Broderick Johnson has sat in some of the nation’s most powerful rooms, from the White House to his current post as executive vice president for public policy and executive vice president of digital opportunity at Comcast. Yet when he talks about the future, his attention is not on Washington power corridors. It is on communities like South Memphis, Whitehaven and Frayser — neighborhoods he says must not be left behind in the digital age.
Johnson visited Memphis this week to celebrate Comcast’s newest Lift Zone at St. Augustine Catholic Church, part of the company’s network of free, high-speed Wi-Fi hubs for students, seniors and families. It followed last week’s opening of a digital lab at the Whitehaven YMCA.
To Johnson, these investments are not simply corporate initiatives but signals of belonging and commitment.
“Memphis feels welcoming,” he said. “There is a real commitment here to digital inclusion from the nonprofits, faith leaders and government. Our employees here take pride in their city and in these partnerships.”
A Baltimore native shaped by parents who emphasized service and responsibility, Johnson has built a career around lifting others. He helped launch former President Barack Obama administration’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative for boys and young men of color and has long pushed for pathways that expand opportunity.
“My parents always told me you have an obligation to give back,” he said. “What made me different from other young Black men wasn’t that I was smarter. It was that I wasn’t afraid to explore the world and that I always looked for ways to reach back.”
Now, he sees the push for digital access and skills as a continuation of that mission.
“I don’t want to be the only one in the room,” Johnson said. “I don’t take pride in that. I want rooms full of young Black men and women who know they belong, who understand technology and are thriving.”
Johnson rejects the idea that the digital divide is simply about internet availability. While infrastructure reaches most households, many families still are not connected.
“Access is real, but awareness and adoption are just as critical,” he said. “Do families know about low-cost programs like Internet Essentials? Do they have the right devices? Who is helping them feel confident using technology?”
That is why Comcast supports digital navigators — trusted guides inside churches, senior centers and community organizations who help people sign up, learn and stay connected.
“At a Digital Navigator program in Houston working with Black senior citizens, I met a gentleman about 90 years old,” Johnson recalled. “I asked why he came to the class, and he said, ‘So I can stream reruns of Gunsmoke. That makes me happy.’”
For Johnson, that moment captured what digital access really means.
“This reminded me (that) digital access isn’t just about technology,” he said. “It’s about joy. It’s about independence and dignity.”
He added that technology supports far more than homework or job searches. It connects grandparents to telehealth and to extended family and friends; it helps students complete assignments; it supports entrepreneurs. “It is about staying connected, feeling seen and living fully at every stage of life.”
Comcast partners with community organizations like Girls Inc., Boys & Girls Clubs and Alpha Omega Veterans Services to ensure technology reaches residents who need it most.
“We invest in community organizations because they know the neighborhoods,” Johnson said. “They are trusted. This is not charity. This is building capacity.”
He emphasized that the company intends to stay engaged.
“There are companies that put out big ads and big checks,” he said. “But we are on the ground. We are opening Lift Zones. We are sustaining Internet Essentials. Our commitment is genuine.”
Comcast has invested more than $1 billion nationally in digital equity efforts. Johnson welcomes accountability from the communities the company serves.
Johnson said Black communities must not only take part in the digital future but help lead it, especially as artificial intelligence reshapes work, education and opportunity.
“We cannot be intimidated by the internet or AI,” he said. “We need to be beyond existing. We need to thrive within it. Think of all the people already building wealth using AI. Let’s make sure our kids and our grandkids know how to use it, teach it and benefit from it.”
To young Memphians preparing to navigate a digital, global economy, Johnson offered this guidance:
“Protect your integrity. Do what is right even when no one sees it. Don’t be afraid to work in public service and in the private sector. And treat everything you do as having a purpose bigger than you.”
Technology, he added, is not only a tool for individual advancement but for family transformation.
“You train one young person in tech and they go home and teach their parents, their grandparents,” he said. “They lift the whole family.”
As St. Augustine Parish prepares to open its Lift Zone, Johnson said the vision of digital empowerment is already happening — grandmothers learning telehealth, teenagers coding, parents applying for college and jobs.
It is happening one church, one youth center, one neighborhood at a time.
Johnson said his visit to Memphis underscored that he intends to help make sure it continues.
“Our work here is about closing gaps and opening doors,” he said. “I believe Memphis can lead. And I believe our kids deserve every opportunity to thrive in the world that is coming.”
