the digital landscape to ensure a safer and more secure world for all.
Digitunity: As an independent, national nonprofit organization focused on advancing digital equity through device ownership, Digitunity is unique in the digital inclusion landscape. Together with our predecessor organization, our body of work connecting donors of technology with recipient organizations serving people in need spans nearly 40 years.
Inclusion Junction: Inclusion Junction is a free toolset that enables inclusion leaders at all levels – from local to regional within a state, statewide, multi-state, and national – in one or more inclusion dimensions, from representing the under-represented to digital, educational, economic, financial, health, housing and “other”, to share information about the inclusion services you provide and where you do so.
Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure: We’re imagining, studying, and building public spaces and public goods on the internet.
Internet Safety Labs: Internet Safety Labs is on a mission to ensure product safety in connected products and services. We measure the behavior of software to catalyze safer products for everyone.
The Internet Society

The Internet Society is a global nonprofit empowering people to keep the Internet a force for good: open, globally-connected, secure, and trustworthy. Join us.
MediaJustice: MediaJustice (formerly the Center for Media Justice) is building a powerful grassroots movement for a more just and participatory media —fighting for racial, economic, and gender justice in a digital age. Launched in 2009 by Malkia Devich Cyril, Amy Sonnie, and Jen Soriano — MediaJustice boldly advances communication rights, access, and power for communities harmed by persistent dehumanization, discrimination, and disadvantage. Home of the MediaJustice Network, we envision a future where everyone has sustained and universal access to open and democratic media and technology platforms.
mohuman

We are a technology-driven nonprofit that helps digitally unserved and underserved people and communities access digital services for education, work, health, and economic equity.
Movement for a Better Internet.: Movement for a Better Internet is a collaborative effort to ensure that the Internet’s evolution is guided by public interest values. Our movement brings together diverse voices, facilitates connections, shares resources, and drives policy change based on a shared public interest vision and agenda we will build together for an internet that benefits us all.
Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council: The Multicultural Media, Telecom, and Internet Council (MMTC) is the tech, media, and telecom (TMT) industries’ leading non-partisan, national nonprofit diversity organization. Since opening our doors in 1986, MMTC has worked tirelessly to promote and preserve equal opportunity, civil rights, and social justice in the mass media, telecom, and broadband industries, and to close the digital divide on behalf of its members and constituents, including owners of radio and television broadcast stations, programmers, prospective station owners, and others involved in the TMT industries.
National Black Church Initiative—Digital Divide Initiative: The faith community recognizes how critically important it is to have a technically wise and wired congregation. The access to technology and to IT education is critically important for the church to be on the cutting edge of this technological revolution. NBCI’s initiative has two primary goals:< 1. To make sure that every person in America, regardless of age or station in life, has access to technology and 2. To make sure that IT education opportunities are open to all regardless of income or race. We plan to work with large technology companies such as Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google to ensure that we fulfill our mission.
National Collaborative for Digital Equity: The Collaborative, a New Hampshire-based federally tax-exempt nonprofit corporation, was co-founded in 2013 as the Digital Opportunity Consortium, by co-chairs Dr. Robert McLaughlin and Dr. Paul Resta. Reflecting the compelling need to speak to potential investors with one voice about why and how to approach digital equity investments and initiatives systemically, we refashioned the consortium as the National Collaborative for Digital Equity. We are headquartered in Weare, New Hampshire.
National Urban League | Affordable Connectivity Program: The National Urban League is proud to partner with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to introduce its new Affordable Connectivity Program. This program will ensure households can afford the broadband they need for work, school, healthcare, and more.
Network:On: Learn how America’s broadband works, how it connects us, and how it got us through when we needed it most.

Opportunity Broadband.: Opportunity Broadband is an alliance of nonprofit, academic, philanthropic, public-interest, and corporate partners committed to helping communities across the country use the nation’s investment in universal, affordable broadband access to build more inclusive and dynamic economies. A project of the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Public Knowledge: Public Knowledge promotes freedom of expression, an open internet, and access to affordable communications tools and creative works. We work to shape policy on behalf of the public interest.
Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition: The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. We strive to close the digital divide by promoting high-quality broadband for anchor institutions and their communities. Our members include hundreds of commercial and nonprofit organizations who support our mission.
Stop the Cap!: Promoting Better Broadband, Fighting Data Caps and Usage-Based Billing.
Tech Goes Home: Tech Goes Home is fighting for digital equity. We help bring computers, the Internet, and training to those without so students can do homework, adults can find jobs, and seniors can connect with loved ones.
United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry.: The mission of the UCC Media Justice Ministry is to create just and equitable media structures that give meaningful voices to diverse peoples, cultures, and ideas.

