(DESCRIPTION)
A Webinar screen. Logo in upper left corner, California Adult Education Program. Technical Assistance Project. A woman with long black hair sits in front of a light background. Her screen minimizes to the upper right corner. Slide text, Advancing Digital Equity & Social Justice in Adult Education.

(SPEECH)
MANDILEE GONZALEZ: All right. Are you seeing my screen?

VERONICA PARKER: Yes.

MANDILEE GONZALEZ: OK. Thank you. All right. So thank you all for joining us. This is part 2 of Advancing Digital Equity and Social Justice in Adult Education.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text, Your Facilitators for Today. Photos of Veronica Parker and Mandilee Gonzales. Text, Veronica Parker E D dot D... Coordinator, Adult Education. v n parker @ s c o e dot net. Mandilee Gonzales, Project Specialist, Adult Education. m gonzales @ s c o e dot net

(SPEECH)
Our facilitators are myself and Dr. Parker. Dr. Parker, I'll let you go ahead and introduce yourself.

(DESCRIPTION)
Dr. Parker's screen is in the upper right corner. She has short light hair and wears a light toned turtleneck sweater.

(SPEECH)
VERONICA PARKER: All right. Thank you so much, Mandilee, and thank you all very much for joining us this afternoon. And for most of you, welcome back. Thank you for joining us from part 1 to part 2. We are very excited about this particular session because, of course, it's a continuum of learning from part 1, but then also we have some very, very special guests that are joining us this afternoon. So, of course, you'll hear from Mandilee and I, but you'll also hear from them.

So my name is Dr. Veronica Parker. I'm the coordinator with the CAEP Technical Assistance Project. And just to give you a little context about why we are presenting on this particular topic because, as you all know, back in 2020 when the pandemic hit, adult education in particular, we already were engaged in distance education. However, everyone had to quickly pivot. And with that quick pivot there was an increase or enhanced light shed on the digital divide, as well as the inequities that are in the digital space.

And so, of course, we want to continue the conversation and really peel back the layers so that we are able or we are a contributor of closing the digital divide. And for the California Adult Education program, Technical Assistance Project in particular, we have state priorities in which we provide professional development, technical assistance and capacity building around one of-- two of which being equity as well as technology and distance learning.

And one of the ways in which we are doing that is bringing this particular presentation to you that's talking about teachers as agents of change, the historical context of education, social justice that the whole digital equity, digital literacy, as well as strategies to increase-- excuse me to address the inequities that exists within the digital space. And so that's why we are here this afternoon.

I am extremely passionate about all things social justice and equity related, so this just being a piece of that passion of minds, and always wanting to engage in conversations and really identify ways in which we can help to close the inequities we see present day. So that is my why for being here. Again, thank you all very much for joining us. We are very excited. And I'll pass it on to Mandilee.

MANDILEE GONZALEZ: Thank you, Dr. Parker. So again, Mandilee Gonzalez. Also with CAEP Technical Assistance Project and project specialist. And it is a privilege of mine to be able to co-facilitate and do the research that really does invigorate and impassioned me around all items social justice, as well as inequities.

My big why for being here is I emigrated to this country at a very young age from Canada. And I've lived all throughout the United States in various regions and have experienced as well as have seen different inequities based on either socioeconomic, gender, sex and race. And I was raised in a way, and I have a belief system that, you share what know, and you learn what you can, and you help prop your community up. So this is my way of giving back, and it's my way of showing up. So thank you all for joining us today.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text, Your Guest Facilitators for today. Kelly Henwood, Special Projects Manager and Consortium. Director, San Diego Adult Education, Regional Consortium.. .. Logo, S D, Access 4 All. Kelsey Baird, Digital Equity Manager, Dept of IT, City of San Diego. Maiten Moweader, Senior Digital Equity Planner, San Diego Association of Governments. Logo, SANDAG. Cheri Pierre. CEO of Computers 2 Kids. Logo, Computers 2 Kids. Chrissie Powell, Chief Growth and Impact Officer. Logo, 25 Years of Byte Back, Tech Within Reach. Bite is spelled B Y T E...And Anthony Burik, Coordinator. Logo, OTAN. Outreach and Technical Assistance Network.

(SPEECH)
So some of our co facilitators. I know I don't have everybody represented, so I do apologize for those of you who will be co-facilitating and sharing your strategies and tools with us. But we do have Kelly Henwood with us of San Diego consortium, as well as Kelsey Baird, Maiten with SANDAG. We have Cheri with Computers 2 Kids, as well as Chrissie Powell and her team with Byte Back. And then Anthony Burik of OTAN. We will definitely allow them the opportunity to go into more detail and introduce themselves later on in the presentation today.

(DESCRIPTION)
Split screen slide with 2 outcomes.

(SPEECH)
So some of our outcomes, and I'll go ahead and hand that back to Dr. Parker.

VERONICA PARKER: All right. So our outcomes. We have two outcomes in which we would like you all to leave this session with the series, in general. But the two outcomes are we want you all to leave with a deeper understanding of what social justice and digital equity are and how they are currently impacting the digital divide.

And then secondly, again, we always welcome opportunities to critically reflect on who we are, our positionalities and how we are shaped to be in this space. But then also the current research in identifying strategies to close the digital equity gap. And so that critical reflection took place on Tuesday when we had part 1, as well as a deeper understanding of what social justice and digital equity are. And then today, we'll cover some of the other components. But these are the two outcomes we would like you all to leave with as a result of engaging in this three part webinar series.

MANDILEE GONZALEZ: Thank you.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text, Today's Agenda. Items are numbered.

(SPEECH)
So just to go over today's agenda, the welcome, some introductions. I am now reviewing the agenda with you. We are going to introduce some norms as well as the data, barriers, and strategies. And then at that point, that's when we will invite in our guest facilitators from San Diego Consortium, Byte Back, OTAN, and then an opportunity for questions and answers. So we do ask that you do utilize the chat for your questions. We will want to make sure that we come back to them. But just in the essence of time, we are going to try to hold all questions and answers at the end. So again, thank you for that.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text, Essential Agreements. Image, From below, people stand in a circle and reach one fist out to the center.

(SPEECH)
And if you were with us on Tuesday, you are familiar with our essential agreements. And for those of you that aren't, I am just going to do a quick overview. And we ask that you all participate and engage with us with these essential agreements in mind. We ask that when you are engaging in this work that you do stay engaged. Meaning that you are not checking out with mind or heart, that your body just isn't here, but you are really truly engaged speaking your authentic truth as you can in this moment, actively listening, and assuming best intent.

So understand that sometimes in communication things don't always come across as they are intended. And if that bubbles something up for you, we ask that you just pause and assume best intent and circle back with a question of clarification.

And as Dr. Parker stated earlier, we ask that you expect and accept non closure. We are talking about big issues that we are not going to resolve in today's session. But we do ask that you maintain and keep that ongoing dialogue and to be open to experience discomfort.

Some of the topics that we will discuss and some of the data that we're going to look at may be uncomfortable and it is going to be discomfort. But in order to do the good work that we want to do today and the ongoing work, we ask that you are open to experiencing some of this discomfort so that we can move forward and move that needle on the metric there. So thank you for trusting us and participating in this space with us today.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text at bottom, in parentheses, Singleton, 2015. Thank you for trusting us and participating in this space!

(SPEECH)
Dr. Parker?

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text, An Invitation to a Brave Space, by Micky ScottBey Jones. Image of poet. Text, Together we will create brave space, Because there is no such thing as a, quote, safe space. We exist in the real world, We all carry scars and we have all caused wounds. In this space We seek to turn down the volume of the outside world, We amplify voices that fight to be heard elsewhere, We call each other to more truth and love. We have the right to start somewhere and continue to grow. We have the responsibility to examine what we think we know. We will not be perfect. This space will not be perfect. It will not always be what we wish it to be. But it will be our brave space together. And we will work on it side by side.

(SPEECH)
VERONICA PARKER: All right. Thank you. And so we have an invitation, as we did on Tuesday, to enter and engage in this brave space. And so for those of you who joined us on Tuesday, we did go through this poem, and we reflected on, not only what this poem meant to us, but what were our intentions when it comes to creating a brave space.

