Nonprofit’s Digital Divide Efforts Focus on Refurbishment, Tech Support

The nonprofit Digitunity, whose target is the digital divide, recently concluded a 10-city initiative that provided thousands of devices to families for online learning, as well as digital literacy training, tech support and device refurbishment.

According to an impact report last week, the program began in 2021 with the help of AT&T's Connected Learning initiative, which provided $2.5 million to support Digitunity’s goal of providing 20,000 devices to underserved K-12 families. The report said the initiative deployed 41,597 devices, such as laptops and tablets, through Digitunity’s network of nonprofit organizations and local businesses in more than half a dozen states, far surpassing its original goals. The program also provided over 2,100 Wi-Fi hot spots, as well as digital literacy training to 26,571 students and technical support for over 10,000 students. In addition, the report said, the initiative refurbished thousands of devices, which prevented over 2.6 million pounds of e-waste from making its way to landfills.

“Nonprofit technology refurbishers are key to eliminating the homework gap across this country. They are making an incredible impact for people who are marginalized and left behind in the digital divide,” Digitunity’s Executive Director Scot Henley said in a public statement. “By bringing together business, government and philanthropy to take action based on community input, sustainable pathways for families to meaningfully participate in today’s and tomorrow’s digital society will be ensured. We are grateful for AT&T’s vision and support to make this happen.”

Henley told Government Technology that one of the things that made the program unique compared to other recent efforts across the country to close the K-12 digital divide was its focus on technical support and refurbishing devices. He said that closing the digital divide isn’t just about providing the technology and Internet needed for digital learning, but also providing technical support and repair services as needed to make sure the technology is working properly.

“I think what makes this program unique and something to really build upon is the fact that this was not just about obtaining computers and distributing them in a community. Anyone can do that. Cities and states all across the country are doing that, [giving] grants to organizations so that they can just go buy computers for their constituents. That’s all really transactional. That’s not a long-term solution,” he said. “The digital divide is not a static thing that you can solve in a moment in time. It’s certainly a moving target that we have to stay focused on for years to come. The millions and millions of Chromebooks that were distributed [across the country] at the beginning of COVID are now coming out of circulation, and they have a really limited lifespan ... so states now are dealing with this avalanche of e-waste that the Chromebooks issued during the pandemic will now be creating.”

Henley said that he hopes other municipalities and school systems will take a similar cost-effective approach to digital equity efforts moving forward, with a focus on providing continued technical support, digital literacy training and device refurbishment. He added that the recent case study outlining each community’s approach could help serve as a blueprint for similar programs in the years to come.

“We are of the firm belief that the device might be the foundation of digital equity, but it’s useless without affordable connectivity, digital skills and the other supports that help to make people successful, like technical support warranties and things like that,” he said. “The project allowed us to create a solution that we could share with the field and with states across the country that are now adopting such a thing, which is really exciting.”