Posted inOpinion

EDITORIAL: Latinos need to close the digital divide

Too many Californians still do not have access to fast and reliable broadband service. Households earning $50,000 or less a year are the least likely to have broadband at home, according to a 2021 report by the National League of Cities (NLC) constituency group Hispanic Elected Local Officials (HELO). According to the latest five-year American Community Survey, the median income for Latino households was $51,811. Affordability is one of the main reasons respondents give for not going online. Some 25% of Latinos cite affordability as a reason for not going online compared to 19% of the entire U.S. population.
According to data from the League of United Latin American Citizens, 31 percent of Latino households do not have access to broadband. Most of these households are clustered in rural communities, where high-speed broadband internet is the hardest to find. According to the Public Policy Institute of California,15% of Black and 14% of Latino households do not have access to a computer device at home.