And some of our attendees named that we have a right to continue to examine what we think we know. And so what we mean by that is we all come into this space with ideas or experiences or beliefs about how we think things are or could be. However, we have an opportunity to examine that thought process, especially if we have new-found information at our disposal.

Others had indicated that we will not be perfect or that we have all caused wounds. But we have the right to continue to grow together and to continue to work on this side by side. And so as you are reviewing this particular poem, just keep your intention in mind, especially if you were with us on Tuesday. Whatever your intention that you set on Tuesday, you want to keep that in mind and remind yourself of the intention that you not only set on Tuesday, but that's carrying you today into next week and into the future.

And for those of you who are just joining us this afternoon, we invite you to identify what your intention will be when it comes to working on equity centered work and how you're going to show up in these particular spaces. So remember that there is no such thing as a safe space, but we have the opportunity to create a brave space. So we just wanted to set that reminder for you all as we prepare to dive into the wonderful topics that we have for this afternoon.

MANDILEE GONZALEZ: Thank you, Dr. Parker.

(DESCRIPTION)
New Slide.

(SPEECH)
So with that we're going to go ahead and get things started. So what I have on the screen is a definition of the digital divide. And if I could ask for someone to come off mute and read that definition, I would greatly appreciate it. Do I have any volunteers?

SPEAKER 1: I'll do it.

MANDILEE GONZALEZ: OK. Thank you.

SPEAKER 1: Sorry.

(DESCRIPTION)
A woman appears in the upper right corner. She has dark hair pulled back, wears glasses, and wears a dark shirt. Text, Sandra Dorantes.

(SPEECH)
What is digital divide? The digital divide refers to the gap between those who have access to technology, the internet, and digital literacy training and those who do not.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text below definition, North Carolina Department of Information Technology, 2017.

(SPEECH)
MANDILEE GONZALEZ: Thank you so much, Sandra, for coming off mute. I appreciate that. So this is what-- this is where we're going to start. And we are going to start with talking about that digital divide and what we can do to mitigate that. And what the data points are pointing to that identify that gap.

(DESCRIPTION)
New Slide. Graphic.

(SPEECH)
So before we jump into the nuances of the digital divide, I do want to take a pause and highlight some of the wins, and where we are with some of the wins. So this is a graphic. And it just shows that the medium cost per megabyte has dropped in K-12 districts by almost 25%.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text, the median cost per megabit for school internet access has decreased from $1.85 to $1.39 per megabits per second, parentheses, M b p s.

(SPEECH)
We have about 45% of our public school principals who have worked directly with internet service providers to help learners have access to internet at home. So those hot spots that were being distributed.

In an increase of 17% overall between sixth and 12th graders to those one-to-one device programs and what that looks like is up to 83% for your ninth to 12th graders, and then increased to 86% for our sixth to eighth graders.

(DESCRIPTION)
New slide.

(SPEECH)
Another celebration that I would like to highlight is, as we pause just to take a look at some of our states, so California-- cheers to you and Washington and Utah, you have been identified as exemplars for having innovative emerging practices in addressing affordability access and ownership in the state of the broadband plans. So kudos to all of our states as we continue this work. We do like to pause and make sure that we do celebrate the work that we are doing and that we are making some improvements.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text, Barriers. Image, three colored circles form a triangle. They are all connected by arrows that point in both directions. The top circle has three curved bars on top of each other representing a WiFi connection. Text, Availability. The next circle has outlines of three people. Text, Adoption. The final circle has a dollar bill image. Text, Affordability. Text in the middle of the triangle formation, Driven by and Centered Around Communities.

(SPEECH)
So now we're going to discuss some of the barriers. So this is that like three-legged stool that I like to call of our barriers. So it's availability, affordability, and adoption. So affordability is really looking at can our families, can our learners pay for the total cost of having, say, maintaining reliable internet? And when we talk about internet, we also want to talk about the quality of internet services because quality access is also dependent on what a household can afford to pay.

There are a lot of programs out there that do offer very low cost internet access, but oftentimes, those low cost programs typically also provide a lower quality access. That broadband is slower. It's not going to be able to support some of the programs or systems that the learner or that the student or that the family requires to really engage in the way that we need them to engage just to maintain whatever it is, whether it's banking or looking for a job or applying for a job.

So affordability, and when we talk about affordability, we talk about, not just that monthly cost of the bill, but we're really examining if a household can sustain a continuous service. So having an interruption of service isn't really providing a learner the ability to always access what they need to. So if you have internet for two months and then it drops out for three months, what kind of a hardship does that put on that family? And how does that change how they actually engage with internet or their devices?

And then there is also the availability to the access. And we enter into-- we have all experienced this if for driving especially in California. We are that farm to fork state, so we do have a lot of farm areas. So you go into a rural area, and you kind of can expect to have some service interrupted, whether it's your Wi-Fi or your data plan. But I also want to highlight the neighborhoods that experience these same low connectivity due to a low socioeconomic neighborhood that do not have the same infrastructure in place.

So I was on a-- really quick story. So I was on a webinar talking about equity and broadband for all and the speaker shared a story that really resonated with me and it really just punctuated this point, which is why I continue to propel and to share this story. So she told a story about a woman who lived in Brooklyn. She had a very high level position. And when the pandemic hit, everybody, as we know, basically went home. And they started to work from home.

Because where she lived-- she lived in a neighborhood in Brooklyn. And in the area that she lived, she was facing infrastructure issues where she was having low connectivity, unstable internet, even though her equal counterparts didn't experience this because they lived in more prominent neighborhoods. I share that story because it is a nice reminder-- a constant reminder that there are inequities even in our infrastructure, and these are the systems that we have to bolster up so we don't continue to have these same barriers.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text, The State of Digital Equity for Learner. Graphic One, the WiFi connection symbol. Text, 32% of U.S. households are subscription vulnerable, meaning they are unable to afford and maintain services. Superscript, 47. Second graphic, a box with an X in two opposing corners and an O in a third corner. A winding dotted arrow indicates the O traveling between the two Xs. Text, 6 million K through 12 students face adoption barriers outside of availability and affordability. Superscript, 50. Third graphic, the outline of a house with the WiFi symbol above the roof. Text, 9 million of 37 million households that are eligible for the Emergency Broadband Benefit, parentheses E B B, program applied. Superscript, 71.

(SPEECH)
So as I mentioned just a moment ago, we do know that there are programs out there to support some of these barriers. But we have to really start to take a look at why there are so many opportunities, but the low numbers of participants in these government and private programs. We have to start to peel back the layers to understand the reasons why they're not connecting.

And I'm just going to highlight the one that was really glaring to me is the Emergency Broadband Benefit program, where 9 million people applied, and that sounds like a big number. But when you realize that there's 37 million households that are eligible, we have to understand where is that gap and why are those people not connecting to that program to really help lift them.

And I think, as we go through this, we'll understand that when we start to peel back a lot of these layers, it does come back to relationship and that trust and just really getting those people connected in a way where they can engage.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide with five horizontal bar charts. Text, Black and Hispanic adults in U.S. are less likely that White adults to have a traditional computer, home broadband. % of U.S. adults who say they have the following. Desktop or laptop computer, White, 80. Black, 69. Hispanic, 67. Home broadband. White, 80. Black, 71. Hispanic, 65. Smartphone. White, 85. Black, 83. Hispanic 85. Tablet or Computer. White,53. Black, 54. Hispanic, 53. All of the above. White, 42. Black, 40. Hispanic, 35. Text below bar charts, Note: Respondents who did not give an answer are not shown. White and Black adults include those who report being only one race and are not Hispanic. Hispanics are of any race. Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted January 25 through February 8, 2021. Pew Research Center.

(SPEECH)
So now that we've kind of touched on those barriers, and I've kind of mentioned the data aspects, I want to share with you, and this is from the Pew Research Center and they surveyed 1,500 adults from January 25 to February 8 of 2021. And they conducted this survey via landline and cell phone. So some of the data points to ground our understanding of where our learners are is when we look at this, in this slide, we are seeing that our Black and Hispanic adults in the US are less likely than white adults to have traditional computers and broadband.

