Duluth Digital Inclusion Initiative Meets Trifecta of Digital Equity Needs: Devices, Skills and Affordable, Accessible Broadband

“Digital access is a health, wealth, and equity issue, and one that requires a strong community-driven and inclusive process to address”

Source: LISC Duluth

In May 2020, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation Duluth (LISC Duluth) and City of Duluth Workforce Development Department convened area foundations to see how to best meet the needs of local residents under the grip of pandemic restrictions. They learned that people without technology were in greatest jeopardy. They also found that other local organizations and schools were working on the same issue and finding the same need. Recognizing the need for a collective response, they reached out to the City, schools, foundations, nonprofits and other community partners and  formed the Duluth Digital Inclusion Initiative (DDII) which began meeting regularly. 

The DDII defined three digital equity goals:

·        Get devices into the hands of those who need them;

·        Improve digital literacy across the community, while training a new IT workforce; and

·        Expand affordable, accessible internet access for all community members.

Elena Foshay, Director of the City of Duluth Workforce Development Department, said they initially started small, thinking only of the devices but quickly realized that the device alone wasn’t enough. People needed to learn how to use it – for school and work – and to be able to get online to reach the resources they suddenly weren’t able to access due to the pandemic.

Each partner played a role in developing solutions to meeting those needs. LISC Duluth applied for and received funding from ConnectedMN, which helped the DDII experiment and hone programs that continue to help close the equity gaps in Duluth. Specifically, they set up two programs: hotspots for students and a Digital Navigator program using the ConnectedMN funds, and also took on the role of helping to convene and share resources with the DDII .

Wi-Fi Hotspots

As a part of this grant, the Duluth area schools surveyed their families and found that more than 1,800 students were unable to access broadband from home largely due to financial barriers that their families faced. The digital divide was greatest among families of color and indigenous families, with 11 percent of African American and 35 percent of Native American households in Duluth lacking access. The Duluth Public Schools has provided laptops for students through CARES Act funds, as well as three months of hotspot access, but many households lacked the ability to continue to cover this cost. With ConnectedMN funds, DDII was able to step in to provide added funding of Wi-Fi hotspots to the schools to extend hotspot access to cover the entire school year and beyond. As of March 2021, they had distributed more than 1,000 hotspots. There were a few homes outside the range of the hotspots, but the initiative helped many families get affordable, sustainable online access. It also helped to provide computer access for multiple students in a household.

LISC was able to recruit and connect the Duluth Community Schools Collaborative’s support in the hotspot distribution process. They work in three key schools, which serve a higher percentage of BIPOC and under-resourced families. This enabled closer contact with families and students facing barriers to access, as well as added connection to tutoring and other resources. And, the DDII meetings became a channel for connecting the schools with other community partners and funding to help promote added digital inclusion. And also through the DDI!, key connections were made between the City of Duluth, School District, LISC  and neighborhood organizations, including Ecolibrium3 in the Lincoln Park neighborhood to identify gaps in services and explore opportunities to work together to ensure digital access for all in the community.

Source: Unsplash

Digital Navigators

Digital Navigators are people who help other individuals (through community organizations) with the process of getting the technology they need including devices, training and broadband. They are like tech contractors. DDII was able to start a Digital Navigator program because of the unique assets of the partners and funding from ConnectedMN, including leadership by the City of Duluth Workforce Development program. They had partners to do the training, partners with access to potential Digital Navigators, and organizations to host the Navigators and connect them with people in need of their services. Like the School District, they also worked with PCs for People to distribute refurbished computers and hot-spots.

SOAR Career Solutions and Lake Superior College designed and deployed training for potential Navigators. DDII placed Navigators wherever they were needed, in the schools, workforce centers, senior centers, and other places. For example, Digital Navigators worked at the Lighthouse Center for Vision Loss, where they worked specifically with older folks and people with disabilities. One young Navigator specialized in working with high school students in need. Another Navigator is helping Community Action Duluth build digital literacy skills among clients who received a free laptop.  Another will work with the Duluth Community Schools Collaborative on a social media plan that would help them better reach and communicate with students and families.  

In addition, Community Action Duluth, the City Workforce, the NAACP, Family Rise Together and others partnered with LISC Duluth, and others involved in Duluth’s Wealth Entrepreneurship and Economic Sustainability (WEES) Group, to build incomes, assets, and wealth by addressing inequities and barriers to employment and to entrepreneurship. Community Action assisted LISC in providing access to computers and Digital Navigator support to address digital inclusion needs.  

Impact

March 2021, the Initiative assessed their impact:

More than 6,800 computers distributed to individuals who need them;

More than 1,000 WiFi hotspots provided;

18 people trained as IT Support Specialists;

More than $1 million raised to support digital inclusion projects.

The quality of the program has also improved over the first year of the program. DDII is learning what it takes to develop a Digital Navigator program. They are constantly changing the curriculum based on feedback from students, community hosts, and customers served. Starting a new support program during a pandemic is fraught with challenges; it accelerates the learning process and helps them define and redefine the role of the community host and the Navigator. They found that the program is most successful when the host understands the role and opportunities for the Navigator and when the Navigator is a self-starter.

Pam Kramer, executive director at LISC Duluth, says, “This is truly an equity and justice issue that is facing our community and many communities throughout Minnesota and the nation. What we do in response to the need for increased digital connectivity, navigation training, and ongoing access will have an impact on the future of our current students, our workforce, families, neighborhood, and the future of our City and region. Digital access is a health, wealth, and equity issue, and one that requires a strong community-driven and inclusive process to address.”

The Future of Digital Navigators in Duluth

The Digital Navigator program is evolving to incorporate the lessons they have learned in the last year, so that Digital Navigators will be even better prepared to meet the needs of the community. For example, through working with families where the Wi-Fi hotspot doesn’t work, DDII has a deeper understanding for the need for better, permanent broadband outside of town. 

Duluth Workforce Development has also widened their scope in recruiting potential Navigators. After the first IT Support Specialist training cohort, they found that only a select number of students wanted to go into the work so they are looking at new candidates, based as much on the ability to self-start and serve the community as interest in technology. 

As the program grows, the host organizations get a better understanding of what a Navigator can do and where there are real opportunities to connect them to people in need. As the Navigators grow in the community, the community better understands the role too. At least one Navigator has been told, they will be hired by the host organization once the grant funding is gone.

With or without a pandemic, the DIgital Navigator program lifts up all involved. They build local expertise with the Digital Navigation training, spread technology through the Navigators, and increase interest throughout the community through the clientele served.