Key Message

The lack of access to broad-band is a structural determinant of health that impacts education, access to health care, employment, financial well-being and social inclusion in the New Mexico-Mexico border region, especially in the colonias communities.

• *Colonias along the United States–Mexico border region suffer from some of the greatest digital divides in the country, as well as some of the gravest health inequities.
• About one-half of Doña Ana County’s population resides in the 37 colonias and the surrounding rural areas.
• Limited broadband infrastructure prevents the region from using telehealth widely to improve health outcomes.
• Within Doña Ana County, colonias residents continue to be less likely to have access to affordable broadband. Rural families and communities struggle the most, especially in Berino, Chamberino, La Mesa, Mesilla Park, Mesquite, San Miguel, Vado, and outer edges of Chaparral. Here, there are very limited options for internet service and the options that are available are usually priced too high to be affordable.
• About 66,200 (21%) of students in public schools live in a household without internet access:
  • In Dona Ana County 54% of households in the Hatch Valley Public School District have no internet subscriptions.
  • In the Gadsden, Independent School district up to 41% of households have no internet subscriptions, and within some census tracts it is as high as 56%.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created additional barriers from the digital divide, leaving generations of families and entire areas of southern New Mexico in a chronic state of economic, social and educational hardship.

• Community members have expressed concerns about needs and challenges they are encountering with internet access now that essential services such as schools, social service agencies, and clinics have limited access.