And then in the next slide, also from the Pew Research,

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide with five horizontal bar charts on the left and a line chart on the right.

(SPEECH)
and so you're looking at-- OK. Yes. Good. You're looking at this slide here. So this is now taking a look at that same data but by household incomes. So the graph on the left shows households with less than $30,000 in the dark blue. And this is indicating that households with lower incomes still do not have the same broadband service or equipment adoption.

(DESCRIPTION)
Bar chart data. Smartphone. Less than $30K, 76%. $30K to $99,999, 87 %. $100K or more, 97%. Desktop or laptop computer, Less than $30K, 59%. $30K to $99,999, 84%. $100K or more, 92%. Home Broadband. Less than $30K, 57%. $30K to $99,999, 83 %. $100K or more, 93%. Tablet computer. Less than $30K, 41%. $30K to $99,999, 53 %. $100K or more, 68%. All of the above. Less than $30K, 23%. $30K to $99,999, 42 %. $100K or more, 63%. Text below bar charts, Note: Respondents who did not give an answer are not shown. Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted January 25 through February 8, 2021. Pew Research Center.

(SPEECH)
The graph on the right is showing a percentage of adults who have smartphones but no broadband at home by that income bracket.

(DESCRIPTION)
Line chart text, The share of Americans with lower incomes who rely on their smartphones for going online has roughly doubled since 2013. In 2013, Less than $30K, 12%. $30K to $99,999, 7 %. $100K or more, 4%. 2016. Less than $30K, 20%. $30K to $99,999, 10%. $100K or more, 4%. 2019. Less than $30K, 26%. $30K to $99,999, 14 %. $100K or more, 5%. 2021. Less than $30K, 27%. $30K to $99,999, 11 %. $100K or more, 6%. Text below bar charts, Note: Respondents who did not give an answer are not shown. Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted January 25 through February 8, 2021. Pew Research Center.

(SPEECH)
So you can see that those under $30,000, meaning lower income adults, are utilizing their devices, their cell phones to apply for jobs, when really that should be best suited for a desktop or a laptop to really give them the full experience and to make sure that they're putting their best foot forward.

So when I look at this, I think that this data is telling. When we start to frame what our access is and what our learners have for access or what they don't have, and if we really want to meet our learners where they are, we have to understand truly where they are and how they're engaging with some of the devices. And some of the, I want to say, what we think they have at home, and really how they're able to engage with the work. And then even finding a job.

Moving along

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text, Barriers. Chart with three columns. Availability, Affordability, Adoption. Each column has several bullet points.

(SPEECH)
here, I want to go over those barriers. So this allows us to digest those barriers in those buckets. And the barriers that our learners are being faced with and our communities are being faced with. So in these buckets I'm just going to call out a few in the interest of time, because I want to move along, so we can really hear from our people out there with some great strategies that we can connect to.

So when it comes to availability, it's that lack of ownership of personal devices that have the ability to connect to broadband and memory to run programs, but also the infrastructure of quality.

(DESCRIPTION)
Additional Availability data points. Lack of continuous internet and device availability for highly mobile learners. Lack of large-scale infrastructure due to digital redlining. Lack of reliable high-speed broadband connection.

(SPEECH)
For affordability, the high cost of broadband and tech tools for that continuous and sustainable access.

(DESCRIPTION)
Additional Affordability data point. Lack of sustained funding for affordable internet programs.

(SPEECH)
And then adoption.

So when we peel back those layers, I think I mentioned this earlier, when we peel back those layers, we're identifying that there is a distrust between communities and government and private programs. So that's a big component, I think, that maybe we can all work on. And that the community is hesitant to participate in these offerings, which makes it hard to get them connected in all of those other aspects.

(DESCRIPTION)
Additional Adoption data points. Lack of access to technical support for learners and families slash caregivers. Lack of collaboration between government agencies, community-based organizations, Tribes, and private companies. Lack of community buy-in due to the exclusion of communities most impacted by the digital divide from conversations about digital equity. Lack of inclusive strategies for communicating with families slash caregivers. Lack of reliable, disaggregated data to guide investments in targeted communications and supports. Lack of resources and support in learners' and families slash caregivers' home languages. Lack of support to complete applications for affordable broadband programs. Limited access to digital literacy skills training for caregivers slash families, learners, and educators. Limited access to professional learning for educators. Limited institution and organization level capacity.

(SPEECH)
So some strategies that maybe some of you have already-- are utilizing as an agency or as a district or if you've come up with, and I'm just going to name a couple.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text, Strategies. Chart with three columns. Availability, Affordability, Adoption. Each column has several bullet points.

(SPEECH)
So availability, that distribution of hotspots. I know that that was very valuable to a lot of people if they had that access.

(DESCRIPTION)
Additional Availability data points. Partnerships with internet service providers, parentheses I S Ps, to increase equitable infrastructure. Use of public spaces and community partnerships to establish internet access.

(SPEECH)
The affordability and that that community partnering with lower cost internet, but still hopefully, a high broadband access.

(DESCRIPTION)
Additional Affordability data points. Ongoing federal, state or territory, and local funding for districts to purchase equipment and fund affordable internet and digital literacy programs. Programs offering subsidies to learners and families slash caregivers.

(SPEECH)
And then the adoption. And that's those community members and community based organizations, like your libraries, and then having the multi link, well, tech support for our learners because we do have a vast majority throughout California of various languages. And when you can meet them in their own language, it's a lot easier for them to understand in how to engage.

(DESCRIPTION)
Additional Adoption data points. Digital literacy opportunities for learners, families slash caregivers, and educators. Provision of human-level support through partnerships with community-based organizations and or trusted advocates rooted in communities. Regular conversations soliciting feedback and needs from learners and families slash caregivers.

(SPEECH)
So I'm going to take a pause because I feel like I've really been talking at you for quite some time now. And I'd love to hear whether it's off of mute or in the chat, what are some strategies that your agency is using that you have found effective? So please feel free to pop it in the chat or come off mute.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide graphic, Two talk bubbles. One has a question mark, the other has a light bulb shining brightly. Text, Share out!

(SPEECH)
Thank you, Tanya. So Tanya Praest says, we let students borrow Chromebooks. Very nice. Anyone else?

OK. So I'm sharing screens. So I can't see if anyone's coming off of mute. Oh, we have some others here. So thank you, Mark with Byte Back. They also have a loaner laptop program. And then Sandra says, yes to Chromebooks. Love it. Thank you, guys. Ivan, we provide hot spots to our ECE pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship students.

Kelly Henwood, we have had ACP events, and we can talk more about that when we present. Yes, and I'm looking forward to it. Thank you, Kelly. Affordability connectivity program. I appreciate that. Thank you. Kelsey-- oh, my goodness. So many more are coming in. So Kelsey Baird, mobile hotspots, check out through their libraries grassroots, their ACP enrollments with community led organizations.

So we have lots of great strategies, and I can't wait for a lot of our co-facilitators to share those directly with you. So I'm going to pop-- we're going to go ahead and move forward, but please feel free to continue to add to the chat any of those strategies that are working for your agency. And we will all be able to download that chat and still continue to learn from each other.

So I am going to end this section of the digital divide with a video that I found and I believe it just-- it really ties it up in a nice nutshell.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

(DESCRIPTION)
Image, a television set, Text on tv screen, The Digital Divide, A Racial Equity Issue. Graphic of open laptop with internet speed test on screen.

(SPEECH)
NARRATOR: High speed internet, a modern luxury only for those who can afford it? Not anymore. Today, broadband is essential to everyday life in how we connect with the world. So essential, we sometimes ask, how do we manage without it? Good question. Because every day, millions of Americans are forced to simply for living on the wrong side of the digital divide.

(DESCRIPTION)
Animation, the ground splits apart separating a large group of people into two halves.

(SPEECH)
The digital divide. That glaring gap between those who can participate in all broadband offers and those who cannot. A gap largely defined by race and income that disproportionately affects Black Americans and communities of color. Today, more than one in five black Americans live below the poverty line.

(DESCRIPTION)
Pie chart. A section of the chart is marked 20.8%. Text, 8.9 million.

(SPEECH)
So even in areas covered by broadband, costs can be out of reach.

