According to Bruce Clark, executive director of CDE, this new collaborative effort aims to make Mecklenburg County, where 14% of households do not have internet access, the most digitally equitable community in America.
"Te first and the most important aspect of the Center for Digital Equity is that it is co-created with residents," Clark said. "We've been working directly with residents across the community at schools, detention centers, senior centers and community resource centers to learn and create solutions along with our residents through our community council. Any Mecklenburg County resident who wants to participate can do so by visiting our website." CDE serves as the lead partner for digital equity in Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles' Racial Equity Initiative. Digital equity is the first of four focus areas in the $250 million community-wide public-private partnership. "Te issues we face as a community are bigger,
broader and more deep-seated than any one organization can address alone," said Mayor Lyles. "Te response from our corporate partners surpassed even what I could have expected. Tis collaboration is what distinguishes Charlotte. We have set a new standard for an American city that's starting to draw attention from several other major cities."
"To be a part of the Mayor's Racial Equity Initiative makes sense for a lot of reasons," said Clark. "Tere's a strong intersection between racial equity and digital equity. We cannot make a community racially equitable without making it digitally equitable at the same time." Te notoriety of the Mayor's Racial Equity Initiative and CDE played a key role in attracting Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris to Charlotte to discuss the Biden-Harris Administration's investments in affordable, high-speed internet. Harris spoke about the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), a federal benefit program administered by the FCC that provides a discount of $30 per month to eligible households toward reliable broadband access needed for work, school, health care and more. Families can also receive a discount to purchase a laptop or computer. "High-speed internet is not a luxury, it is a
necessity," Harris said. "Students use the internet for so many reasons in pursuit of their education. Workers use the internet to find jobs and training. It is essential to our daily lives, and yet more than 30 million people in the U.S. do not have access, and millions more cannot afford high-speed internet plans." Queens students are involved as well. Since
2017, as part of Digital Charlotte and in partnership with the YMCA, students in the Knight School of
Photo by: Amy Hart
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
