With all the focus on budget shortfalls and the need to trim spending, it’s nice to hear about government money well spent. And that description certainly applies to the $2 million grant recently announced by Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and the Office of Broadband and Digital Equity. The money, drawn from American Rescue Plan Act funding, will be going to the nonprofit Waves to bring reliable internet to city neighborhoods that lack it.

That sounds pretty basic, doesn’t it? For most Marylanders, connecting to the internet is something they can take for granted. But, as outlined by an important Abell Foundation report four years ago, as many as 96,000 Baltimore households lack reliable wired service. That’s slightly more than 40% of the city and it’s not hard to figure out who’s been overlooked — many of those same low-income households of color can’t afford a laptop or other computer either. As the world continues its journey into the digital age, these folks are in danger of being left behind.

Fixing this situation is both simpler and more complicated than one might expect.

Waves will be, among other things, installing fiber-optic cable to at least a dozen low-income apartment buildings. But even that can be tricky. As was recently reported in the news site Technical.ly, the city’s underground conduit system is available for that purpose but it’s not entirely clear what challenges installers face down there. An audit would help, particularly as further efforts to expand internet access (perhaps piggybacking on the city’s program to replace vacant homes) move forward.

Internet access isn’t trivial. This isn’t about making sure teens can play Minecraft or Call of Duty to their heart’s content. Lack of online capability is a serious drag on educational and career opportunities. How does one lift oneself out of poverty when the very tools to do so are denied? This is a national crisis that isn’t getting nearly as much attention as it deserves. And with an incoming administration looking to cut federal spending and Annapolis grappling with projected budget deficits, it’s far from certain how much more help will be coming.

That leaves Mayor Scott and nonprofits like Waves on the front line chip, chip, chipping away so another generation won’t be left stranded. The city-owned conduit system may yet prove an asset but so would greater investment, public and private, to level the digital playing field. As the authors of the Abell report observed in 2020, the connectivity inequity is deep and systemic but not insurmountable.