Last year, over one in 3 black households had no computer and no access to broadband leaving millions of Black adults unable to work remotely from home or search for a new job.

(DESCRIPTION)
Pie chart. A section of the chart is marked 36.4%

(SPEECH)
And more than 4 million Black children disconnected when K through 12 classes went online.

(DESCRIPTION)
Animation, a black student is split apart from an open laptop with a graduation cap on the screen.

(SPEECH)
Today, 7 in 10 black Americans say insufficient digital skills impedes their employability. If this trend continues, in 25 years, three out of four Black Americans could be disqualified from 86% of US jobs. What will it take to prevent this? Coordinated broadband solutions, public and private sector informed by digital equity, accurate data mapping that illuminates needs, frequent re-evaluation of broadband standards, and policy making that resolves barriers and access.

Because high speed internet is not a privilege, it's a necessity for all Americans whatever their color or income, wherever they happen to live.

(DESCRIPTION)
Full screen graphic shows a diverse group of people. Text in the center, Access. Affordability. Adoption.

(SPEECH)
By removing barriers to broadband, we can better the lives of millions of Black Americans while improving our communities, our economy, and the future that together we share.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text, A 10% increase in broadband access in 2014 would have meant 875,000 US jobs by 2019, superscript, 6. This would have brought over $186B in economic output. Superscript, 6.

(SPEECH)
When broadband for all will benefit all of us, doesn't it make sense? Now is the time to close the digital divide.

(DESCRIPTION)
A globe spins.

Text, CEO ACTION FOR RACIAL EQUALITY. ceo action racial equality dot com.

(SPEECH)
MANDILEE GONZALEZ: All right. Thank you guys for allowing me and indulging me to share that with everyone. Let's go ahead and switch back to-- sorry, let's see here. We'll go ahead and switch back to the presentation. They don't let me. Sorry. Stand by. All right, here we go.

So I think that that really just sums up the digital divide in a just really clean cut space where if someone doesn't understand it, you can absolutely share that video with them. And I think that they'll have a good understanding of what the digital divide is and what we need to do moving forward. Oops, did not mean to do that. Apologies.

So now we're going to talk about digital literacy. You can't talk about the digital divide without really understanding the digital literacy aspect of that. And I have another vocabulary words. If I could ask someone to come off mute and read this for us, I would appreciate that.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text, What is Digital Literacy?

(SPEECH)
Have any takers?

SPEAKER 2: I'll do it.

MANDILEE GONZALEZ: Thank you.

(DESCRIPTION)
A woman appears in the top right corner. She has long dark hair and glasses. Text, Tanya Praest.

(SPEECH)
SPEAKER 2: Digital literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information requiring both cognitive and technical skills.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text below definition, North Carolina Department of Information Technology, 2017.

(SPEECH)
MANDILEE GONZALEZ: Thank you, Tanya, for sharing with us. So when we think about the digital literacy, I want to bring up the misconception of our young people and our adults in the workforce, where younger workers are not immune to the reality faced by some of our older peers in which that they develop only the skills that they regularly use or that they have or have seen around them.

So if you're not exposed to something, then you don't to look for it. For example, in my home, all of the children in my home see that I use my laptop for work. This is how I create resumes. This is how I engage and communicate with my colleagues. But if you're using your laptop just to engage in, say, YouTube or entertainment, then you really aren't using that device to the full capability that that tool is really intended for.

So digital literacy, , I think is a huge aspect of the digital divide and just one of those components that I think that we always have to acknowledge. So as we talk about digital literacy, it does also impact where we're at as far as our economy and our workforce. And what does that mean for our learners? So digital literacy is going to give them the ability to search and apply for those jobs, create those resumes, as I mentioned, construct an email, navigate through sites that support some of those essential services that we've talked about trying to connect them to.

So this requires that all people are provided the opportunity to learn how to use these tools. And oftentimes, this does fall on our teachers or our libraries. Really, the people in this room. So ensuring that our learners have those digital skills, this is key for their success. An important skill set for all of our learners to understand how to use these tools, not only to access school, employment and other social programs, but it's imperative, I think, as we kind of enter this digital era.

It's how everyone is living. This is how people do banking. This is how they pay even rent. So it is important in so many aspects, not just school and upskilling. But as we talk about that, I also want to share this slide, and this is from the National Skills Coalition from 2020.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide. Three pie charts. First pie chart text, 50% of Black Workers Need Digital Skills. Four pie chart quadrants. 17%, no digital skills. 33%, Limited digital skills. 37%, Proficient digital skills. 13%, Advanced digital skills. Second pie chart text, 57% of Latino Workers Need Digital Skills. Four pie chart quadrants. 32%, no digital skills. 25%, Limited digital skills. 26 %, Proficient digital skills. 17%, Advanced digital skills. Third pie chart text, 36% of Asian American slash Pacific Islander Workers Needed Digital Skills. Four pie chart quadrants. 10%, no digital skills. 26%, Limited digital skills. 36%, Proficient digital skills. 28%, Advanced digital skills.

(SPEECH)
And when we review those digital skills, what we're looking at here is Black and Latino and Asian-American/Pacific Islanders and the percentage of workers that still need those digital skills.

So 50% of Black workers, 57% of Latino, and 36% of Asian-American and Pacific Islander workers need those digital skills. So when I look at this, I feel like these numbers alone should be impetus enough to understand the weight of the digital skills and the divide, and why it's so imperative that we continue to do the work that we're doing.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text. Skills Matter. Additional Results from the Survey of Adult Skills. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, parentheses, O E C D... Chart with five columns. Column One Header text, O E C D Rating. Column Two Header Text, Below Level One or Failure. Column Three Header Text, Level1. Column Four header text, Level 2. Column Five Header text, Level 3. First Row Text, Skill Tested. Below Level 1 or Failure, not meeting any of the other skills. Level 1, Internet Search, Web browser, email. Level 2, Navigating across pages, multi-step problem solving, assessing relevance. Level 3, Sorting, intuitive problem solving, responding to unforeseen issues. Row 2 text, Type of Skill. Below Level 1 or Failure, Less than basic internet usage skills. Level 1, Basic internet usage. Level 2, What one needs to do to be able to find a job. Level 3, Skills one would use on the job. Row 3 text, Example. Below Level 1 or Failure, Failure on exam, opting to avoid test, or self-proclaimed no skills. Level 1, sort emails into folders based on a topic. Level 2, locate information and forward it to another party. Level 3, Search a topic, click through results, and bookmark all pages that meet a set of several criteria. i e. free, no registration. Row 4 text, percent of population. Below Level 1 or Failure, 35%. Level 1, 32%. Level 2, 27%. Level 3, 5%

(SPEECH)
One other survey that I would like to share with you. So what you're looking at currently is a rubric. And this is a survey of adult skills, and it was a product of the OECD, which is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. And it conducted a separate analysis that categorized these digital skills into levels.

So below level 1 or failure, whether it was self identified or they just tested that low to level 1, which is, hey, I know how to get onto the internet. I know how to maybe get onto email and I can search. And when we look at those, we're looking at the scores now by ethnicity. And it's really glaring to me that just level 1 and below, we have huge numbers of our population that really do need those digital skills.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide Logo, Third Way. Header text, Score on O E C D Digital Skills Test. Horizontal bar chart with White, Hispanic/Latino, Black and Other. Below Level 1. White, between 0 and 20%. Hispanic slash Latino, between 0 and 25%. Black, between 0 and 40%. Other, between 0 and 20%.

(SPEECH)
So I don't want to belabor this any longer. I think it's pretty evident that this is a-- it is an important topic. And I think that it can be integrated into a lot of the different programs that we have out there. So with that, we're going to hear from some of our presenters, and I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Parker to do our first introduction.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide Text, Guest Presentations.

(SPEECH)
VERONICA PARKER: All right. Thank you so much, Mandilee, for such great information and current research on the digital divide. So I will now turn it over to our colleagues out of San Diego starting first with the San Diego Consortium Manager Kelly Henwood. Kelly?

(DESCRIPTION)
Kelly has dark hair and wears glasses and a light colored collarless shirt.

