A new Southern California effort aims to address an inequality spotlighted by the coronavirus pandemic — the digital divide. Inland entrepreneur Steve PonTell and San Bernardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman are bringing together leaders in business, government, technology and other fields to find ways to close the […]
Author: Alana O'Brien
Prior to COVID-19, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) estimated at least 30 million Americans were on the wrong side of the digital divide, and nearly 12 million children are part of “the homework gap” because they do not have access to broadband internet at home. […]
Access to high-performance broadband is a civil rights issue according to Broadband for America Now, a report from the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. An initial 2019 report, Broadband for America’s Future: A Vision for the 2020s, was scheduled to be updated this month to reflect […]
A group of broadband enthusiasts on Friday urged a new national broadband plan and that the nation act on addressing issues of digital equity. “The time for action is now,” said Sunne Wright McPeak, CEO of the California Emerging Technology Fund, which co-hosted the virtual forum […]
“We are grateful to Frontier Communications and the California Emerging Technology Fund for the generous donation of 100 Chromebooks,” said Deborah Padilla, director of Secondary Education and Curriculum. “Providing online access to all students in the community has been a challenge; yet the generosity of […]
It would take the president of the United States saying, “we need to get everyone online” in order for the nation – and for California – to reach its digital inclusion goals. The was the message that Sunne Wright McPeak, president and CEO of the California […]
The California Department of Education has worked closely with technology companies to make available more than 500,000 more computing devices for California students in need, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced. “We cannot stop until we know we have leveled the playing field for every […]
We have all seen the images and heard stories: students without Internet access sitting in parks, parking lots, or fast food restaurants to use public Wi-Fi to do homework. COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders illuminated how essential it is to be connected to the Internet for education, […]
A 2019 study by the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) showed that lack of access affected 16 percent of Los Angeles residents and 12 percent of San Franciscans, higher than the 9 percent mark of rural areas like the Inland Empire and the Central Valley. […]
Sixth-graders at Crescent Elk Middle School will receive their very own Chromebook as they and their parents navigate academics in the time of COVID-19. Del Norte County Unified School District will distribute 200 devices to Crescent Elk’s youngest student class on Sept. 11 courtesy of […]