Monday, October 5, 2020
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT
Please RSVP HERE
National Digital Inclusion Week is October 5-9, 2020 (#DIW20, #DigitalEquityNow).
Join us for a virtual briefing examining how millions of Americans have been left without affordable broadband by profit-driven corporations. We’ll also discuss how outsourcing and the elimination of good jobs has had a negative impact on quality of service and public safety.
The briefing will feature the authors of new reports from the Communications Workers of America (CWA), Economic Policy Institute, and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), as well as telecom workers who have witnessed the negative effects of the digital divide and subcontracting.
Opening Remarks from Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09), Vice Chair, House Energy & Commerce Committee
Panelists:
- Angela Siefer, Executive Director, National Digital Inclusion Alliance
- Brian Thorn, Senior Research Associate, CWA
- John Schmitt, Vice President, Economic Policy Institute
- Dan Mauer, Director of Government Affairs, CWA
- Telecom technicians involved in broadband deployment
- Moderator: Alan Barber, Policy Director, Congressional Progressive Caucus Center
The Communications Workers of America represents 700,000 workers in private and public sector employment. CWA members work in telecommunications and information technology, the airline industry, news media, broadcast and cable television, health care, public service and education, manufacturing and other fields.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that identifies and develops solutions to build a more just, equitable, and resilient nation. Our network approach brings together community leaders, organizers, advocates, unions and policy experts to build people-led cutting edge policy. Through our Policy and Research Council, we harness the intellectual firepower of some of the top minds in the policy and research community, working together to develop real-time solutions to our nation’s most pressing problems and inform the public debate.
The Economic Policy Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank created in 1986 to include the needs of low- and middle-income workers in economic policy discussions. EPI believes every working person deserves a good job with fair pay, affordable health care, and retirement security. To achieve this goal, EPI conducts research and analysis on the economic status of working America. EPI proposes public policies that protect and improve the economic conditions of low- and middle-income workers and assesses policies with respect to how they affect those workers.
The National Digital Inclusion Alliance is a unified voice for home broadband access, public broadband access, personal devices and local technology training and support programs. NDIA works collaboratively to craft, identify and disseminate financial and operational resources for digital inclusion programs while serving as a bridge to policymakers and the general public.