(SPEECH)
KELLY HENWOOD: Greetings, everybody. I'm Kelly Henwood. I am the special projects manager at San Diego College of Continuing Education and the lead for our San Diego Adult Education Regional Consortium. Thank you so much for letting us come and present today. I'm going to do some quick introductions, and we actually did a similar session at last fall's CAEP Summit.

And the thing that we're going to talk about today, and let me-- am I sharing my screen? Hang one second. Let me make sure I'm sharing my screen.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text, State C A E P Webinar, March 4th, Spring 2023. Digital Equity Partnerships. The Future is Bright. San Diego College of Continuing Education.

(SPEECH)
There we go. Is we really want to talk about our community partnership. So I'm going to turn it over in a minute to Kelsey Baird, who is the digital equity manager at the Department of Technology at the City of San Diego, and then Cheri Pierre, who is the CEO of Computers 2 Kids, and then Maiten Mowreader, who's a senior digital equity planner at the San Diego Association of Governments.

So this whole presentation is really to talk about what we've been working on over the last two years, and some folks, for even longer, like Computers 2 Kids who's a key refurbisher in the state of California and across the country. Really, what we want to emphasize is what we've done locally in San Diego to connect with public entities like SANDAG and the City of San Diego, as well as nonprofit partners to really bridge the digital divide and digital equity issues that we see with adult learners. And we've learned lots of things, and we've had many experiences together, especially through the pandemic.

So we want to talk a little bit about what we're doing in San Diego and give you some heads up for some future happenings. But the key thing here that we hope that you'll gain is that some of the things that we've learned and done here and some things that you might need might be able to bring back to your local region in terms of nonprofit and public partnerships.

I will say that there are-- it's a key time right now for us to advocate for adult learners in the sphere of digital equity. There are lots of things happening at the state and federal level, which you'll hear a little bit about how we've been working with those systems at a local level.

But I think also, depending upon what the local political environment looks like in your region, the opportunity to see what's happening, if you're not already working with your local governments, your local county, your local city, to see really what they're doing because again, digital equity is a key issue, especially through the pandemic. But sometimes the needs of adult learners tend to not be emphasized as much as some other populations, such as K through 12 school system children.

So this is an opportunity maybe to get some ideas and then bring them back to your area and see what you might be able to do. So I'm going to turn it over to Kelsey Baird from the city of San Diego, and she's going to say a few things, and then we're going to go through the different folks here.

And I want to thank all of our partners for coming and joining this presentation because they're all fantastic and wonderful to work with. And in terms of social justice issues, they feel it in their heart and soul and do it every single day. And so we're very lucky to be able to work with them. Thank you.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide with graphics. Header text, Addressing Barriers to Access with Purpose-Aligned Partnerships. At bottom center, logo, S D, Access 4 All. In a wide arc around the logo are other logos or graphics. A line connects the Access 4 All logo with each logo or graphic. First, a stylized graphic of a building. Text, 30 libraries, 10 outdoor Computer Labs. Second, Computers 2 Kids logo. Text, 2000 computers distributed with San Diego Nonprofit Refurbisher C2K. Third, SANDAG logo. Text, Get Connected Campaign. Fourth, graphic of a street lamp. Text, 400+ Public WiFi locations. Fifth, logo, N D I A, National Digital Inclusion Alliance. Text, Digital Navigation Services in Partnership with 8 Orgs. Sixth, Logo, Pillars of the Community. Text, 5,000 households connected to Federal Internet Subsidy dash A C P... Seventh, a graphic of open laptop. Text, 4,000 hotspots and Chromebooks @ public libraries. Eighth, tree and park bench graphic. Text, Wi-Fi at 60+ public parks. Ninth, Logo, S D F F.... Text, S D Tech Express, 11 Weekly Computer Skills Classes. Tenth. Logo, San Diego College of Continuing Education. Text, San Diego College of Continuing Education Partnership.

(SPEECH)
I'll turn it over to Kelsey.

KELSEY BAIRD: Thank you, Kelly. And I apologize. My camera's having some issues. So I think it's just better if I keep it off for my internet. Thank you all. Yeah. And this has really been touched upon. The pandemic accelerated really a monumental shift in how critically policymakers at the National, state, and local levels really perceive internet access, and that is as an essential resource on par with water and electricity.

And like Kelly pointed out, I just want to call out that there's a lot of funding coming down the pipeline from the state of California through Senate Bill 156, which is around 6 billion for infrastructure and programming. And then the Infrastructure and Jobs Act at the federal level, which is around $42 billion.

And so now, more than ever, is an opportunity for us to collaborate across entities, and for you all to work with your local government and for local government, frankly, to listen to community members most impacted by the digital divide and practitioners, who have been doing this work. So just to keep that funding on your radar. And I think we have information on our resource slide.

So today I'm going to be sharing just a little bit about the city of San Diego's model for working with our adult education partner, San Diego College of Continuing Education to advance digital equity through our collaborative digital Navigator program. And just to give you a little bit of background on the city of San Diego, City council allocated 500,000 IN one time funding in 2020 at the height of the pandemic with the goal of connecting low income households to the internet.

And so we've been working on sort of middle term programs to connect community to resources that are out there. And then working on a longer term strategy around broadband infrastructure through a master plan to address sustainable, equitable internet access. I'll put in the chat a story map which kind of-- created by SANDAG which really illustrates the digital divide in the city of San Diego.

But to give you a brief overview, 53,000 households in the city lack home internet. In some neighborhoods up to 28%, based on our data. And this is, as it was mentioned before, really due to structural issues, and it's really a process of systemic racism over time and how internet infrastructure has been deployed. And the cost of services available to communities and the quality of services and that this does disproportionately impact our neighborhoods of color in the city of San Diego at twice the rate of our white identified households according to market research.

And this is a process that's called digital lining, and that has been defined by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance as what happens when internet service providers invest less money in low income and marginalized communities. And that leaves those communities with slow unreliable broadband or no broadband at all.

So the city's digital equity initiative, SD Access 4 All, has really been-- it's very new, but it's really been about bringing together partner organizations and that includes community led organizations, community organizations, trusted messengers, folks already doing the work in this space to address the whole digital equity process, right?

And so we really see local government, the city, as acting as a key connection point to critical resources led by our trusted community partners. And another note is we are we've been working to focus these programs and services that we're building together in our digital equity priority areas of the city, and those are the cities that data show-- areas that data show lack internet and computers at the highest rates, right?

So our formula for an effective digital equity ecosystem is kind of a four part equation. And institutions on this meeting, you already are probably addressing one or more of these areas for your students and the folks you support. So the first is access to high quality affordable internet. The Affordable Connectivity Program, formerly the EBB, and Maiten will speak on this later, that is, the federal subsidy that offers $30 off your monthly internet bill if you qualify. So that's access to high quality affordable internet is number 1 and that's a critical resource.

Number 2 is digital skills training or digital literacy training. And most campuses offer some form of digital literacy curricula. Definitely, San Diego College of Continuing Education does. So you might already have that in place, in which case you might want to shift to focus on technical support.

So the third pillar is access to computers and those devices. So what we're finding is a lot of adult learners have-- they might get a computer, but then it's really necessary to have that ongoing support if the device breaks, if the device has a virus, right? Or folks run into issues.

And then the fourth is just the creation and development of productive spaces from which to engage in the digital world. So that could be a computer lab, that could be a library, or a community center. So those are the really four important parts of the equation.

So we've found, through our work, that it's really important to build a resource network around these four pillars, and put them together, bundle them together in an accessible manner, right? So we heard from our community partners during the pandemic that support for the whole internet process was necessary. So from finding affordable programs from internet service providers to making sure that the federal Affordable Connectivity Program Benefit was effectively applied to a bill, right? The whole process, ensuring that the internet was installed correctly.

So we came together as eight organizations, anchor institutions, community organizations, government, and we really built together with a digital Navigator program so that it could work across systems. And this is to act as that resource distribution model and to guide community and students through the whole kind of digital equity or digital inclusion process through repeated interactions. So you can go ahead and the next slide.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide Header Text, Access 4 All: Meeting Adult Learners Where They Are. https://www.sandiego.gov/digital dash navigator dash program. Text, Role of Digital Navigators. Support Digital Equity Needs of students and prospective students.