Companies and Consultants

The Ferguson Group: Founded in 1982, TFG is a bipartisan federal government relations consulting firm specializing in securing federal funding, authorizations, policy, and regulatory changes for our public sector, private sector, and not-for-profit clients. TFG represents 164 clients in 31 states and manages one national coalition.
United Communications: United Communications is a leading provider of internet, digital TV, and phone services to enterprise-class businesses and residential customers in Middle Tennessee.

City, State, and Regional Groups

Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC): The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is an economic development partnership agency of the federal government and 13 state governments focusing on 423 counties across the Appalachian Region. ARC’s mission is to innovate, partner, and invest to build community capacity and strengthen economic growth in Appalachia. Research and Resources In The Region
The Center for Digital Equity – Digital Charlotte

Supported by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Digital Charlotte is focused on empowering organizations to deliver digital inclusion resources in the Charlotte community.
Digital Equity Research Center – Metropolitan New York Library Council: The Digital Equity Research Center (DERC) engages in community-based and participatory research to inform digital equity practice and policy at the local, state, and national levels. We work with individuals, organizations, and communities to advance digital equity and social, economic, and racial justice in New York City, Westchester County, and beyond.
Digital Inclusion Alliance – San Antonio: The Digital Inclusion Alliance of San Antonio (DIASA) fosters San Antonio’s digital ecosystem by facilitating the collaboration of organizations providing digital inclusion services and promoting the democratization of digital inclusion initiatives within our community.
Digital Inclusion Nashville: Digital Inclusion Nashville is a collaborative of community organizations focused on data-driven action to make sure that every Nashville resident has access to the digital resources they need to thrive. Our work is powered by the Digital Inclusion and Access Taskforce.
Equitable Internet Initiative | Detroit Community Technology Project.: We address Internet access in Detroit through neighborhood-governed community wireless networks. Through the Equitable Internet Initiative (EII), we are creating the world we want to see! It’s a world with a healthy digital ecosystem that allows our communities to fully realize their right to communicate, participate, and fully engage in all areas of society. Within our communities, we practice consent, prioritize privacy, and establish best practices to secure our networks and customer data.
Missouri Broadband Resource Rail.: Powered by the University of Missouri System Broadband Initiative, the Missouri Broadband Resource Rail is a coordinated effort to support the build-out of reliable, high-speed internet infrastructure across the state of Missouri. The Broadband Resource Rail aims to connect communities to resources and expand the use of broadband-based applications that strengthen economic opportunities, educational access, and well-being.

Foundations

The Ayers Foundation: The Ayers Foundation was created in 1999 to sustain and/or significantly improve the quality of life in Tennessee. This is accomplished through financial support for college scholarships, medical services for children, research into pre-cancer detection and diagnosis, continuing education for teachers, and other charitable donations and grants.
Broadband Institute Foundation: We create and curate Creative Commons educational materials to end the Digital Divide by teaching community members to build and own local Broadband Internet infrastructure. Our Platform Cooperative offers democratic systemic change for workforce development to counter the Uberization of our economy.

Close the Gap Foundation: Empowering first-gen, low-income students to reach their full potential and live a fulfilling life.
Internet Education Foundation: The Internet Education Foundation (IEF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to a decentralized global Internet to promote communications, commerce and democracy. IEF believes that everyone is an Internet stakeholder.
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation: ITIF is an independent, nonpartisan research and educational institute focusing on the intersection of technological innovation and public policy. Recognized as one of the world’s leading science and technology think tanks, ITIF’s mission is to formulate and promote policy solutions that accelerate innovation and boost productivity to spur growth, opportunity, and progress.

