Digital Inclusion Requires Localized Approach and Partnerships with Community Members

HOUSTON, May 10, 2023 – Achieving digital inclusion requires a localized approach with states involving trusted members of communities, said panelists at a Broadband Communities event Thursday.

Each population subset will respond differently to inclusion efforts and, among those subsets, different households will need to address different barriers to adoption, said Courtney Richard of nonprofit affordable housing development corporation, National CORE.

Standardizing digital inclusion efforts on any level is nearly impossible, agreed Bryan Mauk from PCs for the People. Unserved and underserved communities have specific concerns that service providers and state governments need to understand before deploying to those areas, he said.

Human, one-on-one interaction with these communities is necessary to both understand their needs and build trust, added Richard. These communities have been historically overlooked by governments and do not trust officials to have their best interests at heart, she said.

A lack of trust evolves the way in which you educate and approach the residents, said Richard Sherwin, CEO of provider, SpotOn networks. Trust is a critical issue and “has to be done just right.”

Richard urged service providers and state governments to form relationships and partnerships with those people and institutions that are already trusted in the community. We see more success in areas where partnerships were formed and community anchor institutions are involved, she continued.

States have increasingly adopted the digital navigator’s program which deploys state employees to communities with the purpose of improving adoption rates by training residents on device usage, said Richard. Messengers are most beneficial when they are members of the community that can mediate the conversation between parties and help communities find solutions that work best for them, she continued.

These programs require human capital and continuous training of the digital navigators to be up to date on technology advancements, added Mauk.