(SPEECH)
Sorry. These are our partners all working together to build this digital Navigator program.

So a digital Navigator is just really critical in making technology more accessible, right? And so some of the important things that they provide are access to affordable, high quality internet. If it's available, access to affordable computers, access to digital skills programming, and then just that basic patient one-on-one support to work on any of your technology related goals, right?

So we currently have 10 navigators. We'll soon will be at 15. They are fluent in eight languages, and we really recruited based on lived experience, folks living in communities most impacted by the digital divide. And they have a diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds and experiences. And we really tried to recruit directly from our partner organizations.

So we recruited from the student population at San Diego College of Continuing Education and they are fantastic navigators because of that lived experience. There are placed at seven host sites, including our city libraries, a recreation center, and critically two campuses at SDCCE. And then available via toll free help line.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text, 1-800-350-6945. English, Espanol, Tagalog, Cantonese, Russian, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Arabic, Chaldean. .. Monday and Tuesday, 11:30am to 6:30pm. Wednesday through Friday, 11:30am to 7:30pm. Saturday, 11:30am to 3:30pm.

(SPEECH)
And so to date we've supported more than 2000 residents, and that's through outreach, in person, and help line services. And I'll drop the links in the chat to our programs. And I'll hand it off to a really important partner in building this digital Navigator program city wide, Computers 2 Kids to talk more about the device access component, which is so critical in digital equity. Thank you.

(DESCRIPTION)
Cheri Pierre appears in the upper right corner. She has shoulder length dark hair and wears a blue shirt under a dark suit jacket. Slide Logo, Computers 2 Kids. Text, C2K is a leading advocate for Digital Equity by providing affordable device access for the technologically underserved. Paired with training, connectivity, and support, C2K creates digital inclusion. Digital Equity equals, Health Equity. Educational Equity. Economic Equity.

(SPEECH)
CHERI PIERRE: Hello, everyone. I'm Cheri Pierre. I'm CEO of Computers 2 Kids. And first, I want to just say our name may have the word kids in it, but over a decade ago, we really expanded, and now we work with all populations and all ages. We are one of the leading advocates for digital equity, not only in San Diego, but nationwide. We are the top third nonprofit refurbisher in the United States.

And we know that a computer is not just giving you access to the world, but it's giving you health equity, educational equity, and economic equity. The computer is a vehicle to be able to access the world, and we're providing that on an affordable level. Next slide.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide Header text, Our impact during COVID-19. Graphics of laptop, headset, webcam, computer. Vertical bar chart shows number of computers given between 2019 and 2022. In 2019, 11,582. In 2020, a 59% increase to 31,234. In 2021, 36,079. In 2022, 44,999. Text, We distributed over 112,000 computers to kids, adults and vulnerable families throughout the Covid 19 pandemic.

(SPEECH)
So Computers 2 Kids focuses on several different types of devices. We have laptop devices, tablets, but also desktop systems. And it's not just the system itself. We make sure that everything has a headset included. If it's a desktop system we're providing Wi-Fi adapters so that desktop can be portable anywhere in the household.

Also we're making sure that there's cameras, and we're providing Microsoft software. And that's really important because the world is predominantly Windows based, and so we want to make sure that the individual who's receiving these systems has the tools right out of the gate to be able to access these resources.

It's also important to know that unlike most Microsoft software, which is subscription based out there, all of the software that goes on our computers is a standalone software. And what this allows the family to do is to access those resources without being tethered to a monthly subscription. And for those that are more financially vulnerable, this prevents disruption in being able to use that software.

It was really interesting. We've been in this sector for over 20 years. I sit on a board of national non-profit refurbishers. We've been addressing the digital divide before the world knew it existed. And prior to the pandemic, we were doing up to 10 to 11,000 computers a year. Almost immediately when the world shut down, we expanded our amount of devices. And so far we did over 112,000 devices just during the pandemic.

Now that wasn't just in San Diego. A lot of the nonprofit refurbishers and a lot of the sources out there in the community did not have access to enough devices. Either there was a chain supply shortage, if you were trying to buy new devices, or the quality of the refurbished devices out there were called into question.

We were fortunate enough to enter into the pandemic with more than 40,000 devices in stock. And so we were a great resource, not only for individuals nationwide who are applying to us, but also for the local community colleges and agencies that need to get-- needed to get devices into their students' hands in order to continue that education remotely. Next slide.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide with insignias of Presidential Seal and White House. Text, President Signs Into Law Bipartisan Legislation to Provide Computers to Veterans, Students, & Seniors. January 2, 2023, Washington D.C.... The Computers for Veterans and Students Act, parentheses, COVS Act, will provide more federal surplus computers to veterans, students and seniors in need. H.R. 3 5 4 4 Covs Act. 117th Congress, 2021 -2023.

(SPEECH)
So one of the important things to really know on a federal level, and this is a game changer when it comes to addressing digital inequities in our community, is that passing in January of the COVS Act. And this COVS Act basically states that all federal computers, everything that every federal agency, is using, instead of it having to be sold off or processed through the federal government, it can actually be passed on to nonprofit refurbishers.

This is really going to be a big difference on whether or not your adult learners have access to technology, and I mean quality technology. There's a misnomer that if it's a refurbished computer, it's not worth the price of postage to send it. And that's not true. These devices are core series devices. They've got SSD drives. They've got max RAM, the software. We're providing them a quality-- a much higher quality of a device than they would if they were able to buy the cheapest device on, say, Walmart or Costco or one of those.

It's a higher quality, and not only that, most refurbishers take great pride in that and ensure that there is unlimited tech support on those devices. In the case of Computers 2 Kids, because they are refurbished, every device comes with free lifetime tech support. And if we can't fix that device, we replace it to the individual at no cost to them. That really allows them to stay connected.

And they don't have to be in the San Diego area. The beauty of COVID is that we can touch all parts of the state, and we do so. We partner with colleges and universities up in northern and the middle of states, but we also provide computers to all of the foster kids that have aged out of the foster system. And that is through partnerships with iFoster.

But this COVS Act, it's going to probably take between now, and we're estimating, the end of 2024 really to iron out all the kinks of how these devices are going to be distributed. But the beautiful thing about California is we are a strong military state, and so we have a little higher access to devices through the federal government than most other states in the nation. So we're fortunate in that area. Next slide.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide. Google map of California with multiple locations pinned throughout the state. Logo, Computer 2 Kids . Logo, Digitunity. Text, Non Profit Refurbishers in California. 157 Agencies working in California to ensure digital equality for all. 1. Computers 2 Kids. 2. Human I T....3. Comp U Dopt. Link to Digital Opportunity Network.

(SPEECH)
So it's really important to know what kind of resources are available to you. And I'll drop these into the chat, but the kind of arching-- a national organization that all of us refurbishers really work with is Digitunity. The beautiful thing about Digitunity is they will have a map that the link-- it's like a network map. You put in the area you're at, and they'll tell you exactly what agency in your backyard will be able to support you.

Currently, right now, there's 157 agencies that are addressing the digital and equity. And the three top refurbishes are Computers 2 Kids, Human-I-T, and Comp-U-Dopt. Again each one may be different, but we all know each other. And if one refurbisher does not have the product to help you, we will work with other nonprofit refurbishers to be able to make sure we fulfill your order.

Also, the interesting thing about how this works is that any time you want to do an event at your campus, if you have individuals that you refer, we set up a customized application, and most of the refurbishers do the same thing, where we're customizing working with you to be able to address the needs specifically of your adult learners. All of our material does come in multiple languages, and our tech support is also handled in multiple languages. If we can't fix it over the phone remotely, we ship a device-- replacement device at no cost to the individual. Next slide.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide Header Text, Refurbishers are a place of Opportunity. Teaming up with organizations providing job readiness, C2K offers intense and varied hands-on training. Bullet points. Text, Warehouse Inventory Management. Shipping and Receiving. Fork-Lift Operation. 24-Foot Truck Operation. Computer Refurbishing Process. Technical Support. Data Sanitation. Reach out to your local refurbishers to partner with their programs! Upon completion, a certificate and letter of recommendation are issued.

