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A letter from a digital navigator from Lake Providence, Louisiana calls on a US congresswoman to speak up for broadband.
By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities
A published letter addressed to Congresswoman Julia Letlow calls on federal support for Louisiana’s broadband plan.
The letter, from a retired schoolteacher turned digital navigator named Wanda Manning, expresses worry that the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program has been halted for a review.
‘We’re ready’
“The state is ready. Our provider is ready. We’re ready,” Manning’s letter stated. “But months have passed and NTIA still hasn’t approved Louisiana’s plan.”
As previously reported, Louisiana has been highly impacted by an ongoing review to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program called by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
The review, announced with a statement from Lutnick in March, said the Dept. of Commerce was looking for “ways to cut government red tape that slows down infrastructure construction.”
In 2024, Louisiana notably became the first to award BEAD funds through a state program called GUMBO 2.0 (Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities).
It was also the first state to gain approval for their initial BEAD proposal.
BEAD delay blamed for some local layoffs
Since then, at least one firm, a broadband construction firm named EPC, has announced that they’ve had to release 80% of their subcontractors due to the delay.
But Manning, who says she is a lifelong resident of Lake Providence, stresses that healthcare and education are also at stake.
In her letter, Manning discussed how Louisiana saw the impacts of the digital divide during the Covid-19 pandemic.
She said the organization where she serves as a digital navigator, Delta Interfaith, formed a broadband taskforce and partnered with a local provider.
“As a digital navigator, I’ve helped neighbors get remote work with companies like Apple — with good pay and real benefits,” Manning wrote. “I’ve seen telehealth save people the 70-minute drive to a doctor.”
She said much of East Carroll Parish, however, still can’t get online.
“What’s at stake goes far beyond our parish,” Manning wrote.
She further stated that Louisiana’s GUMBO 2.0 plan would bring “$1.3 billion to connect over 140,000 homes and businesses — including over $400 million in your district.”
Manning said all Louisiana needs to move forward is a green light from Washington.
According to Manning, “when Louisiana’s final BEAD plan included an award to finish the job in Lake Providence, we could see the finish line.”
‘We need your voice’
The letter includes a direct appeal to US Rep. Julia Letlow, a Republican.
“Congresswoman, will you speak up for us so we can all move forward,” the letter asks.
Letlow’s district, the Louisiana 5th, includes wide swaths of rural northeast Louisiana, including Lake Providence.
“People here believed this administration would deliver for rural America,” Manning wrote. “That it would cut red tape, not bury us in it. We need your voice in Washington to help make that promise real.”
Manning’s letter follows a series of recent high-profile appeals to Lutnick.
Those appeals, all sent from Louisiana executives, stressed the same theme, one that Manning ended her letter with.
“Tell DC to let Louisiana build,” she wrote.
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