New MexiCorps Digital Navigator program is sponsored by New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) / New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions (DWS). The New MexiCorps Digital Navigator program is an initiative to help residents, particularly in rural, low-income, and older populations, acquire the digital skills needed to access opportunities online for jobs, healthcare, and education.

What’s New in Digital Equity: New Mexico Digital Navigator For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers. What’s New in Digital Equity: New Mexico Digital Navigator Plus, Wi-Fi is expanding in New York homeless shelters, Vermont nonprofits gain access to low-cost Internet service, a new law aims to support rural broadband, a report examines digital accessibility, and more.

This week in “What’s New in Digital Equity” — our weekly look at government digital equity and broadband news — we have a number of interesting items, which you can jump to with the links below: N. M. Digital Navigator Program Internet in N.

Y. Homeless Shelters Connectivity for Vermont Nonprofits Expanding Fiber Broadband State of Digital Accessibility N. M.

DIGITAL NAVIGATOR PROGRAM The New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) is investing $300,000 to help the Department of Workforce Solutions (DWS) establish the New MexiCorps Digital Navigator program. Introduced by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) in 2020 , the Digital Navigator Model is intended to help build digital literacy in communities across the country .

New Mexico’s new Digital Navigator program aims to help residents acquire the digital skills needed to access opportunities online for jobs, healthcare and education — especially among rural, low-income and older populations. The program is slated to launch this summer as part of OBAE’s digital opportunity strategy, as outlined in the state’s Three-Year Statewide Broadband Plan , released in January.

DWS is charged with recruiting, training and paying the navigators. The department will oversee the program, which will involve curriculum development, the distribution of education materials, and one-on-one mentoring and group trainings and workshops.

“Too many New Mexicans don’t possess digital skills and computer knowledge — whether it’s because of age, geography or income level — and we want to change that,” Jeff Lopez, OBAE director, said in a statement . OBAE will monitor progress throughout DWS’ implementation. New Mexico’s digital inclusion endeavors go beyond this initiative.

As the state works to expand broadband, officials released the Broadband Mapping Hub this month to provide transparency into statewide work to deploy broadband. In April, the state announced plans to expand free public Wi-Fi service to historic sites and museums. And digital inclusion work is not just the province of OBAE; the New Mexico State Library (NMSL) is also playing a key role .

NMSL launched a digital navigator pilot program in 2024 at the Albuquerque Main Public Library. INTERNET IN N. Y.

HOMELESS SHELTERS Empire State Development in New York has committed up to $20 million in funding to bring Internet access to people living in homeless shelters across the state. The state’s ConnectALL Office will lead the initiative, providing $17 million for installation costs and working with the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.

The New York State Public Service Commission secured an additional $3 million in-kind investment. The funding will support the installation and improvement of broadband infrastructure in shelters, such as building connections and internal wiring, and installing Wi-Fi routers and networking equipment. ConnectALL will also support residents’ access to resources like education programs and other critical services.

A new program offers low-cost, high-speed Internet to nonprofits in Addison County, Vt. Communications Union District Maple Broadband launched the program last week, for all of the nonprofits in its service area in the county. The county has more than 700 registered nonprofits.

Maple Broadband will be offering its fastest Internet service available to qualifying nonprofits at a rate of $69. 96 per month — a monthly savings of $50. Eligible nonprofits will get service with no data caps and free equipment.

Maple Broadband is also waiving its standard installation fee for nonprofits and all new customers until the end of September. At the federal level, President Donald Trump signed the Rural Broadband Protection Act into law Monday. The law requires a more thorough vetting and verification process for Internet service providers looking to participate in the FCC’s high-cost programs.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill in April . It aims to improve accountability and transparency in the distribution of Universal Service Funds, so that the dollars are distributed to companies that can demonstrate they have had success deploying Internet in hard-to-serve areas. Sen.

Shelley Moore Capito first introduced the bill in 2022, to address the FCC’s need for congressional direction to maximize the impact of taxpayer money. Fiber-optic Internet service providers continue working to expand access to fiber in communities across the U.S. Empire Fiber Internet has expanded service to connect more than 1,000 homes and businesses in Wellsville, N. Y.

IQ Fiber has launched service in Pinellas County, Fla. Brightspeed is nearing completion on a fiber expansion project in New Jersey. Ripple Fiber has announced plans to bring fiber Internet service to Oro Valley and Sahuarita in Arizona.

GoNetspeed has started construction to bring fiber access to York, Maine. And Gateway Fiber has initiated construction on a 100 percent fiber network in Bismarck, N. D.

Private investment is increasing fiber broadband deployment . Officials have described expanding fiber as being “key” to achieving universal connectivity. Applause, a software testing company, has released its sixth annual State of Digital Quality in Accessibility report .

It indicates that 56 percent of the assistive technology users surveyed have regularly encountered applications that were not accessible this year. Notably, the majority of organizations surveyed — 78 percent — are using AI to improve website and app accessibility.

This follows the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent decision to delay the deadline for state and local government to ensure the accessibility of all their digital products and services. Governments are liable for providing accessibility today, even with the deadline extension. Digital Equity Broadband Network Policy Accessibility Julia Edinger is a senior staff writer for Government Technology .

She has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Toledo and has since worked in publishing and media. She's currently located in Ohio.

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