(SPEECH)
Now one really interesting thing that's come out of the discussions over the last few years is really in the digital equity sector. How does that translate into jobs? And there's two areas of employment that are ramping up even more so during the last three years than ever before. And that is warehouse and IT. And like Computers 2 Kids , all the refurbishers out there do have job readiness and workforce development partnerships.

We, in San Diego, collaboratively have really been working with the local colleges, the tech schools, but also other areas of addressing needs, i.e., homelessness. We work with all of the organizations in San Diego that are helping individuals transition off the streets and into a stable environment by providing them with on the job training as well. And this is shipping, receiving, warehouse, technical, how to refurbish a computer, how to provide tech support, data sanitation.

And the important thing about this is that the individual does not have to have any knowledge whatsoever of IT or warehouse when they enter into a refurbisher's partner's location. We will teach them everything, and we will provide them that job resume that they need in order to get them into the next level. You need experience to get a job. You need a job to get an experience. And the refurbishers can offer that both to the individual. Next slide.

I'll go ahead and pass it on to SANDAG. And I do have to say this. One of the things that I'm the most proud of about San Diego is the fact that we really are a leader nationally for creating a collaborative environment with the city, with the county, with all the different partners to address training, access, internet. All of that.

And I'm going to do a shout out for digital navigators. Digital navigators are really that key that connect all of the agencies together and provide that real time in-person support to the individual at the level where they need it. And C 2 K has really been a strong proponent about collaboration, and we feel that San Diego really has shown that as a leader in that area. So now on to you, SANDAG.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide Header Text, SANDAG's Outreach Approach. Adoption. Advocacy, Opportunities. Each term has bullet point data. The terms are bracketed under Regional Coordination which includes logos for SANDAG, Caltrans, S C A G, and the City of San Diego. Maiten Mowreader appears in upper right corner. She has dark shoulder length hair and wears a red coat over a black t-shirt.

(SPEECH)
MAITEN MOWREADER: Hi, everyone. I know we just have a few minutes left of the presentation. So I'll be quick but thank you, Cheri. I definitely agree that San Diego has stellar coordination, and SANDAG takes that role of the coordination effort really seriously. We are the San Diego Association of Government. So we are a metropolitan planning organization, and the Council of Governments.

A lot of people when you know SANDAG, you think of transportation, but broadband internet is very important in order to make sure that the future of transportation is successful. But also we're really focused on equity. And so that's why kind of we got involved in this space for all the reasons that we already discussed, during and also facing the challenges through the pandemic.

So during that time, we developed a get connected campaign. All of these resources are available on our website. So you can go ahead and check out our get connected campaign. We are also focusing in adoption on getting more folks enrolled in the Affordable Connectivity program in the San Diego region. I think 450,000 households are eligible for the Affordable Connectivity Program but only 30% of those are actually enrolled in the program. So there's a huge opportunity, and I'm sure that the numbers are similar in your local cities and regions to enroll more folks into the ACP program.

We also focus on outreach and education and coordination with local stakeholders. We actually have kind of a task force. It's called SoCal Transform, where all of the people interested in bridging the digital divide in the Southern California region can participate in our monthly meetings. If you are in the Southern California region or if you're not, you can definitely reach out to me, and we can add you to our invite list. I know we're also pushing to have a NorCal Transform. So just an opportunity for everyone to get together and talk on a more regular occasion.

And then I just want to highlight a few opportunities. I know that you really want to leave this webinar with a few tools that you can really implement in your local institutions. So one of them that I found was the CASF account. So it's funding that is available to universities, to educational institutions for digital literacy training. SANDAG actually was awarded one of these grants. And we are doing outreach to rural communities and tribal communities within the San Diego region, doing digital literacy training. So this is open now. You can look it up and find out if you would be interested in applying.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide Header text, Affordable Connectivity Program, parentheses, A C P.... Image, a woman sits with an infant in her lap and confers with a doctor on a tablet. The woman holds a thermometer. Bullet point text. Monthly discount on Internet service of up to $30 per eligible household. Up to $75 per month discount for households on qualifying Tribal lands, and A one-time discount of $100 towards the purchase of a device, parentheses, laptop, desktop or tablet. www dot A C P Benefit dot org.

(SPEECH)
The other thing is hosting an ACP enrollment event, and actually maybe go to the next slide, Kelly, so we can just kind of go over what ACP is, and then I can talk a little bit about the enrollment event that we just held at the San Diego College of Continuing Education. So we talked about this a little bit, but the Affordable Connectivity Program is discounted internet for eligible folks. And we hosted an ACP enrollment event at the San Diego College of Continuing Education on April 20th, and it's really not that difficult to do. So I would encourage all of you, if you have the space, if you have the bandwidth to do this, you can kind of have these enrollment events with your students to make sure that they are aware of this opportunity.

And when folks are evaluating whether they're going to pay for groceries or internet, obviously, they're going to pay for their groceries. But there is this opportunity for people to get a discounted rate on their internet. And also the California Emerging Technology Fund, we can also connect you to TETF. They have kind of readymade invitations and resources. So you don't have to reinvent the wheel. You can use what they have in order to get the word out on your event. And we were able to enroll 54 families into this ACP program, so the impact is really great. So we would really encourage you all to host an event, if you have the ability. The next slide.

The other thing that I really encourage you all to participate in, we mentioned that there's a lot of funding coming down from the state and federal levels. And right now, the state of California is putting together the State Digital Equity Plan, and they're holding in-person workshops throughout the whole state of California. If you don't see your region on here, it may be that the event already passed. But the ones that are coming up are here on the screen.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide Text, Make Your Voice Heard! Participate in a State Digital Equity Planning Workshop near you and help your community get online. Broadband for all dot c d t dot c a dot gov. Upcoming workshops! San Jose, Friday, May 5. Sacramento, Thursday, May 11. Northern Sierra, Friday, May 12. Inland Empire, Tuesday, May 16. Los Angeles, Friday, May 19. Long Beach, Saturday, May 20. Orange County, Wednesday, May 24. Tuolomne, Tuesday, May 30. Santa Maria, Thursday, June 1. Seaside, Friday, June 2. Bay Area, Thursday, June 8.

(SPEECH)
So if you are able to attend in person, we will leave the links in this presentation so you can kind of enroll or sign up for the event. Hopefully, you can all attend. It's a really unique opportunity to shape what the state digital equity plan is going to look like. And we talk about all the different priority populations, and you can give your feedback based on your experience, and also different outcome areas, including education. So I think that your voices would be so critical in these events. And I really encourage you to go.

If you can't go there's a DEEM tool that you see at the bottom of the screen that you can kind of fill out the online version of this. But this is a really unique opportunity, and hopefully, you could take advantage of it. Here coming up in the next few weeks actually. I guess I'll leave it at that.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide Header text, Resources. Web links are provided. Category One, text, Resources & Examples of Public/Nonprofit Digital Equity Efforts. National Digital Inclusion Alliance. Get Connected California. Get Connected San Diego. S D Access 4 All. Computers 2 Kids. Digitunity. C A Refurbishers. Category Two, Local Data. SANDAG Story Map Digital Divide. Category Three. Policy. State. The California Department of Technology Broadband Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, parentheses, I I J A, developing a California State Digital Equity Plan. Federal COVs Act.

(SPEECH)
I know we have our resources page. Kelly, I don't know if you wanted to go over that one.

KELLY HENWOOD: I think we're running out of time, so I'm going to turn it back over to Veronica. But I want to thank all the San Diego folks for being part of this presentation. And we're really talking about what we're doing in San Diego, but I think there are ways and things probably happening in your areas and ways that you might be able to make some similar connections. And if you want to talk further, please get a hold of us, and we will make sure that this PowerPoint is available once it passes 508 compliance. So I'll turn it back over to Veronica. Thank you.

VERONICA PARKER: All right. So thank you so much, the SANDAG team and San Diego Consortia. So with that, we are going to move quickly into Byte Back so, if I could have Chrissie Powell start to share her screen. I don't know, Kelly, you might have to stop sharing? Thank you so much. And then we'll turn it on over to Chrissie and your team.

(DESCRIPTION)
Chrissie appears in the top right corner. She has short dark hair and wears a green shirt.

