As the Chairman or Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy Telecommunications, State Senator Kevin Parker has been working to close the digital divide for nearly 20 years.

Forty percent of households in New York City have no access to the internet and the vast majority of those households are in communities of color or low-income communities. But this issue, neglected by most in government for all that time, became glaringly clear when COVID-19 forced students out of the classroom and into remote learning.

Parker joined In Focus to talk about what elected officials have done right: working to get hardware into the hands of every student in the city and getting buildings wired for broadband as quickly as possible. But he also talks about what they did wrong, in failing to get the word out about the resources they were making available. 

He also talked about bills now in the legislature that would move internet access to the head of the class for all New Yorkers, not just those who can afford it, and about how he believes internet access must be considered a utility, like gas, electric and water.