InterConnection Partners with AT&T and Digitunity to Bridge Digital Divide Among Students
We are excited to announce that AT&T and Digitunity have selected InterConnection to provide refurbished computers and technical support to thousands of Seattle area students via their recently announced 10-City Project. The project will enable 11 premier nonprofit refurbishing organizations from Digitunity’s Alliance for Technology Refurbishing and Reuse (AFTRR) Network to award devices directly to local K-12 students and their families.
10-City Project Aims to Help Bridge the Digital Divide
The 10-City Project is part of AT&T’s 3-year, $2 billion commitment to help bridge the digital divide through low-cost broadband service, participation in the Emergency Broadband Benefit, and community investment projects. Digitunity is a national nonprofit working toward digital equity through opportunity; the 10-City Project specifically aims to help Bridge the Digital Divide among 20,000 underserved K 12 students and their families in 10 partner cities. The project will connect students in need with reliable computers, technical support, and digital literacy skills training.
Addressing the Root Causes of the Digital Divide in the Fight for Digital Equity
The leading factors in the digital divide are affordability, availability, and the ability to adopt technology and internet at home. In cities like Seattle, where reliable broadband infrastructure is readily available, the main barrier to achieving digital equity among students is a lack of affordable devices and internet service.
For over 20 years, InterConnection has worked to bridge the digital divide and connect all to affordable technology by offering low-cost devices, internet service, and technical support to low-income individuals across the country. The 10-City Project will allow InterConnection to directly impact many of Seattle’s low-income students and families at a time when access to technology is necessary for participation in school, accessing health and social services, applying for jobs, and so much more.
In her statement about the 10-City Project, Karisa Tashjian, Digitunity’s Director of Programs, emphasized that “Device ownership is foundational to digital equity…. [and] nonprofit technology refurbishers are critical players in their communities for providing people-centered, integrated service delivery systems that equip students and their families with the digital tools and support they need both today and in the future.”
InterConnection Will Provide 2k Computers to Seattle Students in Need
Of the more than 21 million Americans affected by the digital divide, up to 12 million are students. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital divide and subsequent ‘homework gap’ among students has become increasingly difficult to narrow given repeated school, library, and community resource center closures that many students regularly depend on for access to technology.
As a 10-City Project partner, InterConnection will provide up to 2,000 computers to local underserved K-12 students and their families to help lessen the homework gap. When asked about the partnership, InterConnection’s eCommerce Manager and Seattle’s 10-City Project lead, Abraham Diekhans-Mears said, “The team at InterConnection is proud to help local students who have been disadvantaged by biased systems and inequitable policies obtain critical digital learning skills by providing them with quality devices through the 10-City Project. The continuing state of the pandemic and the rapid digitalization of our society has brought to the foreground the long-standing issue of inequity in digital learning.”
Over the next 2 years, InterConnection will provide refurbished laptops installed with Windows 10 operating systems and Microsoft Office Suite 2019 to all Seattle area 10-City Project computer recipients. The InterConnection team will provide technical support via a one-year warranty on the devices, helping to ensure the successful adoption of their new technology at home.
If interested in receiving laptops through this program, please contact programs@interconnection.org
Visit our donation page to learn more about donating your devices to InterConnection for refurbishment and reuse.