Members of the Benton Harbor Communication and Public Relations Committee on Monday discussed persistent broadband gaps and the difficulty of documenting service levels for federal funding programs.

Committee discussion focused on missed opportunities to capture household-level data before a recent survey deadline. An unidentified committee facilitator said the committee had hoped to gather door-to-door data but learned a relevant online survey closed recently; the facilitator asked staff to pull available data to inform the community for the 2027 cycle. "There is a digital divide in Benton Harbor, and there's no doubt about it," the facilitator said.

A city staff member told the committee that when BEAD (the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program) funding was allocated, areas with existing Comcast coaxial cable were often treated as "served," even when infrastructure was older or performance was poor. That treatment, the staff member said, made some neighborhoods ineligible for BEAD-funded upgrades. The staff member described the program rollout as "designed to work around situations like ours," and said city staff would "definitely be looking at anything that might be able to help us."

Committee members asked staff to explore existing datasets and mapping tools identified during the meeting (the transcript referenced a sensor bureau and a platform called GeoGator) to better document where residents lack reliable broadband. The facilitator asked whether Mr. Little, a staff member mentioned in the meeting, could begin extracting community-specific data.

The committee also heard from a resident who said they work in the local school district and volunteered to help publicize positive developments in Benton Harbor. The facilitator said the broadband topic will return to the committee's agenda for further updates and data pulled by staff.

Next steps: staff were directed to review available mapping and survey sources and report back to the committee at a future meeting; committee members said they expect fuller information ahead of the next BEAD or similar funding opportunities.