Government Agencies

Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Department of Education
Department of Commerce
Department of the Treasury
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)

Non-Profits

Alliance for Affordable Internet: A4AI is Advancing Meaningful Connectivity: Towards Active and Participatory Digital Societies.
Alliance for Quality Broadband Tennessee: We are advocating for solutions to address the digital divide comprehensively, to get more Americans connected by encouraging investment in broadband deployment to reach every unserved area, and through effective adoption programs that address barriers preventing people from subscribing to internet services.
Center for Democracy and Technology

A 501(c)(3) working to promote democratic values by shaping technology policy and architecture, with a focus on the rights of the individual.
Center for Data Innovation: The Center is a part of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the world’s leading think tank for science and technology policy. Our supporters include a diverse range of corporations, charitable foundations, and individual contributors.
Center on Inclusive Technology & Education Systems

The goal of the Center on Inclusive Technology & Education Systems (CITES) is to empower school districts to create and sustain inclusive technology systems that serve all students, including students with disabilities who require assistive technology or accessible educational materials.
Community Broadband Networks: The Community Broadband Networks (CBN) initiative is a program of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a national research and advocacy nonprofit focused on fighting corporate control and building an American economy driven by local priorities. CBN works with a diverse group of allies, partners, and local communities on policies to improve local Internet access. We also research and document what communities around the country are doing to improve access to high-quality broadband networks.
Connect Humanity: We work with communities to build the internet infrastructure and skills they need to participate fully in a digital society.
Data Privacy Project: The Digital Privacy and Data Literacy Project (or “Data Privacy Project”) teaches NYC library staff how information travels and is shared online, what risks users commonly encounter online, and how libraries can better protect patron privacy. Its trainings help support libraries’ increasing role in empowering their communities in a digital world.
Digital Cooperation: Reshaping the digital landscape to ensure a safer and more secure world for all.
EducationSuperHighway: Non-profit working to close the digital divide for the 18 million households that have access to the Internet but can’t afford to connect.

Heartland Forward: We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit “think and do tank” focused on improving economic performance in the center of the United States. Heartland Forward is based in Bentonville, Ark., but our work focuses on the entire Heartland region which is comprised of 20 states.
Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure: The Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure is a new research center based at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, connecting the School for Public Policy, the Department of Communication, and the College of Information and Computer Sciences. The Initiative studies the civic and social role of internet platforms, and advocates for approaches to digital infrastructures that treat platforms and supporting technologies as public spaces and public goods, not purely as profit-making ventures.
Institute for Local Self-Reliance: The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has a vision of thriving, diverse, equitable communities. To reach this vision, we build local power to fight corporate control. We are a national research and advocacy organization that partners with allies across the country to build an American economy driven by local priorities and accountable to people and the planet.
Internet Education Foundation—The Internet: The Internet Education Foundation (IEF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to a decentralized global Internet to promote communications, commerce, and democracy. IEF believes that everyone is an Internet stakeholder.
MIT Center for Civic Media – Creating Technology for Social Change: As a collaboration between the MIT Media Lab and Comparative Media Studies at MIT, the Center for Civic Media pursues original scholarship and design work that investigates the tight-knit and dynamic relationships between communities, ecologies of media and technology, and the natures of information and power. In particular, we develop research tools and conduct case studies to help us understand media ecosystems, augment civic participation, and foster digital inclusion. We use design methods informed by social justice to build technologies that amplify the voices of communities often excluded from the public sphere. (This project closed at the end of August 2020. Many of the staff moved to the Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure at UMass Amherst.)
Movement for a Better Internet

Guided by a public interest vision and agenda we build together, reflecting shared values like openness, diversity, privacy, and equity.
Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council: Since 1986, as a leading public interest tech organization, MMTC has fought for equal access and representation in tech, media, and telecommunications through opportunity creation, awareness building, and advocacy.

