Techquity, Ensuring Digital Equity w/David Berka

[00:00:08] Speaker A: Welcome to Closing the Digital Divide, the podcast dedicated to creating meaningful conversations and sharing valuable insights from industry leaders, policymakers, equipment manufacturers, and others on Closing the Digital Divide. I'm your host, Charles Thomas. Together, we will explore the policies, challenges, triumphs, and innovative solutions that are reshaping the digital landscape. We are excited today to welcome a person that's doing some fantastic work that are really dedicated to helping us close the digital divide. I'm very happy to introduce David Burka, who is a project manager of equity and Resource equity at United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County. And I'm so happy I said Waukeshaw correctly. David, welcome to the show. How are you today? [00:01:02] Speaker B: Thanks very much. [00:01:03] Speaker C: I'm doing great, thank you. Appreciate you having me on. [00:01:06] Speaker A: Or maybe I should ask you, did I pronounce Waukeshaw correctly? [00:01:10] Speaker B: You did. [00:01:10] Speaker C: Spot on. [00:01:11] Speaker B: Waukeshaw. [00:01:12] Speaker A: All right. So, David, I always ask this first question whenever anyone comes on the show, and I think you may be able to provide a unique perspective on this question, and that is, what is the digital divide and why is it so important that we have it closed? [00:01:32] Speaker B: Sure. [00:01:34] Speaker C: For myself, the shorthand understanding of the digital divide that I use is very simply the difference or the gap between those who have ready and I'll say easy, affordable access to digital technologies and the skills and resources to use those technologies effectively. And those who don't or who experience, we'll say, greater than average barriers to digital tools, resources, and skills. [00:02:04] Speaker B: Great answer. [00:02:05] Speaker A: Great answer. And that's part of what we're going to talk through today. So, David, tell us, what is techity and how did it all come about? [00:02:15] Speaker C: Yeah, like many things, especially in the Digital Divide related space, techity is a strategic initiative of our United Way that began in early 2020. I have to go back and remember the chronology of everything but early 2020 as we were all experiencing the shift to remote and virtual learning and work and living in general. And as that shift was happening our United Way in metro Milwaukee and Walkshock County, we were getting lots of requests and notices, I guess, about a lack of devices or access to Internet and anything related to, we'll just say, digital technology broadly construed. And we were being asked to help bridge those gaps when and where possible, even things like smartphones and data plans for families maybe that had really unstable housing or families that were experiencing homelessness at the time. So there were some really critical, vulnerable situations that folks were finding themselves in, and we were trying to respond as quickly as we could to those needs in light of the larger pandemic chaos, really, that was going on at the time. [00:03:41] Speaker A: So I went to your website and it's kind of reading through some of the great stuff that you're doing, and I saw where you guys are kind of looking at four focus areas, broadband devices, skill and literacy and advocacy. [00:03:59] Speaker B: Correct. [00:03:59] Speaker A: Walk us through each of those areas. [00:04:02] Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. So when techity first began again in about March 2020 or so, it was really an emergency response initiative. So we were focused on just getting resources out the door as quickly as we could to folks who needed them and organizations that needed them. And then as the pandemic wore on and we'll all recall the uncertainty around if we're going to go back to working in person and all that, we realized that the needs around digital equity or digital access that our community was experiencing weren't going anywhere. In fact, the more and more we learned, we realized those needs were going to grow or at least be around for a very long time. So we decided to refocus a bit and come up with what we thought were the strategic priorities for an initiative that should be focused on bridging the digital divide. And so that's where we came up with broadband devices, skills, and advocacy from organizations like the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, for instance. They outline some priorities in their policy recommendations and so forth for what organizations, nonprofit organizations in particular, should focus on if they're going to engage in some digital equity work. And that's where the emphasis on broadband devices and skills really comes in. The advocacy piece is a bit unique for us in that we tried to ask ourselves, we are a philanthropy, we're a nonprofit, but specifically we're a fundraising organization, and we work to convene lots of resources and professionals and all kinds of resources for our nonprofit community in our four county footprint that we serve in southeastern Wisconsin. And so the advocacy piece was added on as our fourth strategic priority because we thought that's really the way we can emphasize that convening bringing people together, network building, coalition building, as something distinctive, that was part of our role in bridging the digital divide. [00:06:09] Speaker A: Well, I want to dig into kind of each one of these just a little bit here, because I know there had to be some challenges that needed to be overcome. Let's start with broadband. Talk to us about some of the challenges that you guys had with getting broadband out to your constituents there. [00:06:30] Speaker C: Yeah, broadband is really tricky. You can't get people