Category Archives: Digital Divide

OPPORTUNITY: Google AI Essentials Training at NO COST!

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I got this from the NDIA Listserv – and I double checked to make sure it wasn’t just for the Palmetto community…

Palmetto Goodwill is offering Google AI Essentials and Google Prompting Essentials at no cost!  This training is designed to help individuals strengthen digital skills that are essential in today’s workforce. AI literacy is becoming a key requirement across many industries, and this training can open doors to better employment options—especially for those rebuilding their lives after incarceration.

 

Course Benefits:

  • Free access to a Coursera certificate course
  • Learn the fundamentals of AI, including real-world applications
  • Optimize AI interactions through effective prompting tactics
  • Self-paced online learning—complete on your own schedule
  • Earn a Coursera Certificate to boost your resume or LinkedIn profile

 REGISTER: Google Coursera Professional Certificates | Palmetto Goodwill

Those with a large number of interested learners may submit a list that includes each participant’s first and last name, along with their email address, to digitalskills@palmettogoodwill.org.

Feel free to enroll and share the opportunity within your organization and across your community networks.

OPPORTUNITY AT Net Inclusion: Voices of Digital Inclusion: A Creative Showcase of Art, Music, and Words Participant Form

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Net Inclusion is happening in Chicago Feb 3-5. If you are (or are thinking about) attending, here’s a bonus opportunity…

Voices of Digital Inclusion: A Creative Showcase of Art, Music, and Words is a 90-minute breakout session at Net Inclusion 2026 grounded in creative expression and community voice. For the second year in a row, this session has been selected for the conference—an affirmation of how vital art, storytelling, and shared expression are to the digital inclusion movement.

This gathering invites people of all backgrounds and creative practices to share what they carry—art, stories, experiences, or reflections. We welcome poets, storytellers, singers, musicians, writers, visual artists, multimedia creators, performers, cultural workers, community organizers, digital stewards, archivists, technologists with a story, educators, students, activists, healers, improvisers, and those who don’t use any of these labels but feel called to share.

At a time when digital inclusion work is facing real pressures—funding cuts, burnout, and widening disparities—we’re carving out space for something both simple and profound: CONNECTION. Through art, music, and words, we gather to reflect, resist, and reconnect with ourselves, our work, and one another.

This creative showcase is a community-rooted space where every emotion is welcome and every voice matters. Whether your medium is poetry, storytelling, song, movement, visuals, memory work, or something entirely your own, we invite you to bring what feels true for you. Your creativity, your story, and your presence help shape a space of care, courage, and belonging.

We are issuing an open call for participants who would like to share during the session. If you feel called to contribute your voice or creative expression, please complete this short interest form.

Doug Dawson says ISPs Need to Tackle Digital Inclusion

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Doug Dawson, from CCG Consulting says…

I think it’s in the best interest of ISPs to step into the federal funding void to help tackle this issue. Very few ISPs have attempted to tackle the issue, but one tackled it in a big way. Comcast Internet Essentials provides a monthly broadband connection that includes WiFi for qualifying low-income households for as little as $14.95 per month, with no extra fees for equipment or activation. Participants get access to computer training, either online or in person. Participants can buy a computer for $149.99. The company says it has helped 10 million homes with the program and has a goal to help up to 50 million homes by the end of 2027.

Setting aside the low price issue, the Comcast Internet Essentials program is addressing two of the keys to digital inclusion – getting devices in the hands of people who need them and showing people how to use broadband. I have no idea how Comcast handles these two issues. I have to assume, at their scale, they’ve arranged to buy a lot of basic computers for a low price. If I had to guess, I would think that Comcast outsources the training to a vendor. Comcast can pull this off due to the size of the Internet Essential program – there is a lot of economy of scale in helping 10 million homes. Smaller ISPs are not going to easily be able to duplicate what Comcast has done. But that doesn’t mean that small ISPs can’t make a difference in their markets.

One way for an ISP to participate in the digital inclusion effort is to somehow partner with the local folks who are already tackling the issue. There are folks in most parts of the country already tackling these issues. It might be a library, a non-profit, or a local government agency. In my part of the world, the leader in this effort is the Land of Sky COG, a state-sanctioned group of local governments that work together to tackle local problems.

