Bridging the Digital Divide through the Digital Divide Response Project
Portland, ORBuilding off of a CARES Act $5 million dollar grant program that delivered laptops to 800 residents, Portland, Oregon dedicated $3.5 million in ARPA funds to a Digital Divide Response Project that has connected over 1,100 households to the internet. Learning from the first recovery program, the Digital Divide Response Project was implemented through a dozen community-based organizations focused on specific disconnected populations. Portland’s Digital Equity Strategic Initiatives Manager Rebecca Gibbons says that their equity approach centered around targeting the most underserved and elevating everyone through funding. “What we came up with is that it was really important to focus on the intersectionality of disparities,” Gibbons says.
Why this investment?
The origins of the Digital Divide Response Project date back to 2016, with Portland’s adoption of a digital equity action plan developed in partnership with the Digital Inclusion Network, which was an informal coalition of community leaders, nonprofits, and residents who had experienced digital inequities. The Digital Inclusion Network has since developed into the Coalition of Digital Equity, which continues to meet monthly.
Internet connectivity remains a pressing issue to address within Multnomah County, with 18 percent of households with incomes under $30,000, 28 percent of senior households, and 30 percent of Latinx/Hispanic households lacking internet service at home. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of home connectivity and the City’s inequities in digital access, demonstrating the need to make more significant investments in its fledgling digital equity strategy.
The Coalition of Digital Equity strongly advocated for recovery funding, leading first to a $5 million dollar grant from the CARES Act to distribute laptops to community members, and then to a $3.5 million dollar ARPA grant, which has enabled the City to provide devices and digital literacy training to underserved community members, while helping them connect to high speed internet. Recovery funding built upon the action plan’s foundation and facilitated its implementation. “When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we were one of a few cities across the country that was fortunate enough to have an ecosystem of people that were aware of digital inequities and doing digital inclusion work in the community,” Gibbons explains.
What is this investment?
Portland’s Digital Divide Response Project is aimed at bridging the digital equity gap by equipping people with devices and digital literacy training as well as support accessing the federal internet payment assistance subsidies such as the original Emergency Broadband Benefit and then later the Affordable Connectivity Program. The City prioritizes meeting the technology needs of BIPOC, seniors, LGBTQIA+, immigrants and refugees, unhoused or housing insecure, foster youth, domestic violence survivors, people impacted by incarceration, people with disabilities, and community members experiencing poverty.
Community input shaped the design of the investment. Prior to the allocation of ARPA funds, the City of Portland hired a local organization with deep ties to the community to facilitate discussion with community partners to reflect on the CARES Act grant and determine priorities for the ARPA funding. Participants in the process recommended that the ARPA funding be structured as a competitive grant to community-based organizations in order to reach diverse marginalized communities and support community-building.
Through various project investments across the city, the initiative aimed to ensure that community members disproportionately affected by the digital divide and COVID-19 gained access to essential resources, including devices, reliable and free internet, digital literacy training, and support services. Additionally, it sought to enhance the capacity of organizations serving those most at risk of digital exclusion, enabling them to provide more effective digital skills training and support services.
The Project strategies included:
- In December 2022, the City invited community-based organizations to apply for up to $250,000 in funds to deliver devices (Chromebooks, laptops, and ipads) and training to marginalized communities, awarding grants to 12 organizations.
- In January 2023, the City opened up a second grant opportunity for community-led efforts, resulting in two projects. Free Geek and IRCO (Immigrant Refugee Community Organization)-Africa House received a grant to provide free internet service as well as free new Samsung Chromebooks donated by T-Mobile to 500 immigrant and refugee recipients. In addition, AfroVillage and partners received a grant for the Old Town Free WiFi Network Pilot, dedicated to providing internet access to unhoused people living in Old Town.
- In April 2023, the City opened up applications for 600 devices to individuals in need of a device, but not connected to the community-based organizations awarded funding. The program prioritized Native American/Indigenous people and low-income people that are housing insecure, formerly incarcerated, or are/were foster children.
Centering equity in the program
The City is prioritizing populations who have historically faced barriers to being digitally connected, per Portland’s equity principles. To track the impact of the project, the City is collecting anonymous demographic data of those receiving skills training and devices as well as tracking the types of trainings provided, languages spoken, and personal stories of digital adoption successes and challenges. Additionally, the City’s Digital Equity Coordinator Alonso Melendez checks in with individuals who have received a device directly from the City after the initial six months to learn about the impact of device ownership.
Melendez says that the check-ins provide an opportunity to build relationships and trust. When residents would come to the City offices to pick up devices, he would offer them a tour as a way to increase their comfort with and connection with city staff, and help them see what the City does and even consider the City as a potential employer. Melendez shared a story about positive feedback he received from a resident and her daughter who toured the municipal offices while picking up a device. He notes that, “People in marginalized communities are oftentimes a little bit fearful or skeptical of those offices. What I'm seeing is that people are beginning to develop a different perspective of who we are and what we do and seeing themselves there.”
This investment was a community driven process from the outset, and feedback from outside the municipality was a crucial component of the program’s development. Additionally, the City paid community members with a background in digital equity issues to serve as part of a decision making panel to aid with the resource allocation, emphasizing the most vulnerable residents as a top priority.
This investment was not without its challenges, at the center of which was a lack of resources to meet the high demand of those in need of a device and interested in participating in digital skills training. Additionally, the Project recognized that privacy and security issues continue to pose a significant barrier to vulnerable communities.
Outcomes to date
As of December 2023, the Project has distributed 1,128 devices, with 81 percent of recipients identifying as BIPOC and 12 percent identifying as having a disability.
Toward transformative change
Moving forward, there will be an annual allocation of $250,000 from the Portland General Fund earmarked for the Digital Inclusion Fund. The City is also looking for opportunities to bring in additional federal and state funding for this program as well as working with industry partners and the philanthropic community to increase commitment to digital equity programming.