The Patterson Foundation created its Digital Access for All initiative to explore, educate, and engage sectors working to enhance access to technology that connects people in ways that foster inclusion and well-being. | |
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In celebration of the 4th year of the Digital Access for All initiative, The Patterson Foundation (TPF) is hosting the Digital Access for All Symposium: Suncoast Connect: Innovating and Thriving in the Digital Age on October 15 and 16, 2024, at The Ora Venue in Sarasota, Florida.
If you are interested in attending this event, please fill out this form to receive updates as they become available. This is not a registration, just an interest form.
If you are interested in participating in the symposium sessions by presenting, collaborating, or partaking in a panel discussion, please complete this form by June 28, 2024, to be considered.
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Digital Navigator Spotlight
Neirda Thompson-Pemberton, Executive Director of FUNducation
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1. Why did you start FUNducation?
We're on a mission to engage and inspire our youth to be the innovators of tomorrow through Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) education.
2. What keeps you going? That moment a student realizes what they are capable of when they thought they couldn't do it.
3. What were your thoughts about becoming a Digital Navigator? Being a Digital Navigator was a good fit for FUNducation because it equipped us with tools that complimented our mission and programs.
4. How do you continue to support digital navigation?
We support our students and their families with internet and device needs.
5. How has earning a cybersecurity badge changed your work?
We are more confident in our cybersecurity programming for youth and are excited to reach families with a 2Gen approach.
6. What are your biggest hopes for digital inclusion in your community? Access for All!
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Cisco’s Cybersecurity Offering: Learn to Protect Your Personal Digital Life | |
Last month, Digital Navigators in the Suncoast region had the opportunity to obtain next-level professional development in cybersecurity to keep themselves, their clients, and their organizations safer and more secure.
In today's increasingly digital world, where much of our lives and work rely on technology, it's essential to learn the basics of safeguarding your online presence and the sensitive information you handle in both professional and personal spheres. You can learn how to protect your digital life by signing up for Cisco's cybersecurity course. Get started here with this complete, free, on-demand course.
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Broadband Labels
Beginning this month, about 24 million consumers who signed up for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) will no longer receive a discount on their monthly internet bill. While some providers are keeping their low-cost plans for the time being, it is expected that plans will immediately increase. Now is a good time to fully use the broadband labels the FCC requires of Internet Service Providers. Broadband labels intend to capture all pertinent details of an internet subscription plan and avoid unexpected terms or fees before a consumer signs up. Major ISPs began rolling out their broadband labels in April, and every ISP, regardless of size, must display their labels by October 2024. Below are two examples:
Comcast
Spectrum
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Click image to enlarge
Broadband labels should be clearly visible anywhere you shop for internet subscription plans. If you have accessibility questions, call 202-418-2517 or email dro@fcc.gov.
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ACP Update
On May 31, 2024, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced that the agency would officially end the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) on June 1, 2024, due to a lack of additional congressional funding.
The agency had already imposed an enrollment freeze in early February to help accurately forecast funding exhaustion and facilitate the smooth administration of the ACP's conclusion. Read the full press release.
Highlights of the ACP include:
- Over 23 million households were enrolled in the ACP when the program ceased accepting new enrollments.
- The ACP served households in every county in the United States.
- Participation among households in Tribal areas increased by 136 percent, with approximately 330,000 Tribal subscribers enrolled in the program when enrollment ceased.
- In response to the FCC's winter 2023 agency survey, 68% of ACP households reported inconsistent connectivity or zero connectivity before ACP.
- According to a national survey, more than four million households with an active or former military member are enrolled in the ACP.
- Nearly half of ACP households are led by someone over 50.
- Approximately 3.4 million households seeking to enroll in the ACP indicated participation in the National School Lunch or Breakfast Programs as one of the ways they qualify for the ACP.
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In DeSoto County, where 90% of households lack sufficient access to the internet, more than 8,600 people, 230 businesses, 11 farms, and 34 educational facilities are expected to benefit from a $24.2 million USDA ReConnect Program grant. The award was made to IBT Group USA LLC to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to provide high speed internet (see more here).
The ReConnect Program was designed to increase high-speed internet access in the most rural, remote, and underserved communities in the nation by providing loans and grants to construct, improve, or acquire facilities and equipment needed to provide access in eligible rural areas, delivering high-speed internet access at 100/100 Megabits per second (Mbps) to proposed rural service areas, where 90 percent of households currently lack internet speeds of 25/3 Mbps.
The USDA began accepting applications on March 22, 2024, for its fifth round of funding for the ReConnect Program. State and local governments, rural electric cooperatives, internet service providers, and other eligible entities will have 60 days to apply for loans up to $50 million or grants up to $25 million to support broadband infrastructure initiatives in rural areas, as detailed by a Monday notice published in the Federal Register. Stay tuned for an update on round five to be shared as we learn more!
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Digital Access for All with
Brent Giangregorio
| In this podcast, TPF Fellow Alexa Carr interviews Women’s Resource Center Director of Client Services Brent Giangregorio. This podcast focuses on digital skills and support training and how the Women’s Resource Center works in this area. Additionally, it shares aspirations for increased collaboration within digital access and ways that listeners can learn more and become more engaged with the Women’s Resource Center. | | |
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Glossary of Terms: Understanding Digital Access Terms
Term Spotlight: Digital Equity
A condition in which all individuals have the ability to access the information technology capacity needed to participate fully in society (NDIA)
To explore our evolving glossary, click here.
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