broadband in their home in the same way that you can get them a computer in their home. If someone doesn't have a large format device, we could use donor dollars to simply purchase one with broadband. It's much more complicated. We have to ask ourselves, if a person is indicating they don't have access to broadband, do they live in an area where service is readily available? Is the service on offer at the speeds that they need? Is it affordable based on whatever the annual household income is? All those kinds of considerations are a part of our approach to the broadband question. And then in light of those questions, we're also looking at the legislative and the policy landscape in a state like Wisconsin. We have particular regulations and laws on the books that we have to be mindful of and operate within those constraints. And so we've had to do a couple of things simultaneously respond to the immediate needs. So maybe that means providing hotspots with data plans that are donor funded or grant funded or a combination of that, while also paying attention to the policy landscape and trying to organize and convene folks who maybe have some weight to add to the discussion happening at the legislative level about how we can improve affordable and equitable access in the areas where it's needed most. [00:07:58] Speaker A: So do you guys actively. [00:08:04] Speaker B: If someone. [00:08:04] Speaker A: Comes to you and say, hey, we don't have any service in the area, do you guys actively go out and advocate to get service there or how does that work? [00:08:15] Speaker C: We have and we can. So if we learn about needs for affordable broadband access, we might issue grant funding. So for a while we've had a competitive grant process open through techwity which is donor supported. Those dollars are available because of United Way donors. And so if an organization applies for and gets that funding, they might use the funding to purchase internet subscriptions, maybe low cost plans for folks who just need a pretty basic level of access. But if the broadband needs are much more fragmented, like households in this particular community need affordable access because collectively most households in that area can't afford a monthly subscription or something, we'll do a couple of different things. Typically we try and make sure people are aware of the resources that are available to them immediately. So in recent years that's been connecting people with the Affordable Connectivity Program, ACP and then again, as when and where possible, we'll do things like purchase hotspots and data plans. But the work of techity and broadband has also gone much beyond. [00:09:41] Speaker B: Just the. [00:09:42] Speaker C: Immediate needs that Hotspots could address. So we have a group that has really spun out of apologies if you can hear the sirens in the background. [00:09:54] Speaker A: Yeah, it's fine, it happens. [00:09:56] Speaker C: A group that has spun out of techity called the Milwaukee Broadband Partnership. This is a group that techity that initially helped convene and it's a group of local policy leaders and organizational and company leaders who see the urgency around broadband and broadband access and affordability. And we are working on advancing some projects or strategies that will give us a more comprehensive sense of where broadband access and affordability needs are the greatest, and where we should be recommending, say, to our Public Service Commission or to our local elected leaders to direct resources and attention so that broadband accessibility is improved in some communities. [00:10:45] Speaker B: Awesome. [00:10:47] Speaker A: Let's look at devices. When I saw that, it really piqued my interest because I'm wondering, are you guys looking to have uniformity across your devices, particular manufacturer, particular performance levels. How do you guys work through the device challenges? [00:11:13] Speaker B: Sure. [00:11:17] Speaker C: We'Re not technology specific in the sense that we're not committed to a particular kind of laptop or desktop or model of computer or anything like that. We want to make sure that people have the devices that they need to do whatever it is they need to do successfully. So if it's applying for a job or finding housing or working remotely from home or facilitating kids in school from a living room, something like that. And so whatever device, whatever computer is going to get that job done, we support it. What we do for devices is basically fund the refurbishment of laptop computers specifically at mass scale. So there is a device refurbisher and Ericycler in Milwaukee called Digital Bridge that we work with. There's one in Madison called Cascade Asset Management that we also work with. And with partnerships like that, what we can do is take donor dollars and pay for the refurbishment of devices again at mass scale. We have a goal right now of distributing up to 50,000 computers throughout our community over the next five years. So by the end of 2027 we want to make sure that there is not a household in our four county footprint that suffers from lack of device in the household. And we think that's an achievable goal. We know that it has a significant price point to it. But again, that's where United Way as a philanthropy and as a fundraiser really can excel. And it's less costly to refurbish a device that maybe has some life left in it than to go out and just keep purchasing new stuff. So part of the innovation that we're trying to adapt to the need is working with companies that are starting with companies that are existing United Way supporters and trying to determine what their process is for device disposition. Does their It team have a process for Ericycling and data destruction and all that? Almost certainly they do. Pretty much every company