Building Sustainable Communities

by Connecting Schools, Libraries, Health Centers, and Government Agencies to High-Speed Internet

At this time of high unemployment, economic crisis, and environmental challenges, the United States must invest in our communications infrastructure to move our economy forward, build more sustainable communities, and create good sustainable jobs for American workers. The critical infrastructure of the 21st Century is high-speed internet. Initiatives to upgrade our communications networks allow us to create jobs and better serve our citizens and communities at the same time.

Our Principles

We support public and private initiatives that advance these four principles:

Networking the Green Economy. Connecting our communities through high-speed internet is a critical step for growing our economy and building smarter, more ecologically sustainable communities.
Building High-Capacity Connections to Anchor Institutions. Every school, community college, library, government building, and medical service provider must have affordable high-capacity Internet connectivity, with the goal of 1 gigabit per second.
Closing the Digital Divide. Every American home and business must have affordable access to high-speed broadband, and every American must have the skills needed to use digital technology.
Union Jobs. The workers who build, maintain, and service our broadband networks are entitled to well-paying, career jobs, sustained by respect for their right to select union representation free from employer interference.

Our Program — One Gigabyte to Anchor Institutions

Bringing truly high-capacity broadband connections to our community anchor institutions establishes a high speed framework for every community. This infrastructure becomes the gateway for truly high-speed connections to homes and businesses.

Advanced high-speed networks reduce the barriers of distance, allowing people to access the unlimited information on the Internet from their own homes and communities, providing them with the latest developments in education, health care, and public services while reducing travel-related pollution. For example:

Health Care. Building this broadband infrastructure permits medical providers to send MRIs to experts in seconds, allows video consultation with remote specialists, and enables remote access to patient data during pandemics.
Libraries. High-speed broadband access can ensure that no student, job seeker, or applicant for a government service has to wait in long lines at the library for a time-limited slot.
Schools and Community Colleges. High-capacity broadband brings the limitless information of the Internet to students and allows real-time two-way distance learning.
Government agencies. State and local governments can better serve citizens by putting information, public meetings, and other data online.

Today, all too many libraries, schools, government agencies, and medical providers lack the broadband capacity to bring these and other benefits to their residents.

That is why we have come together to support initiatives to advance the National Broadband Plan goal that every U.S. community should have affordable access to at least 1 gigabit per second broadband services to schools, hospitals, and government buildings.

Who We Are

We are a joint initiative of the Communications Workers of America, a labor organization representing more than 700,000 workers, and the Sierra Club, the nation's oldest, largest, and most influential environmental organization.

We are building a powerful alliance of individuals and organizations representing working families, environmentalists, educators, librarians, health care providers, civil rights leaders, policymakers, business owners, people with disabilities, seniors, and others who believe that universal affordable access to high-speed Internet is critical to build sustainable communities, a just society, and good jobs.

Join Us.

For more information or to become part of the coalition, please contact Kate Snyder at [email protected] or 202-434-1166.