Providing funding and technical assistance to your local digital inclusion groups can help them pursue their mission of helping people join the digital world.

Thirty years ago (ouch!), I worked for an ISP, Minnesota Regional Network, and a huge part of what I did was digital inclusion. I explained the Internet. I taught people what email was and how to use it. Later, other ISPs hired me to do the same thing. It was the best marketing they had. It got people to sign up, and I suspect they were happy, loyal customers.

Can affordable internet increase employment opportunities for low-income workers?

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I can only access the abstract for this report – but sometimes the abstract can get you the info you need. (Not that I wouldn’t like to read the full article.) The research article (Can affordable internet increase employment opportunities for low-income workers? Evidence from the Affordable Connectivity Program) looks at the impact of the ACP…

This study investigates the labor market impacts of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), the largest U.S. initiative to date aimed at reducing income-based disparities in Internet access. We assess ACP’s effects on labor force participation and employment and test the hypothesis that a key impact mechanism is the expansion of remote work opportunities for program recipients. Using large-scale national datasets, we also explore heterogeneity in program effects by gender, occupation, and connection type (fixed vs. mobile).

They found that…

The results provide robust evidence that ACP participation is associated with improved labor market outcomes, particularly among women and individuals with high-speed residential connections. These gains appear to be driven, in part, by increases in both the incidence and intensity of remote work. The findings suggest that a narrow focus on first-level adoption outcomes underestimates the broader socioeconomic benefits of affordable broadband initiatives. Theoretically, they indicate that the so-called Matthew effect – whereby digitization amplifies existing social inequalities – is not inevitable and can be partially offset by well-designed, targeted policy interventions.

Has broadband adoption gone as far as it’s going to go? Why does it matter?

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The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society looks at leveling off of broadband adoption in the last few years (The End of Progress: New Data Raises the Alarm that No Progress May Be the New Normal for the Digital Divide)…

The 2024 American Community Survey (ACS) shows essentially no change in wireline broadband adoption between 2023 and 2024 and just a 1-point increase in the share of households with broadband of any type. The primary growth in broadband adoption of any type occurred among households with subscriptions to cellular data plans for smartphones. The figure below shows the data.

The author (John Horrigan) calls this a consequence of an income constrained saturation point and explains why this is a societal issue…

The consequences of this income constrained saturation point becoming an enduring condition are important. Key services in our society are increasingly optimized in a way that assumes people have both mobile and fixed-access subscriptions. Think about healthcare services. They are increasingly designed such that online tools contain test results, post-intervention care instructions, and wellness information as well as a platform for telehealth sessions. A fixed (i.e., wireline) connection at home (with a sufficiently large video display) facilitates video interactions with healthcare providers. For check-ins, co-pays, and reminders, many systems are designed with mobile access at the forefront. Educational or job training applications function best with large displays on fixed connections, while mobile access supplements with scheduling and other resources. With generous (or unlimited) monthly data allotments, fixed subscription plans give users latitude to benefit from such applications that mobile plans alone do not allow.

He offers some policy solutions…

This leaves policy intervention as an option to reverse the tide. The return of a program such as the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is an obvious tool, as it proved effective in bringing millions of households online and maintaining connections for millions more low-income homes.8 The chances of ACP’s revival do not seem good at the moment. But it is worth noting that all the current promises of the digital revolution—productivity enhanced by artificial intelligence, improvements in health care delivery and outcomes—are premised on widespread and robust connectivity among all citizens. The current data on broadband adoption indicate that this connectivity will not likely happen due to market forces alone.

Digital equity advocates ask Congress to release the Affordable Connectivity Program

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Broadband Breakfast reported earlier this month…

Digital equity advocates warned Thursday that inconsistent federal financing threatened to erase broadband adoption gains, and urged Congress to replace the lapsed Affordable Connectivity Program with a stable, long-term consumer subsidy.

Moderated by Revati Prasad, executive director of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, the panel said high monthly costs remained the main reason families lose or forgo internet service.

Any replacement for the ACP must function as a permanent affordability support, not a short-term emergency program, argued Prasad of the Benton Institute, a nonprofit that researches broadband policy and digital equity.

