By Brittany-Rae Gregory Rivers

In the academic realm, research is the foundation for identifying solutions to some of society’s biggest challenges. Centering lived experiences is at the heart of the work that we do at Next Century Cities, so we know that In research should also be prioritized to address the daily access and adoption concerns that exist within the broadband advocacy and policy arena.

During Bipartisan Tech, we provided space to explore current research and future research opportunities during five end of the day roundtable discussions. Attendees were able to discuss timely topics, offer resources to each other, suggest collaborations, and discuss concrete efforts to help address challenges within their respective communities.

The roundtables included:

• “Digital Equity Planning” led by Andy Stutzman, Next Century Cities’ Executive Director and Next Century Cities Board Member, Kari Keefe, also Director of KC Digital Drive
• “Federal Issues” led by Ryan Johnston, Senior Policy Counsel for Federal Programs at Next Century Cities;
• An overview of Brick By Brick led by Brittany-Rae Gregory Rivers, Communications Director at Next Century Cities;
• A review of NCC’s State Broadband One Pagers led by Next Century Cities’ Stacey Baxter, Program Manager, and Corian Zacher, Senior Policy Counsel for State & Local Initiatives;
• “Insight Into Open Measurement Data Tools” led by Lai Yi Ohlsen, Lead Data Scientist , M-Lab.