In honor of Digital Inclusion Week, Oct 7-11th 2024, it’s an honor to uplift one of our Electronic Frontier Alliance (EFA) members who is doing great work when it comes to making sure technology benefits everyone by addressing the disparities of the digital divide: CCTV Cambridge. This year CCTV Cambridge partnered to host a Digital Navigator program. The aim of these Digital Navigators is to assist in bridging the digital divide in Cambridge by assessing the needs of the community and acting as a technological social worker. These Digital Navigators (DN’s) have led to better outreach, assessment and community connection.
Making a difference in communities affected by the digital divide is impactful work. So far the DN’s have helped many people access resources online and distributed 50 total Thinkpad laptops installed with Windows 10 and Microsoft Office, while also distributing 15 hotspots for wifi with two years paid by T-mobile. Groundbreaking because typically people are getting chromebooks on loan that have limited capabilities. The beauty of these devices is that you can work and learn on them with reliable, high-speed internet access, and they are able to be used anywhere.
Samara Murrell, Coordinator of CCTV’s Digital Navigator Program stated:
“Being part of a solution that attempts to ensure that everyone has equal access to information, education and job opportunities, so that we can all fully participate in our society, is some of the best, most inspiring and honorable work that one can do.”
Left to Right: DN Coordinator Samara Murrell and DN’s Lida Griffin, Dana Grotenstein, and Eden Wagayehu
CCTV Cambridge is also slated to start hosting classes in 2025 – hoping to offer intermediate Windows and Microsoft Office as one cohort, and advanced Excel as the second part of the cohort.
Maritza Grooms, Associate Director of Community Relations says:
“CCTV is incredibly grateful and honored to be the hub and headquarters of the Digital Navigator Pilot Program in partnership with the City of Cambridge, Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge Public School Department, and Just-A-Start. This program is crucial to serving Cambridge’s most vulnerable and marginalized communities and ensuring they have the access to resources they need to be able to fully participate in society in this digital age. We appreciate any and all support to help us make the Digital Navigator Program a continued sustainable program beyond the pilot. Please contact me at [email protected] to find out how you can support this program or visit cctvcambridge.org/support to support today.”
There are countless examples of the impact CCTV’s DN’s have had already: One patron of the library who came in to take a tech class, had their own laptop because of the DNs. That enabled her to take a tech support class and advance her career. A young man who is a college student studying bioengineering needed a laptop and hotspot to continue his studies, he recently picked up his laptop and hotspot from CCTV Cambridge.
Kudos CCTV Cambridge for addressing the disparities of the digital divide in your community with your awesome digital inclusion work! To connect with other members of the EFA doing impactful work in your area please check out our allies page: https://efa.eff.org/allies
This post was originally published on here
