The Future of Public Broadband Meets the Future of AAPB

A Note from AAPB Membership Director Marlena Pfeiffer:

Membership-based broadband organizations have proven to be an essential force behind the industry’s momentum. Through them, we’ve been able to network with one another, build relationships, and create an ecosystem that is strong and resilient. AAPB recognizes this, and we also recognize that membership organizations must stay flexible if they want to meet their members’ needs in a rapidly changing environment.

As the landscape has continued to shift, so has AAPB’s role. We stand as one of the only membership organizations able to connect DC policymakers with the people doing the work on the ground. Through the Member Needs Assessment survey we conducted a few months ago, we have listened closely to what members need right now and have intentionally shaped our 2026 lineup to match the realities facing practitioners, not the predictions of previous years. Our members have asked for an experience that helps them make progress, find clarity, and stay grounded in a sector that has proven to be a moving target.

We believe membership should feel like momentum. It should offer structure when the external landscape doesn’t. It should create direction and guidance that lead to measurable outcomes. With that in mind, AAPB’s 2026 offerings have been built around connection, clarity, and practical movement.

Here’s what you have to look forward to in 2026:

• AAPB Pulse, our monthly briefing, delivers the signals members need to stay oriented while diluting the mainstream noise. Here you will learn what’s shifting, what matters, what tools to use now, and how a small collective action moves the movement forward.

• Local Choice Circles, our quarterly peer groups, create space for real conversations among communities that are exploring, planning, operating, or leading policy work. These aren’t presentations. They’re working groups led by Platinum members, built to help people compare notes, trade lessons, and get unstuck.

• The AAPB Library is taking shape as the toolbox the movement has been missing. Here you will find guidance on talking to councils, countering misinformation, running feasibility studies, crafting public narratives, timing engagement, preparing for a vote, and navigating the modern models of public broadband. Some of this will be public. Some will be for members only. All of it is designed to meet real needs.

• AAPB Live, our quarterly briefing with Gigi, brings the “state of the movement” directly to members with clarity, honesty, and direction at a moment when people need all three.

• Ignition Point, in its new 2026 format, becomes a stage for member stories, written by them, shared with the full mailing list, and spotlighting the work happening across the country. Only Gold and Platinum members can submit stories, and visibility is guaranteed.

• We’ll continue to anchor the year with two major conferences, one regional event and one in Washington, DC, bringing together communities, operators, partners, and federal voices to strengthen the collective work around local choice.

• In 2026 we are also launching Community Memberships, a structured path that gives every city, regardless of where they’re starting, a way to join the movement and gain support that matches their stage of development.

• To make sure no community moves alone, the new Mentorship Program will connect new members with experienced network leaders who can offer practical guidance, real examples, and steady direction.

• And finally, the Education Delegation is under construction and set to expand AAPB’s reach through a trained amplifier group capable of bringing the mission into communities, state rooms, conferences, and digital training spaces.

This is the year we step fully into our role as the national home for public broadband.

And for members, it’s the year everything becomes clearer, more connected, and more actionable.

For questions about membership, conferences, updated member benefits or anything that has sparked your curiosity, please send me a message at marlena@aapb.us.