“I’ve been in that community. I went to school there. Just to see everything shifting…it just breaks my heart,” White says.
The Charlotte-native is a digital navigator with The Center for Digital Equity, a local hub operating from Queens University of Charlotte working to bring critically needed technology, computers and digital literacy to residents in Mecklenburg County, N.C. She is passionate about bringing more digital resources to her community.
But being without a laptop is only part of the issue. The lack of technology can hinder residents from being able to take care of daily tasks like paying bills, checking the bus schedule or making health appointments.
According to CDE, more than 14 percent of homes in Mecklenburg County, almost 56,000 households, do not have internet access. Clark says a lot of those impacted live in the Beatties Ford corridor.
“The need for a working device that meets the residents’ needs is very critical,” Bruce Clark, executive director of CDE, told The Charlotte Observer. “It isn’t just about what’s missing. It’s about the opportunity to highlight what’s there and connect what’s there and the talent that’s there.”
The Center for Digital Equity is an evolution of two key community initiatives: Digital Charlotte and the Charlotte Digital Inclusion Alliance. Their mission is to make Mecklenburg County a more digitally equitable area. As a group, they focus on:
- Policy, advocacy, and ecosystem development
- Data, program measurement, and research
- Device and connectivity
- Digital navigation and technical support
- Digital literacy and skills
Most of the work CDE does is about skill development. Clark says it’s a lifelong learning process as technology continues to advance.
“We have an obligation, particularly in the communities that we have historically underinvested in to make sure that that type of training is available to residents in a culturally appropriate way that values what they bring in,” Clark said.
White and other digital navigators help local residents with learning new digital skills, figuring out basic device and connectivity issues, signing up for affordable home broadband internet service and buying affordable technology.
“It’ll change your life,” White said. “We just got to get information out so that they’re more likely to use it.”
Mattie Marshall, a resident who has lived in the Historic Washington Heights neighborhood off Beatties Ford Road for 35 years, agrees.
“I have always realized that technology was the next big thing and the importance of having connectivity, particularly in our vulnerable, underserved communities,” Marshall said. “There’s a tremendous need for the digital navigators that they are using because it’s about connecting those communities and connecting people.”
Last fall, CDE and other Charlotte-based organizations also teamed up to bring more digital access to communities by giving away hundreds of laptops to families in affordable housing communities, as previously reported byThe Charlotte Observer.
“We are a backbone organization for collective impact,” Clark said.
He added, the CDE sees it as their role to help make sense of it for both residents and partners in how it gets those resources directly to resident in a way that benefits people.
Based on president Biden’s recent visit to North Carolina and the recently passed CHIPS Act, Clark also explained how recent federal initiatives and the funds being supplied are impacting digital equity efforts on the local level.
The legislation can help ensure a reliable supply for devices that’ll help cut the cost of technology and make it more accessible, along with creating more jobs in the technology industry, he said.
Residents can reach out to digital navigators for any help regarding internet access. You can connect with them online or by calling 311.
“It isn’t just about the device,” Clark said. “It’s about what you are trying to accomplish in your life and how can we take what you already know and pair it with what we can teach you about this technology and (the) internet piece and bring those two things together. That’s really when the magic happens.”
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