The Great Disconnect: Why Fast-Growing American Cities Are Leaving Too Many Neighborhoods Behind

By Joshua Edmonds

America talks constantly about innovation, progress, and being a global digital leader. But behind all the marketing and political speeches lies a more complicated truth: Entire neighborhoods — across race, income, and geography — are being left out of the digital future.

Suburbs with great schools can still struggle with outdated internet lines.

Rural areas often go years without upgrades. Urban cores, especially in cities like Cleveland, routinely face slow speeds, higher prices, or simply being ignored by large providers. This is The Great Disconnect. And every city in America is feeling the consequences.

1. The Myth: “Everyone Has Internet Now.”

Officially, the U.S. continues to report high internet access rates.

But everyday reality tells a different story: Many working families—of all backgrounds—are paying more for less speed. Seniors struggle with unreliable internet connections, which make telehealth difficult. Students in underserved areas still fight to stay online during peak hours. Neighborhoods with lower economic activity are offered fewer options.

This isn’t “lack of demand.”

It’s a lack of investment in the places that need it most.

2. Fast-Growing Cities, Slower-Growing Access

Take the high-growth cities everyone talks about:

• Atlanta

• Houston

• Dallas–Fort Worth

• Charlotte

• Phoenix

Their skylines grow every year. But many of their neighborhoods — regardless of race — still operate at internet speeds from the early 2000s.

America is discovering the hard way: You can build high-tech districts, but if everyday residents don’t have high-quality broadband, the city stalls.

And the people paying the price are working families, students, local business owners, caregivers, and job-seekers — not just one demographic.

3. The Cleveland Model: Starting Where Disinvestment Hit Hardest

If any place understands the long-term effects of infrastructural neglect, it’s Cleveland. Rather than waiting for traditional internet providers to change their business models, Cleveland is seeing something bold: a community-based approach that upgrades the areas hit hardest first—not last.

That’s why so much of the early work is happening on the East Side:

Not because it only benefits one group but because that’s where the need was most urgent, and where the return for the whole city is the strongest.

When households in neighborhoods like Glenville, Hough, Buckeye, and Central get reliable, affordable, high-speed internet, students learn better, seniors stay connected to healthcare, entrepreneurs can operate nationally, families gain new digital opportunities, property values stabilize, and the entire city becomes stronger economically

This is not charity.

This is innovative urban development.

Cleveland doesn’t rise by leaving any side of town behind.

4. Why This Matters for Everyone: The Internet Is the New Infrastructure

Digital access used to be a convenience.

Now it’s the foundation of:

• education

• employment

• public safety

• transportation

• entrepreneurship

• civic participation

• healthcare

When neighborhoods lack reliable internet, the entire city loses revenue, talent, and competitiveness. The digital divide hurts every taxpayer. Fixing it benefits everyone. This is not a Black issue, a White issue, or an East vs. West issue. It’s a Cleveland issue.

5. The Future: Cities That Connect Their People Win

The cities that succeed in the next decade will be the ones that: connect every neighborhood, treat broadband like electricity or water, invest in affordability measures, invest in equity as an economic asset, and ensure that innovation is not limited to the downtown corridor. Cleveland has a chance to lead nationally by demonstrating what happens when you build a digital future that includes everyone from the start. The East Side is simply where the work begins, not where it ends. And as those communities rise, they pull the city upward with them.

6. The Call: Inclusive Connectivity Builds a Stronger, Wealthier Cleveland

This is bigger than internet speeds.

This is about:

• stabilizing families

• attracting businesses

• preparing the workforce

• supporting seniors

• empowering students

and making Cleveland competitive with the fastest-growing cities in the country

Every neighborhood matters.

Every ZIP code counts.

And every resident deserves access to the tools of the modern economy. The Great Disconnect can be reversed — but only if the city continues investing in the communities that have historically been overlooked. Cleveland’s future isn’t East or West.

It’s all of us.