has some kind of process like that and the bigger company you get, the more complicated the process, typically. But by working with the Ericyclers, what we found is that we can actually divert streams of devices that otherwise might be sold in an overseas market or maybe even just recycled or go into a landfill. And maybe it's a matter of destroying a hard drive and replacing a hard drive. But that still is much more cost effective than purchasing new device after new device after new device. Especially when we have such amazing organizations that can refurbish that by professional quality so that when you're getting that laptop that's been refurbished, you'd never think, most people would never think that it's a refurbished device even. [00:14:18] Speaker B: Right. [00:14:19] Speaker A: So do those same companies then help to maintain those devices? Or do you have other partners that work with you on the maintenance part? [00:14:30] Speaker B: We're still kind of working that out. [00:14:32] Speaker C: I think some companies that donate their devices would have an appetite to helping maintain them. Right now we are working with local nonprofits and the Ericyclers specifically to make sure that the device has the components and everything that it needs to have about probably three to five years of solid life to it. And so every device that we pay for the refurbishment of it's going out with a new operating system, brand new software or the most up to date software, things like that. And then we're also working with, again, our nonprofit network here in metro Milwaukee. So that if and when questions and issues come up with devices that people are using, there's a means for them. [00:15:21] Speaker A: To get some help with those awesome skills. And know, I always say it's one thing to get service to the house. What can people do or what kind of skills do they have to be able to utilize that service and those devices? Tell me a little bit about those challenges. [00:15:47] Speaker C: Yeah, it's an important question. So let me back up a little bit and say part of how Techity is structured is it has an advisory council that is helping shape all of the strategies and projects that Techwit is engaged in. So members of the advisory council are plugged into the different strategies and projects. So we have folks who are committed to the broadband piece, we have folks who are committed to the devices piece, and then also to the skills piece. So our skills team within the Techity advisory group is to figure out how we connect people in trusted settings where they can learn digital skills and literacy in a way that is helpful for them. Not everyone learns at the same pace, not everyone needs to have the same kinds of attention or has the same questions about how to use different devices. [00:16:50] Speaker B: And so we really try to meet. [00:16:52] Speaker C: People where they are at in situations or environments that they already trust. And that's where, again, United Ways Network is really helpful. We work with so many different, I mean, hundreds of different nonprofit groups throughout the community. And so when we can work with an organization that already has a relationship with a client base, we find that folks are usually more receptive to learn a new skill or something because they already trust that environment. So once we have that environment set up, we can work with really any kind of group to assess what the skill needs actually are. Is it a group of, let's say, elderly folks who are unused to certain kinds of tools that are much newer and maybe they haven't had the opportunity to be in a setting where they can ask open questions and get immediate help? Are we working or trying to support students who have difficulty connecting their device to WiFi or accessing the learning portals that they're using for their school? So we have a skills assessment that we developed or that the advisory council members who are focused on skills helped to develop. And we take that skills assessment then and can start getting some initial data and feedback from folks about what are the skills barriers that you experience. If you could ask questions in a trusted setting, what kinds of questions would you ask? What format for getting your questions answered is most helpful to you? Do you like to learn online? Do you like to learn with a person sitting side by side? And so the skills work has been probably the most tailor made of any of the work that we're trying to do. [00:18:40] Speaker A: I think that's so important because people tend to learn better when they're in an environment that they're comfortable with. [00:18:51] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:18:52] Speaker A: Especially when you're talking about technology. Right. Because technology can be very intimidating to some folks, especially, number one, if you've never had access to it before. Or elderly. I mean, I got my three year old grandson runs around the house with his iPad, so I know he's going to be fine. But it's those other folks that have not been exposed to it before. [00:19:17] Speaker C: Exactly. [00:19:19] Speaker A: Or elderly folks that have not been exposed to it for. So I definitely applaud you guys on that. I think this probably leads into my next question. What are the digital navigators? [00:19:31] Speaker B: Sure. [00:19:32] Speaker C: Digital navigators, or at least the techwater digital navigator program, is something, again, that we're trying to adapt. From what we've learned, in particular from the national digital inclusion alliance, I really can't say enough about the NDIA and how many amazing resources they offer for organizations like ours to really help shape the work. So the digital navigator model is this increasingly adopted or advocated for model of developing and