National Digital Inclusion Alliance: A unified voice for home broadband access, public broadband access, personal devices, and local technology training and support programs. A community of digital inclusion practitioners and advocates.
National Urban League: The National Urban League is proud to partner with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to introduce its new Affordable Connectivity Program. This program will ensure households can afford the broadband they need for work, school, healthcare, and more.
New America: We are dedicated to renewing the promise of America by continuing the quest to realize our nation’s highest ideals, honestly confronting the challenges caused by rapid technological and social change, and seizing the opportunities those changes create.
Next Century Cities: Next Century Cities works alongside communities of all sizes and political stripes to support local officials who are working to expand broadband access and increase adoption.
New Networks – Open, Fast, Affordable Communications or Everyone: New Networks and our new addition, the IRREGULATORS, are an independent, expert team comprised of senior telecom experts, analysts, forensic auditors, and lawyers who are former senior staffers from the FCC, state advocate,s and Attorneys General Office lawyers, as well as former telco consultants.
Open Technology Institute: The Open Technology Institute looks at how, in this digital age, we ensure that there is universal access, that we have an Internet that is as Sir Timothy Berners-Lee envisioned: one that is open and free, … where inequities in other parts of society don’t play out. A project of New America.
Public Knowledge: Public Knowledge promotes freedom of expression, an open internet, and access to affordable communications tools and creative works. We work to shape policy on behalf of the public interest.

TechBridge—Technology for nonprofits: We break the cycle of generational poverty through the innovative use of technology. We help other nonprofits with technology, expanding their impact.
The Center for Media and Democracy: The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a nationally recognized watchdog that leads in-depth, award-winning investigations into the corruption that undermines our democracy, environment, and economic prosperity.
World Wide Web Foundation: Founded by Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web, the World Wide Web Foundation empowers people to bring about positive change.

Trade Associations

Alliance for Technology Refurbishing and Reuse (AFTRR): To support a thriving nonprofit technology refurbishment industry focused on ending the digital divide.

American Association for Public Broadband: AAPB embraces all members of the governmental sector, industry/thought leaders, vendors, and advocacy groups. We understand that we cannot connect America without the help and assistance of the entire community.
Fiber Broadband Association: The Fiber Broadband Association’s mission is to accelerate the deployment of fiber broadband networks to ensure digital equity and enable every community to leverage economic and societal benefits that only fiber can deliver.
Grow Your Broadband Business: Cloud-based, API-first tools for growing communications providers.
INCOMPAS: INCOMPAS, the Internet and Competitive Networks Association (formerly COMPTEL) is the leading trade association advocating for competition policy across all networks. INCOMPAS represents internet, streaming, communications, and technology companies both large and small, advocating for laws and policies that promote competition, innovation, and economic development.


National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners: Based in our nation’s Capital, NARUC is the national association representing the State Public Service Commissioners who regulate essential utility services in your State. NARUC members are responsible for assuring reliable utility service at fair, just, and reasonable rates.

National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA): NATOA’s Mission is to support and serve the communications interests and needs of local governments. We are a professional association made up of individuals and organizations responsible for – or advising those responsible for – communications policies and services in local governments throughout the country.
NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association: NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association is building a better broadband future for rural America. Proudly representing more than 850 independent, family-owned, and community-based telecommunications companies, NTCA helps members build and deliver broadband connectivity and operate essential services in rural and small-town communities across the U.S.
Tennessee Broadband Association.: The Tennessee Broadband Association is an industry trade organization formed for the purpose of promoting telecommunications services in Tennessee. The Association is comprised of independent and cooperatively owned companies that connect almost 30 percent of the state with broadband and related services. Together these companies have invested more than $240 million in recent years to connect rural Tennesseans with fiber networks. The Association may engage only in activities that may be carried on by a corporation exempt from Federal Income Taxes under Section 501 (c) (6) of the Internal Revenue Code or any section of any statute adopted in succession thereof.
Tennessee Cable and Broadband Association: Founded in 1967, The Tennessee Cable Telecommunications Association (TCTA) began as the trade association for the cable telecommunications industry in Tennessee, providing government relations and public relations support for the cable industry. Today, TCBA is a partner in the advanced communications industry committed to meeting the needs of each Tennessean – student, family, worker, business owner, entertainment, and consumer. TCBA works with local, state, and federal leaders and agencies to fully comply with standards and statutes to protect our customers while providing the best service to meet your needs.
USTelecom | The Broadband Association: USTelecom brings together broadband and technology innovators to create new opportunities to compete, grow and thrive through the power and promise of connectivity. Together, we are committed to enhancing our community’s influence, impact, and value through high-impact, high-results advocacy.
WTA: WTA is a member-driven association strengthening the ability of its members to provide affordable, advanced broadband and communications services in rural America through advocacy and education.

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