NDIA looks at why AI is important in digital inclusion

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NDIA reports…

NDIA contracted with MassHire Metro North Workforce Board, the organization that leads the Digital JEDI Consortium in Massachusetts on training and support for their digital navigator program. In thinking through the topic of our last professional development training together, one topic kept coming up again and again: artificial intelligence. However, it quickly became apparent that people wanted not just some basic knowledge about AI – i.e., what do we mean by “artificial intelligence,” and what are some common AI tools that people can use – but also guidance on how to approach the field as digital inclusion practitioners.

I was privileged to be given a lot of freedom by the MassHire team to explore some big questions. How do we talk about bias and misinformation in AI systems? How do we equip our community with sufficient knowledge to decide how and whether to engage with AI tools? How do we talk about how AI is being both used by and on our communities? I wanted to share a couple of themes that surfaced from the research, development, and delivery of the AI training:

They came up with at least two reasons learning more about AI is important:

  • Understanding how something is made opens up deeper discussions on its impacts
  • Practitioners are hungry for conversations about the impacts of AI on individuals and society

The article links to many resources of potential interest.

EVENT Nov 20: Effects and Effectiveness: Evaluation Strategies for Digital Inclusion Programs

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An upcoming event from the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society…

Join us on November 20 at 2:00 p.m. ET for a webinar on program evaluation for the non-profit community. Available via the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society’s YouTube page, the webinar will open a conversation on designing and conducting research to understand the effects and effectiveness of digital inclusion activities. Panelists will reflect on how to fit evaluation into common resource constraints that non-profits face, as well as the opportunities for evaluation across digital inclusion ecosystems.

Dr. Caroline Stratton, Research Director at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, will moderate a discussion with:

  • Dr. Amy Gonzales, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Associate Director of the Chicano Studies Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Gonzales is the lead author of A Simple Evaluation Guide for the Digital Equity Community, published in 2024 by Digitunity.
  • Dr. Yeweon Kim, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Center for Trustworthy AI at Seoul National University and Benton Opportunity Fund Fellow. Dr. Kim is a co-author of A Simple Evaluation Guide for the Digital Equity Community.
  • Dr. Richard Feistman, Chief Learning and Evaluation Officer of Tech Goes Home. Tech Goes Home’s 2023 publication of Theory of Change research informed a 2024 ten-year strategic plan for the organization and associated evaluation efforts.
  • Meg Käufer, Chief Visionary Officer of the STEM Alliance. Käufer has led the STEM Alliance’s evaluations of multiple initiatives and programs, including the Yonkers Y-Zone Digital Equity Project and Connect Westchester.

Tune in to learn more about what organizations of all sizes should consider and prioritize in evaluating their programs and broader impact in the community.

Register Here

Research on Addressing Homelessness Through Equitable Design on TikTok

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The Journal of Community Informatics released a new edition that has a number of broadband-forward or adjacent articles. (I mentioned this edition before.)  There is an interesting article on Addressing Homelessness Through Equitable Design on TikTok. Here’s the abstract…

This study examines the digital experiences of individuals experiencing homelessness on TikTok, focusing on their usage patterns, challenges, and opportunities for social connection. Through a review of literature and analysis of TikTok content, the study examines how individuals experiencing homelessness use social media, the challenges they encounter, and the potential benefits and risks associated with online engagement. Despite challenges such as network access, device quality, and privacy concerns, homeless individuals navigate digital spaces to share personal stories, seek support, and participate in online communities. The study identifies themes related to digital divide perceptions, survival infrastructuring, social capital building, and health information seeking behaviours among homeless populations on TikTok. Based on these insights, the study proposes platform-level and user-level recommendations to improve the digital experiences of homeless individuals on TikTok, focusing on bandwidth-sensitive design, enhanced privacy controls, and security toolkits. These recommendations aim to promote digital inclusion and support for vulnerable populations in the digital age, contributing to ongoing discussions about equity and social support online.