training. We'll say folks who are very technically savvy, they are comfortable using a whole variety of devices and machines and are knowledgeable about connecting to the internet and maybe are really knowledgeable about things like online safety. So what we tried to do with our techwoody digital navigators program is connect those knowledgeable individuals who have a desire to volunteer and share that education or expertise with people who need to learn more and have indicated that they want to learn more. And so for us, it means that united way has such an amazing volunteer base. And so, really, what we're trying to do with our digital navigators program is leverage that volunteer base so that we can have digital navigators who we know are at least competent in, let's say, XYZ components of digital literacy. And we have them complete a kind of simple application form, but then are a part of a pool of people, a group of people who are on hand, essentially, to volunteer and support digital skills trainings in particular, when and where we need to organize them. So it could be trying to come up with a group of digital navigator volunteers who want to work at a senior center to show folks some email basics, or it could be a group of digital navigators at one of the local community colleges. This is something we did over the summer to help people enroll in the affordable connectivity program. Things like the ACP are not necessarily intuitive for many people. And so if you can have a digital navigator that knows the ACP, knows the process and all of the sensitive information that someone will encounter during that enrollment process, a digital navigator is a trusted person who can be there to help facilitate and lead that person through whatever kind of process it is they're trying to accomplish, whether it's ACP or learning a new digital skill or maintaining online safety and so forth. [00:22:15] Speaker A: Okay, we're quickly running out of time, but there's a couple more areas I want to touch on has been awesome. As we put more devices out in the digital landscape or the digital ecosystem, there's always that cybersecurity threat. There are a lot of threat actors out there that are just looking for opportunities. And specifically now, with the proliferation of AI, you don't even have to have a person behind that laptop that's out there searching. What are the challenges that you guys have around cybersecurity, and how are you mitigating those challenges? [00:23:02] Speaker C: It's a really good question. [00:23:06] Speaker B: It's really challenging. [00:23:07] Speaker C: And the cybersecurity piece is one of the aspects of my work with techity that gives me maybe the most anxiety. I don't see any kind of silver bullet solution to that. If everyone had access to a VPN and antivirus software, that would be a start. But really, at this point, I see the cybersecurity piece as. [00:23:45] Speaker B: More something that. [00:23:46] Speaker C: We'Re trying to address through our skills work and through our advocacy work. The skills work, or the skills group and the digital navigators, they can address cybersecurity. They can start addressing cybersecurity questions at that first line of defense, which is, I guess, the individual user and helping folks understand what kinds of risks or threats could be out there if you're sharing your personal information online or things like that. But then we're also trying to advocate when and where possible for policies, laws, et cetera, that encourage a threshold security standard for everyone. So that, let's say if I'm more knowledgeable about cybersecurity or keeping myself and my family or my personal information safe, if I have more knowledge about how to do that, the fact that someone has less knowledge than me doesn't mean that they're inherently more at risk or more vulnerable. I'd love to live in a world where that were true, where the lack of knowledge is not the thing that is going to open you up to threats. And so we want to make sure that in everything that we're advocating for cybersecurity and digital safety, online safety, these are woven into the fabric of every decision and policy or advocacy component we're lifting up. [00:25:25] Speaker A: So one more question before we start to wrap this up. The digital vibe, to me, crosses all barriers. People absolutely think of the digital vibe being more of rural areas. Can you elaborate on some of the more specific challenges in an urban setting where the digital divide is prolific and how you overcome those challenges through this program? [00:25:57] Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. This is such an important part of the discussion in the digital divide. So take a state like Wisconsin. Wisconsin has a couple really densely populated areas. So there's metro Milwaukee, of course, and then the Madison area. Dane county is very heavily populated, and there are other parts of the state with bigger cities, but it's tons of rural space. We have lots of farmland, lots of forests and fields, all that kind of stuff. And connectivity in rural areas is a real challenge for our state. Absolutely. The other side of that coin, though, is that in urban areas where you might have more infrastructure and quote unquote, greater access, there are still things within infrastructure rich environments that will prevent people from adopting the Internet, let's say, at the household level. And in my experience in our kind of research and learning about the landscape here in metro Milwaukee, affordability is a massive barrier. And so the way I frame it usually is, it's just two sides of the same coin. In rural areas, let's say the problem generally is an absence of infrastructure, and we're addressing that through many different funding streams and legislation and so forth. The other side