Digital Opportunity
New Urban Institute Study Charts a Pathway to Digital Opportunity for All
Digital Opportunity
New Urban Institute Study Charts a Pathway to Digital Opportunity for All
By Broderick D. Johnson
|
Apr 24, 2025
In the United States, the ability to access and use a reliable high-speed home internet connection can be essential to unlocking economic mobility and delivering benefits that include better educational, health, financial, and labor outcomes. For example, 92% of jobs require at least one digital skill, making access to connectivity necessary in today’s digital age.
New research from Urban Institute, “Expanding Digital Opportunity: Charting a Path toward Full Inclusion,” supported by Comcast, provides an evidence-based framework and road map centered around three categories of digital inclusion—foundational, enhanced, and full — for stakeholders working to tackle this issue.
Urban Institute President Sarah Rosen Wartell recently spoke at the Economic Mobility Summit in Comcast’s hometown, Philadelphia, where she shared inspiring examples of work happening in communities to advance digital opportunity, using this framework. As Comcast works to get more people online, we’ve had the privilege of seeing the impact connectivity has on communities firsthand––and community partnerships and collaboration are the key to bring change.
Level 1: Foundational Inclusion
Access to connectivity infrastructure and a reliable home internet connection is the first step in the process. Nevertheless, in the U.S., 20% of rural households lack broadband infrastructure, a challenge that requires cross-sector collaboration to address. Over the past decade, Comcast has invested $80 billion to expand and improve its network, deploying fast, reliable service to millions of homes and businesses. From Florida to California, and Texas to Connecticut, we’re connecting more communities.
There is more to do beyond just building infrastructure. The work also requires internet adoption — getting people connected to the internet at home with a computer. There are barriers to this. Some households cite a lack of interest, affordability, or lack of a reliable device. Internet Essentials, our broadband adoption program, addresses these barriers with three things: access to low-cost home internet service, the option to purchase a heavily discounted laptop, and access to digital skills training programs through our network of thousands of nonprofit partners. Since its launch in 2011, we’re proud to have connected more than 10 million individuals to the internet through this program.
10M+
Individuals to the Internet through Internet Essentials
Level 2: Enhanced Inclusion
Once people are online, digital skill building fulfills the next stage of the process. Basic digital skills enable people to connect to the internet and use a browser, while advanced digital skills enable individuals to use the internet for professional, educational, or financial use to improve their lives.
Digital Navigators can help with this stage. They are trusted community members who are trained to help people get online and acquire digital skills. A 2022 study found that 85 percent of people who received help from a digital navigator used the internet more frequently and nearly 50% obtained better healthcare. Since 2021, Comcast has invested more than $60 million in community-based digital navigator programs through Project UP, our $1 billion commitment to advance digital opportunity. For example, Hesperus, which is dedicated to serving rural and tribal communities, is helping to teach digital skills. America Achieves, another organization dedicated to economic mobility, provides digital skills and workforce training programs, enabling their clients to participate in our digital economy.
$60M+
Invested by Comcast in community-based digital navigator programs through Project UP
Level 3: Full Inclusion
Effective and meaningful use of connectivity is the final stage of the process. When communities can provide foundational and enhanced inclusion to everyone through accessible and multilingual technology and support, they ensure everyone can benefit from digital opportunity.
For example, an increase in technological skills is also associated with use of telemedicine and improved health outcomes, as patients become empowered with the skills to take more control over their healthcare journey. Access Living provides digital skills, tech support, and a curriculum tailored to supporting people with disabilities, helping their clients enjoy greater independence in their daily lives. Ameelio, a nonprofit focused on delivering digital skills and tools to incarcerated people, shared that they’ve seen a decline in social isolation and recidivism among internet users.
Studies have also shown that when deployment in rural communities improves, they experience a rise in the number of small businesses, a nearly 4% increase in crop yields, and home values increasing by an average of $5,100. Similarly, rural counties with adoption rates over 80% had 18% higher per capita income growth than those with lower use. On average, this growth equated to nearly $500 per person per year. Clearly, when a community achieves full digital inclusion, everyone wins.
With the Urban Institute’s new framework, we can better understand the benefits of digital opportunity and design programs that will get even more people online. With a laser focus on community and partnerships, we can help ensure even more people can navigate this new digital era in a way that optimizes their fullest potential.