By question was – why TikTok, but they answered that up front…

While previous research has examined how marginalized communities use social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, TikTok presents a unique case due to its algorithm-driven content distribution, highly visual nature, and participatory culture. Unlike text-heavy platforms, TikTok’s short-form video format enables individuals to share personal narratives in compelling ways. Its algorithm-driven distribution enables content from marginalized users to achieve visibility far beyond their networks; its video-based format allows creators to share personal narratives even with limited literacy; and its participatory culture supports resource-sharing and solidarity. For unhoused individuals, these affordances may create new opportunities to document lived experiences, seek aid, and contest stigma. At the same time, the same mechanisms also pose heightened risks of exposure and coercion. This duality is especially pressing in Canada, where the Privacy Commissioner’s 2025report noted that despite TikTok being most used social media app by children and teens, it fails to adequately explain its data practices for these vulnerable groups(Privacy Commissioner of Canada, 2025). For unhoused individuals, who already face heightened risks of surveillance and coercion, such opacity compounds existing vulnerabilities. With over 14 million users on TikTok and a steadily growing daily user base(Statista, 2022), it becomes pertinent to understand the nature of interaction and user behaviour on the platform—especially when members of vulnerable groups have a different experience on the same. By situating homelessness within the broader literature on digital inequality and community informatics, this study asks how design and policy might better support unhoused individuals engaging with TikTok. Specifically, given the prevalence of smartphone access and social media use as well as the heterogeneous, complex nature of homelessness, this study looks at the existing literature in the domain to answer the following questions:
1. How do individuals experiencing homelessness use social media platforms like TikTok?
2. What are the primary challenges they face in doing so?

Broadband is only reason rural reporter can work for MN Star Tribune

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The Minnesota Star Tribune has posted a column from reporter, Karen Tolkkinen, out of Clitherall, Minnesota. She is writing about the experience of receiving government food assistance  in the past in reaction to upcoming federal cuts in food assistance. There’s a paragraph that paints a picture on the importance of broadband…

Trust me that it feels much, much better to give than to receive.
We needed food assistance twice for short periods, once before our son was born and once after. Then, when our son was 2, while my husband farmed and repaired tractors, I was able to land a part-time job in my field. When he was 4, I got full-time work. Health insurance ate up such a huge chunk of my paycheck that we went without for a couple of years, but at least my income paid for groceries.
If you live in the Twin Cities, you might not know that Minnesota has been spending tens of millions of dollars to bring broadband across greater Minnesota. That’s the only reason I’m able to write for the Minnesota Star Tribune, where pay and benefits are better than anything I’ve been able to find out here in the hinterlands.

New report: BROADBAND AFFORDABILITY: Assessing the Cost of Broadband for Low-and Moderate Income Communities in Cities

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Here are the key takeaways from a recent Federal Reserve Bank of NY study…

  • This study introduces a new community-level measure of broadband affordability that considers local median monthly household income and costs of living relative to local costs for broadband.
  • Low- and moderate-income communities pay a notably higher share of their income for broadband— 2.43% compared to 0.51% in wealthier areas—exceeding the FCC’s 2% affordability benchmark.
  • In cities where broadband is less affordable, households are more likely to use slower or lower-quality plans due to cost or limited infrastructure. In areas with the least affordable broadband, 26.7% of households rely solely on mobile devices, limiting access to jobs, financial services, and other key resources.
  • Data on broadband pricing is still scarce in small and rural areas, limiting the ability for businesses, government, and community anchor institutions to understand the economic costs and benefits of broadband infrastructure. This underscores the need for localized pricing data to support digital access research.

All very interesting, but I’m always a sucker for an equation to determine a community-level measure of broadband affordability. And this report has that too:

The numerator is the average price for the cheapest internet service plans offered by providers in the geography, and the denominator is the median monthly household income for the geography. This is multiplied by 100 to create a percentage measure of Relative Broadband Affordability experienced by households in a given geography. Relative Broadband Affordability is helpful for understanding the ability of households within a census tract or census place to pay for broadband relative to their median household income. However, to understand just how affordable broadband is to a community, it is important to compare it to other communities within their city.

Turns out affordability impacts the decision to go for mobile-only connection, as the graph below indicates.

