Public-Private Partnerships Will Help Bridge Digital Divide, Industry Leaders Say

WASHINGTON, December 16, 2021 – Technology industry leaders espoused Wednesday the virtues of public-private relationships, using examples of how those bonds created opportunities for connectivity across the nation.

Speaking at Bloomberg’s Technology Summit on Wednesday, Alejandra Ceja, executive director of the Panasonic Foundation — a non-profit foundation dedicated to equitable social and educational outcomes – said public-private partnerships have been a strong way to make long-lasting relationships in the communities they serve.

“Working with the non-profit community, the after-school community, school districts, Title I schools…Panasonic is looking for partners to help us figure out how we can make sure out investments are meaningful.”

For the Panasonic Foundation, Ceja said, partnerships are not just “a nice grant or a nice photo-op donation with our computers,” but rather “building meaningful relationships in our communities and ensuring we have strong thought leaders involved” to begin seeing real action in communities with urgent need.

Verizon’s chief revenue officer Sampath Sowmyanarayan said the company partnered with Georgia, Massachusetts, and the Los Angeles unified school district at the height of the pandemic to connect students struggling to connect to the internet.

Sowmyanarayan said he believes “our society has more work to do” in connecting low-income communities.  “We have programs in place, mostly led by the school districts” and the recent stimulus funding. “I would really like to see more work on affordability,” he said. “If they have access but they can’t afford it, it’s not worth much,” Sowmyanarayan added.

“Literally within weeks, sometimes days, we put together these very low-cost plans so that kids could do their homework and connect with education.” The program, Sowmyanarayan said, provided over 30 million students with access to the internet.

Ceja said the Panasonic Foundation’s focus is finding next steps to reach communities with the most urgent need for access. The Foundation’s goal is to leverage strategic partnerships to ensure that the foundation makes meaningful progress for students and communities of color.