Inspiredu, an Atlanta-based nonprofit which aims to support digital inclusion and literacy for local communities, has partnered with nonprofit Digitunity and AT&T to bridge the digital divide in the city.
Digitunity, a national organization with the goal of eliminating the technology gap, received a $2.5 million contribution from AT&T to assist students and families who lack digital devices across the country as part of the “AT&T Connected Learning” initiative.
The nationwide project aims to provide 20,000 K-12 students and their families with access to free or low-cost computers, digital literacy training, technical support and learning tools in 10 U.S. cities.
Under the project, Inspiredu will receive $100,000 over two years in direct grants from Digitunity for device refurbishing and technology training to support the residents of Atlanta.
“Our commitment to narrowing the digital divide includes ensuring that learners have both the connectivity and the devices critical to success,” said Venessa Harrison, president, AT&T Georgia.
The high cost of technology and lack of access to broadband for low-income and rural populations has created a gap that puts essential resources out of reach for many. This has also created the additional problem of digital literacy: inequity between those who have more or less technology skills essential to be successful in the modern labor market.
Approximately 60% of adults living in households earning at least $100,000 have home broadband services, a smartphone, a desktop or laptop computer compared with 23% making lower incomes, according to Pew Research.
According to the Technology Gap Map on Digitunity’s website, 11% of Georgia households do not own a computer. Across the metro-Atlanta area, 4.32% of homes in Cobb County, 8.4% of homes in Fulton County, 7.57% of homes in Dekalb County, 4.83% of homes in Gwinnett County and 4.74% of homes in Cherokee County do not have a computer.
“The need is great in metro Atlanta because we have a divide challenge, a how-to-use challenge and a tech support challenge, and there is no geek squad for the community,” said Oneisha Freeman, director of partnerships at Inspireredu. “Although K-12 systems have a lot of computers to put in hands of children, for those families, it's like a bandaid because they don't own the computers and don’t have them at end of the semester."
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the depth and consequences of the digital divide as schools and workplaces adopted virtual settings.
For students who lack digital literacy, the adverse effects of the pandemic could lead to lifelong impacts in learning loss and economic success. Learning loss will likely lead to long-term harm and a GDP loss of $173 billion to $271 billion per year by 2040 unless learning gaps are addressed, according to a recent report from McKinsey & Company.
“If you look at the great resignation right now, employers are looking to fill those jobs, and we want to make sure that training is there so people can go home and absorb those skills and learn from them,” said Susan Krautbauer, senior director of strategy and development at Digitunity.
Various efforts have been pursued in recent years to address the digital divide among students in the greater Atlanta area.
In 2018, DeKalb took part in a roughly $27 million, sales tax-funded project that included distributing 55,000 laptops to middle- and high-schoolers and providing 25,000 wireless internet hotspots to let students connect online. During the same year, Clayton County launched a pilot program providing nearly 1,000 students with laptops.
“This is much more serious, focused and targeted than any project I’ve seen before on this issue,” said Richard Hicks, CEO at Inspiredu.
Corporations can donate new or end-of-cycle computers or make donations of money or time. Individuals that would like to donate new or used computers (less than 5 years old) can go to Digitunity’s online donation matching platform then plug in their computer details.
Inspiredu is one of 11 technology refurbishing organizations from Digitunity's Alliance for Technology Refurbishing and Reuse that were selected to participate and provide the refurbishment services. The remaining cities taking part in the initiative include Buffalo, New York; Dallas, Texas; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; New York, New York; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; San Diego, California; Seattle, Washington; and Washington, D.C.
Correction: An earlier version of this story reported that Inspiredu and the city of Atlanta would receive grant funds as part of the program with Digitunity. This has been corrected to show that Inspiredu will receive $100,000 over two years in direct grants from Digitunity to support the residents of Atlanta.