of that coin for urban areas or even suburban areas is the affordability barrier. If you are making, let's generally say, $50,000 by household per year or less, the likelihood that you have the means to sustain an internet subscription that is, let's say, anywhere from sixty dollars to eighty dollars a month for internet alone, not bundled with anything, that could be a really difficult cost for your household to sustain, if that's the speed or the quality of the connection that you need. And then even on top of that, people in urban areas might, let's say, neighborhoods or census tracks, households in those census tracks qualify more for low cost Internet plans and all that, then there's oftentimes an awareness gap. Like people just don't know that these resources or these low cost plans are available to them. And so with our techwater initiative, we're trying to do a few things. We're trying to connect the dots for people with resources that are readily and immediately available because not having access to affordable Internet is an immediate problem, while also advocating for and raising awareness about that affordability barrier in a more dense urban and suburban setting. [00:28:53] Speaker A: So, last question here, David. It's been an awesome conversation. [00:29:01] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. [00:29:02] Speaker A: As I'm thinking about this, it would appear to me that this program is duplicatable. My own opinion. First of all, the question is, is it duplicatable? And have you had I guess this is two questions, but is it duplicatable? And have you guys had other people want to know how you're doing this and those responses? [00:29:29] Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. We have tried very hard to make the Techwater initiative something that is duplicatable pretty much anywhere you'd go. So we're focusing on strategies and particular method of doing things, rather than a very prescriptive checklist, if you will. We know what we want to focus on. We want to focus on broadband devices, skills, and advocacy. But the emphasis that a particular organization or community might put on any one of those strategies could vary just depending on the nature of the barriers that that community is experiencing. So I have had some great outreach and conversation from other United Ways around the country, organizations that have caught on to what we're trying to do here and want to learn a thing or two. But we've also learned a tremendous amount from I've mentioned the NDIA several times, but also other organizations that are doing similarly amazing work. Our Techwater initiative really got a lot of initial insight from the work that was being done in Detroit with the City of Detroit and their Office of Digital Inclusion, which at the time was led by a gentleman named Joshua Edmonds. I've found the digital equity and inclusion space to be encouraging in that way. People want to learn from each other. There's an openness and a willingness to share and to kind of riff off of each other. And that's really our goal with Techity. We want techity to be something that of course is serving the needs of the members of our community and connecting, especially the philanthropic community, with work that's happening, exciting, impactful work that's happening on the ground. But we also want anything that we're doing well or that other groups or people might resonate with to be something that they can take and adapt for themselves and use for their own. [00:31:34] Speaker B: Great, great. [00:31:35] Speaker A: So, David, tell our audience how they can find out more or where they can go to to find out more about Techity and possibly take what you guys have done and duplicate it in other parts of the country. [00:31:52] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. I would say the best place to start would be to visit United Way's website, and that is Unitedwaygmwc.org slash Techity. That is the best place to get information about what we're doing, the kinds of things that we offer just through our website alone. And then if and when possible, sign up for our newsletter. Our Techity Advisory Council meetings are now open to the public. We don't quite have a great hybrid set up for our Advisory Council meetings yet, but we'll get there. And the goal of that being if there are people in other cities or parts of the country who wanted to sit in and listen and learn about what's happening in our part of the community or part of the country and take that back to wherever they are and adapt it, we want to make that open and available for folks, too. [00:32:51] Speaker A: Well, that's great, david, thank you so much for sharing all this great information with them, with our audience, and hopefully people will embrace what you guys are doing in their own areas. Like you said, go back, take it out, grow. It help us to close the digital divide, not only in rural areas, but in urban areas, because they have their own unique challenges in closing that divide. [00:33:19] Speaker C: Absolutely. Again, thanks so much. [00:33:22] Speaker A: End of another great episode. And I always say this at the end, the power to close the digital divide lies within each one of us. It is all of our responsibility to champion digital inclusion, advocate for equal access, and to embrace all of technology's potential to take us there. By doing this, we can create a world where everyone has a fair chance to thrive in the digital age again. Thank you, David. And we'd like to come back and maybe catch up with you guys a little bit again, after you've gone down the road a little bit, and you can share some more about all the great things that you guys are doing. [00:34:06] Speaker C: That'd be great. Charles, thanks so much for the invitation to join your podcast. I appreciate it.