The Bay Area city is making high-speed Internet more accessible with projects focused on affordability and service delivery and aimed at closing the digital divide. A California Public Utilities Commission grant is among the funding sources.

Later this afternoon Oakland leaders will highlight a recent investment to bridge the digital divide in underserved neighborhoods. The city is receiving a combined 38 million split between recent state and federal grants. The money will go to boost broadband infrastructure in East Oakland and West Oakland and in the Fruitvale District. It will boost internet access for various entities including thousands of disconnected households.

On Thursday, Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell was part of a news conference with the city of Oakland, state and local leaders including Assembly Member Mia Bonta, Mayor Sheng Thao, and partner organizations such as Tech Exchange, the Oakland Public Education Fund, and Oakland Undivided.

After two years enmeshed in the unglamorous work of coalition-building, speed test data collection, and pushing state leaders to invest in better telecommunication infrastructure across Oakland’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods, digital equity advocates in the East Bay city are finally seeing the fruits of their labor pay off.

Oakland will receive $15 million from California to close gaps in local internet speeds — a grant that faced objections from industry giants Comcast and AT&T, which had argued the town connects to the web no slower than any other place.