Our work has evolved to address community needs:
DATA COLLECTION
Much policy- and grant-making targeted to close the digital divide is based on deeply flawed maps, which themselves are based on unaudited industry data that erroneously claim far more internet access than actually exists: Federal Communication Commission maps show 100% broadband deployment of 25/3 Mbps to households in urban areas of high poverty within the City of Fresno. California Public Utilities Commission maps show deployment of 25/3 Mbps, as well as broadband adoption, at either 60-80% or 80% and greater within these urban areas of high poverty.
During the COVID pandemic, as school districts began to distribute laptops, tablets, and hotspots, FCDI began to look at the acute internet access problems surfacing across school systems. Among other things, we found that, while the CPUC maps show fewer than 5,000 underserved residents in urban Fresno, in fact, there are 3,700 underserved residents just within the 27 largest Fresno Housing multi-dwelling complexes in the City of Fresno. And of course, the problem was, and is, greater than urban Fresno: in May 2020, the Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE) community assessment found that 21% of those surveyed in the Central Valley had no internet at home and 54% had no email address.
We recognized how egregiously the bad FCC and CPUC maps both concealed existing acute needs, and misdirected public investment away from meeting those needs. As a result, since 2020 we’ve been working to correct the record—to educate policymakers and grantors to the flaws in the existing maps, and to identify reliable and cost-effective means to significantly improve the existing data.
DIGITAL LITERACY
PIQE’s 2020 community assessment data revealed that 25% of Fresno County households were completely digitally isolated; respondents’ top concerns included access to food, losing a job, educating my student and access to health care. FCDI responded to the need for basic wayfinding tools families can use to learn how to access devices, programs, and digital literacy training.
As of Summer 2026, we have compiled a Digital Inclusion Resource Library, mapping the training and educational resources already offered across Fresno County and the rest of the mid-Central Valley before aiming to use vetted organizations to fill in gaps.
S2J2 BROADBAND PLAN
The digital divide doesn’t stop at city limits, so neither do we. As the lead facilitator of the broadband chapter of the Sierra San Joaquin Jobs Initiative, FCDI helped chart an actionable course for digital equity across Fresno, Madera, Kings, and Tulare counties. That regional vision is exactly what drove us to expand our work beyond Fresno and establish the Connect the Valley coalition: when more industries, experts, and communities are working side by side, the work goes further and reaches deeper.
