This newsletter contains information on:

• State Coalition Website Initiative
• Net Inclusion 2023 Conference Report
• AFTRR 2023 Conference Report

State & Regional Coalition Initiative

Board members of Partners Bridging the Digital Divide have been participating in some of the state coalitions that are springing up around the country, and in these efforts, have noticed that these coalitions often have a need for a website to collect information and raise awareness.

To help address this need, PBDD is hosting several coalition websites, including:

• Pennsylvania Digital Equity Coalition (pasdec.org)
• Arizona Digital Inclusion Network (adin.info)
• Texas Digital Equity Network (domain coming soon)

We are in discussion with other states and regional coalitions on how we can help them start a website. If you are interested, please contact us. PBDD is not charging for this assistance.

Net Inclusion 2023 Conference Report

The National Digital Inclusion Alliance’s (NDIA) annual conference occurred in San Antonio Texas from February 28 through March 2nd. Maryanna Milton, Barry Glicklich and Katherine Lato attended the full conference and reported on their sessions.

Key Messages/Themes:

• Contact your state broadband office.
• Beyond Digital Literacy: Digital Skill-building, Resilience, and Fluency
• We need to build a Digital Equity Ecosystem
• Digital Divide is the problem. Digital Equity is the goal. Digital Inclusion is the process.
• Money isn’t the only resource people can give us, having a direct conversation partner can be valuable.
• Find your people. It was said at the first conference in 2016, and is still valid today.
• This is our moment. Consider how to build sustainable solutions with the current wave of funding.

The full conference report (with a link to all of our notes) is available at https://www.pbdd.org/march-2023-net-inclusion-conference-report/

AFTRR 2023 Conference Report

On February 27, Barry attended the AFTRR Conference. AFTRR is  the Alliance for Technology Reuse and Refurbishing, sponsored by Digitunity. AFTRR is a collection of non-profit refurbishers, and PBDD is a strategic partner of Digitunity and AFTRR.

The full set of Barry’s notes from this conference report is available here.