![]() ![]() Noyes said that last piece should land on internet service providers, “but because the industry is just so unregulated, there isn’t the call to action or the impetus to design something for those most in pain when it comes to that. It often falls to small non-profit organizations to do the on-the-ground work to distribute computers, train residents to upload resumes, or sign up for telehealth appointments, and even hand out portable internet routers and help people without basic tech skills sign up for federal coupons for internet access. ![]() More than a third of midsized urban centers known as Gateway Cities lack broadband internet, according to a 2022 MassINC report, with more than half of households in Springfield, Fall River, Chelsea, and Lawrence either entirely without internet access or broadband speeds. Two years later and the figures remain bleak. Even as the vast majority of jobs now require technical literacy skills, bafflingly, Noyes said, “the divide is getting bigger.”Ī 2020 report from the research arm of MassINC, CommonWealth ’s parent company, found that 30,000 Gateway City households with school-age children do not have a laptop or desktop computer at home, and more than 23,000 of those households do not have internet access. After years of Zoom calls, virtual classrooms, and workplaces, and the rise of telemedicine, access to the basic tools, tech, and training remains a stumbling block for much of the state.
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