EVENT Feb 3-5: Net Inclusion 2026 in Chicago

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From the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA)…

Join the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) in the Windy City for Net Inclusion 2026! From its stunning skyline and top-notch museums to its famous deep-dish pizza, Chicago offers a diverse and fulfilling experience. What better place to gain digital equity insights, ignite change, and amplify your impact in the digital inclusion movement?
Tue, Feb 3, 8am – Thu, Feb 5, 9am 2026 EST
Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk
Register now

The end of paper checks creates urgency for Digital Inclusion

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Digital Lift reports...

The digital world just became less optional. As of September 30, 2025, the federal government has stopped issuing paper checks for benefits like Social Security. Payments are now deposited directly into bank accounts or onto prepaid debit cards – methods that require not only access to financial services but also the ability to navigate online systems.

This is just the latest in a series of policy changes that assume universal internet access. From healthcare enrollment to unemployment benefits, tax filing to student loan repayment, more essential services are now available only online. For many, this is a matter of convenience. For millions of others, it’s an added barrier that deepens existing inequities.

One in seven households has no computer at home or relies on a smartphone

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The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society reports on a Digitunity report on home computer ownership…

One in seven households either have no computer at all or rely only on a smartphone for internet access. While smartphones provide convenient internet access and can be more portable and affordable than computers, they lack the functionality of large-screen computers. Access to large-screen computers (think laptops, desktops, and tablets) ensures continuous, on-demand access that a borrowed, shared, or public device doesn’t allow. A large-screen computer enables:

  • Access to learning opportunities and earning educational and workforce credentials.
  • Expanded options for employment, including remote work.
  • Achieving upward economic mobility and long-term financial stability.
  • Participating in community decisions and having their voices heard.
  • Increased connection by being part of their community and reducing social isolation.
  • Improved physical and mental health through access to healthcare and health information.
  • Increased personal agency by finding and using information to make informed decisions about their lives.
  • The article outlines the haves and the have-nots; there are no surprises.

EVENT Oct 15: Bridging the Gaps in Disability Policy

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From the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society…

New America

Wednesday, October 15, 2025 – 3:30pm to 6:00pm

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Live Event

The Americans with Disabilities Act turned 35 this year. Even though we have come a long way in advancing the rights of people with disabilities, millions are still waiting for the future the law promised.

Our nation is failing to meet the needs of the one in four Americans who are disabled.

As the population of people with disabilities continues to grow, our existing framework of fragmented policies and systems is untenable, and we need better, evidence-based solutions.

We can no longer operate in silos, with every sector having its own tangled web of eligibility requirements, application processes, and service limitations. Our current lack of disability-informed, cross-sector approaches continues to lead to policy solutions that may be theoretically sound but are practically ineffective. This has unintended consequences that can reverberate throughout and beyond the disability community.

We urgently need evidence-based solutions, informed by people with lived experience and designed by policy experts who can bridge existing gaps. That’s why New America is hosting a forum to bring together grassroots advocates and people who are passionate about policy.

An afternoon of blending authentic storytelling and a deep well of policy expertise to address real-world challenges and chart a path toward creating a more cohesive, disability-informed policy framework that works better not just for people with disabilities, but for everyone. Panels will also be presented virtually for those who wish to attend remotely.

Agenda

Moderator: Taryn Mackenzie Williams, Senior Fellow for Disability at the National Partnership for Women & Families

Panel 1: Promises of the ADA: What People with Disabilities Still Need

  • Christopher Robin Judson Worth, BFA, MA, MED, educator, visual artist, writer, community organizer, consultant, & PhD student at the University Missouri St. Louis
  • Alisa Yang, artist, filmmaker, and cultural worker based in Los Angeles.
  • Ashland Murphy, PhD, mother and advocate professional
  • Jocelyn Mondragon, Communications Manager at New Disabled South

Panel 2: Policy Paths to Inclusion: Disability in Focus

  • Vicki Shabo, Senior Fellow for Gender Equity, Paid Leave & Care Policy and Strategy, Better Life Lab
  • An-Me Chung, Director, Teaching, Learning & Tech & Strategic Advisor, Education Policy Program
  • Carrie Gillispie, Project Director, Early Development & Disability, Education Policy Program
  • Jazmyne Owens, Senior Policy Advisor, PreK-12 Education Policy, Education Policy Program

A reception will follow the forum, where we can engage with fellow community members and keep the conversation moving toward action over wine and refreshments.