As Digital Inclusion Week 2026 kicks off October 4-10, the Building for Digital Equity webinar series — co-hosted by the Institute for Local Self Reliance’s (ILSR) Community Broadband Networks Initiative and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) — returns with a timely question: with federal support for digital equity work in retreat, what does it actually take to keep this work alive, growing, and reaching people at the local level?

On October 8 at 3 pm ET the hour-long livestream — titled “Sustain, Empower, Evolve: Planting Local Seeds for Digital Equity” — opens with a policy update on where Digital Equity Act funding actually stands, what’s moving, and what’s stalled.

From there, the show turns to the ground-level with a special spotlight on building wireless connectivity for tiny-home communities in Seattle that will uniquely engage the audience in a case-study exploring how local expertise is harnessed, coordinating a cadre of local volunteers, and facing down the challenges of sustainability.

The livestream closes with a forward-looking conversation focused on how digital inclusion work is evolving in practice as front-line workers speak to ways funding models and digital navigators are adapting.

Registration is now open above

The livestream will be available (and later archived) on Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn with live viewer questions answered by the invited speakers and presenters, which is still being finalized. We will also be live posting from the Community Broadband Networks Bluesky page.