Digital Inclusion Week 2022
DANEnet actively partners with nonprofit & community organizations to reduce the digital divide in Dane County through the Digital Equity Project.
This year marks the sixth annual Digital Inclusion Week, a national event hosted October 3-7 this year to elevate digital equity work happening throughout the country.
Digital inclusion efforts address three main areas: affordable internet, access to appropriate devices, and digital literacy training – basic necessities that millions of Americans are living without.
As Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funding becomes available, digital inclusion leaders across the country are calling on their state leaders to prioritize state digital equity plans and budgets to bridge the digital divide.
“As we see federal law turn into actual funding for digital inclusion, it’s our time to start ‘Turning Our Moment into Movement,’ which is our theme for Digital Inclusion Week 2022,” said Angela Siefer, executive director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA). “We invite advocates, policymakers, community leaders, educators, researchers, and others to come together this week - and all year long - to advance digital equity nationwide.”
“Here in Dane County, we are contacted every week by a community organization or nonprofit partner asking how we can support an individual or family in their program with digital literacy or technology," says Shawn Steen, Executive Director of DANEnet, "and through the Digital Equity Project, we can help. The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare digital inequities here in Dane County and addressing these issues is long overdue. Our digital equity work meets our most vulnerable community members' needs directly in order to connect them to online resources they require for better job opportunities, health, housing, education, and civic engagement."
DANEnet's Digital Equity Project offers:
1) Help identifying affordable broadband for their home
2) Free refurbished laptops to families without computers (via caseworker referral)
3) Free digital literacy classes at local libraries and community centers
4) Free tech support clinics at local libraries and community centers at local libraries and community centers
--but we can only do these things with YOUR help! Your $50 donation can pay for one donated laptop refurbishment, or your $300 donation can cover the cost of free tech repair clinic! During Digital Inclusion Week this year we are hoping to raise at least $5,000 to go towards our Digital Equity Project's 2023 programming.
You can also support our ongoing work to close the digital divide by sponsoring a refurbished laptop every month with a recurring monthly donation of $50. You could be a hero to 12 local families every year!
Digital equity creates stronger economies, a better-trained workforce, healthier families, and more successful students. Join our Digital Equity Project team by making a donation today!