By Michelle Xiarhos Curran
Despite recent news that government funds for digital equity programming were being terminated, members of the Essex County Digital Equity Coalition still had much to celebrate at its June 3 meeting.
Expanded partnerships. Ten thousand refurbished computers distributed throughout the region by TEK Collaborative, an e-recycler incubated at Essex County Community Foundation (ECCF). And a second round of collaborative digital equity grants announced by the foundation, which ECCF will launch in September.
The celebratory meeting took place nearly four years to the day that ECCF hosted the first Digital Equity Coalition meeting on June 1, 2021. And during those four years, the coalition has gathered quarterly to share information, generate ideas and form partnerships to find sustainable solutions to our region’s digital inequities.
“Four years, that’s a big accomplishment,” said Gina Cooper Benjamin, deputy director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), who, along with colleague Shauna Edson, NDIA’s senior policy manager, spoke at the meeting. They shared resources and information from their organization’s recent Net Inclusion conference and talked about the funding landscape.
“Across the nonprofit sector, we have all been hit very hard,” said Benjamin. “There are funders, including ECCF, who are very much still committed to helping communities during this time.”
In addition to funding, Benjamin and Edson emphasized that advocacy and storytelling are also critical to the sustainability of this work.
“We really think it’s important for everybody to know about this work we’re all doing and how it’s helping folks,” said Edson. “The storytelling is what helps connect people to this work.”
At the meeting, Rachid Moukhabir, founder of the Mass Association of Computer and Internet Resources (MACIR), told the story of ELEVATE, a program his organization is currently piloting at the Lawrence Public Library to create a new model for digital access and empowerment. The pilot is funded by ECCF.
ELEVATE is a cloud-based platform that transforms library staff into digital access leaders equipped to deliver devices, internet access, training and support, all from a single integrated hub. It empowers staff to serve as digital navigators meeting their community’s needs with AI-powered tools to assist patrons of all ages and abilities – in their language, at their skill level and in their neighborhood.
“Libraries continue to be vibrant digital access hubs,” said Moukhabir. “And once we integrate it into the Lawrence Public Library, it’s going to be pretty easy to scale throughout the Merrimack Valley.”
MACIR’s long-term plans are to scale ELEVATE across the state and the nation.
“This is an example of how this $50,000 grant continues to give because of this potential to reach all libraries, not just here in the county, but beyond,” said Jessica Vilas Novas, a systems philanthropy consultant with ECCF and a former director of the Lawrence Public Library.
Janelle Abreu, the current director of the library, said ELEVATE was introduced in Lawrence at just the right time – as the city was creating their digital equity plan. And because of this, additional stakeholders have been able to benefit from its implementation too, including the Lawrence Housing Authority, Council on Aging and Lazarus House, among others.
“ELEVATE just aligned perfectly with what the city was looking for,” said Abreu.
There are success stories like ELEVATE’s happening all over Essex County. And as part of celebrating four years of coalition-building and sustainable solutions, Kate Machet, ECCF’s vice president of systems initiatives and government relations, recapped some of the highlights with a slideshow.
There was the TEK Collaborative’s first big donation of refurbished computers. The Point in Salem becoming the very first digital equity neighborhood in the region – with free internet access inside and out. The program at Healing Abuse Working for Change (HAWC) that provided laptops and internet hotspots to survivors of domestic violence. MakeIt Haverhill hosting their first Digital Literacy Class. And the Digital Equity Competition that for three years showcased the region’s innovation and entrepreneurial spirit.
“This is your ecosystem. This is what you all built together,” said Machet. “I hope that you all have as much pride in this as we do here at ECCF because this is all your work.”
To date, ECCF’s collaborative Advancing Digital Equity initiative has exceeded many of the goals established in 2021. What started out as five digital literacy sites – places where people can receive technology training – has turned into 34, thanks to nonprofit partner, Tech Goes Home. The goal of establishing a 100-member digital equity coalition has more than doubled, with 275 members now working together to tackle digital inequities in Essex County. The coalition is also on track to exceed its goal of connecting 20,000 residents to the internet.
And it was during this June coalition meeting that Jeff Williams, founder of TEK Collaborative, announced that the organization had reached the milestone of 10,000 devices distributed.
“This is huge!” said Machet. “You have doubled the goal of the whole project.”
“Staying connected in this space, in this very moment, is what is going to be able to allow us to continue that entrepreneurial and innovative spirit,” she added.
Coalition members offered dozens of other stories, too, through an interactive activity that prompted members to share wins from their organizations and offer shoutouts to others working in the digital equity space.
“This whole thing has been about storytelling,” said Vilas Novas. “And really bringing to life the people on the ground doing the work and the people that are impacted by all this work.”
