Digital Equity: The Softer Side of the Biden Infrastructure Plan Digital equity advocates, state broadband offices and local government staffers are encouraged by the president’s emphasis on their work, but what do they need at the federal level to fully solve this challenge? May 22, 2021 • Shutterstock/archna nautiyal President Biden’s recently announced infrastructure proposal calls for a massive, unprecedented investment aimed at connecting all Americans to the Internet, one that has led to some digital equity experts calling it a potential game changer for their work. Dubbed the American Jobs Plan, White House verbiage for the proposal lists high-speed broadband alongside essential utilities, noting some of its top priorities as delivering “clean drinking water, a renewed electric grid, and high-speed broadband to all Americans.” Essentially, electricity and water have long been considered vital utilities; now, the country’s leadership is grouping Internet with them. In the wake of the proposal,