(SPEECH)
CHRISSIE POWELL: Awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. I'm going to try to fly through this for the sake of time. So just a bit about Byte Back. Of course, we're focused on digital literacy and adult learners. I wanted to start off by really speaking to when we're talking adult learners, adult education, we kind of have to take it back to high school, to grade school.

So looking at these stats, back in 1994, only 35% of public schools had internet access and only 3% had instructional room. So only 3% had actual computers in the classrooms. Not until 2001 was that about 99% of schools had internet access and almost 90% had actually computers in their classrooms.

(DESCRIPTION)
Statistic link, https://n c e s dot e d dot gov slash pubs 2002 slash internet slash 3 dot a s p. Footer text. Byte Back, byte is spelled with a y. 899 North Capitol Street NorthEast. Suite 850. Washington DC, 20002. Phone, 202-529-3395. Email, info@byteback.org. www.byteback.org.

(SPEECH)
So when you're thinking about this, if you graduated high school prior to 2001, chances are that you did not have-- that you didn't grow up with computers. You didn't have that instruction-- that classroom instruction like our kids have today, where computers are in every classroom. And this really speaks to the digital skills gap when it comes to our adult learners. Particularly our older adults, but not just our older adults. Our adults in their 50s, their 40s, and even '30s are definitely affected by the lack of digital skills.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide shows three middle aged people using tablets. Text, quote, I felt so lost in this modern world of technology. Text, Health, Workforce, Education. Logo, Byte Back.

(SPEECH)
So digital literacy is key. I heard some great stats from National Skills Coalition, in particular, around digital literacy. Digital literacy is-- literally, it affects every aspect of a human's life, as you all know, health, workforce, and education.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide graphics with bullet points. A cross for Health category. A person presenting for others for Education category. A toolbox for Workforce category.

(SPEECH)
Health digital literacy is now-- it's been deemed a social determinant of health. So because it's a social determinant of health, we know that the lack of digital literacy skills affects every aspect of a human's life.

And digital literacy skills are a human right today to even be able to participate in everyday life, our community members must have the skills. Once they're connected, and they have a device, they must have the skills to be able to utilize a device. Health. It affects our health, of course, you all know with the COVID, and that really shed a huge spotlight on the digital divide, telemedicine, social services, accessing financial health. Online banking, for instance. As far as workforce, job searching, applications, resume building, we went through this earlier with some of our other colleagues who spoke.

And of course, education. The GED exam is strictly online now. Once upon a time it was a paper exam. It's strictly online. E-learning, virtual classes, accessing online resources, you all know. Health education workforce, digital literacy affects every aspect of a person-- of an adult's life.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide Header Text, What Can I Do? Let's move the needle. Do nothing and hope for the best. Train existing internal staff. Community Library. Partner with digital literacy org.

(SPEECH)
So what happens oftentimes, and I think it's really great since COVID happened, is our CBOs, our community based organizations, were forced to go virtual. Byte Back including just about, if not every other community based organization, and it really forced us to look at other alternate options for adult learners. And what can you do? What can you do? And of course, you can do nothing.

And everyone here is doing something, so we don't fall into that category. We can train our existing staff. So you'll have libraries. You have colleges and universities. You have various organizations who are training their staff to be digital navigators. They're training their staff to provide digital skills training to community members, which is a great approach.

However, something that I come across often is that our community partners, our libraries, our schools, our universities, our community colleges, the internal staff simply do not have the capacity to be able to support community members with digital skills training because they're focusing particularly, our adult education, our ABE, particularly our adult basic education organizations simply don't have the capacity to do this.

So what we have done at Byte Back is we partner with various CBOs, including ABE organizations, libraries, colleges, universities, and various nonprofits, workforce development nonprofits, and we actually go on site. We partner with them, and we provide our programs, including digital literacy skills training, including our digital navigators program, which I will go to in a bit.

But a bit about Byte Back. We are actually 25 years. We have been focused on digital skills training. We are celebrating 26 years this year, and our focus is closing the digital divide by providing under-resourced communities. So we're focused on our low income Byte Back communities and providing that equitable pathway into the digital economy.

So while our focus is digital skills training, particularly digital literacy, we're also huge advocates. So we do a lot of advocacy around policy, reform, and policy recommendations around digital equity. And we have a workforce development component where we do IT certs, including A+, Net+, Security+ as well as administrative certs using technology such as Microsoft Office Specialist certifications. Always free trainings for our community members, but digital literacy is our heart and soul.

We've been doing this for over 25 years, and we know that there are tens and thousands of adults in each city that do not know how to power on a computer, that do not know how to use a mouse, that do not know how to navigate the internet. And again we focus on upskilling adults. Our focus has always been adults.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text, Vision. We envision a world where all individuals and communities can fully participate in our digital society, democracy and economy. New slide header text, Upskilling with Digital Skills. Digital literacy skills are the bridge to work, health and education. Who We Serve.

(SPEECH)
64% of the community members we serve are in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. That doesn't leave out our older adults. I think the oldest community member we have supported has been about 85 years old. So we might have an 85-year-old, and we might have an 18-year-old. So it's a really great as far as inter-gen and focusing on adults of all ages. Byte Back, 90% of our community members are people of color, 66% women, 80% unemployed, and the additional are underemployed, and predominantly with no college degree. So we're really focused on our underserved, under-resourced communities.

Again, our in-person-- I think somebody mentioned this earlier, the importance of in-person cohort model. Again, we've been doing this a long time. We are experts when it comes to the digital literacy training and digital skills training for adults. So we have learned best practices and in-person is an invaluable benefit to our adults who have little to no digital skills.

We know that it improves their experience. We know that it reduces attrition, and it promotes-- increases the likelihood of successful outcomes. So having that in-person peer cohort, where you have the peer motivation, you have the in-person coach or instructor is really a value add to our adults who have those little to no digital skills.

Now I mentioned the different tracks that we offer. We do workforce development as well. But as far as digital literacy is concerned, we have two programs that we focus on. We have our computer foundations program, and we have our 360 digital navigators program. Our computer foundations program, I'll go into that first, is a really exciting program, and it's focused on digital literacy.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text, As technology becomes more integrated into society, knowing how to operate a computer and navigate the internet is necessary to complete many day-to-day tasks. This class will develop digital literacy and enable students to use computers for a variety of functions. Upon course completion, students will be able to execute the following tasks. Use the mouse to left-click, right-click, double-click, scroll and click and drag. Identify keys on the keyboard and improve typing speed and accuracy. Recognize and manipulate windows, parentheses, resize, move, and open from taskbar. Identify and open web browsers and navigate the internet. Accessing benefits like the Affordable Connectivity Program, parentheses, A C P...Navigating telehealth and online banking. Visit websites and use search engines to find trustworthy information. Use File Explorer to find, organize and save files to the computer. Use a flash drive to store, organize and retrieve files. Send and receive emails and email attachments and download files. Cut/Copy and Paste and format text in Microsoft Word.

(SPEECH)
Our Computer Foundations 1 is 24 hours of instruction, and it is 24 hours intentionally. I oftentimes have community partners say, you know, Chrissie, can't Byte Back just come and do like a one off workshop with our community members? And the answer is it doesn't work that way.

When you're working with adults, who are new to the digital world, they not only need to build the skills, but they have to build the confidence to be able to successfully navigate the digital world. We know that fear is a huge, huge, huge issue in our communities around going online and feeling comfortable navigating on a computer.

So we have learned over the years that 24 hours is what it takes to take an adult with little to no digital skills and to have them build that confidence in the skills to be able to successfully navigate the digital world. In our Computer Foundations 1, we are starting at the basics.

Again, how to power on a computer, how to use a mouse, how to get typing or the keyboard. What is the World Wide Web? How to safely navigate, email etiquette, how to attach a file to an email, managing files. We go into online banking. We go into telemedicine. We go into the Affordable Connectivity Program and that application, and other amazing resources.

Using a flash drive, you all copy and paste the very basics. We start from 0, and we move them into confidence. And that 24 hours is-- we find that 90% of our community members after completing 24 hours of Computer Foundations 1, they then have the independence to be able to navigate the world of the digital world themselves.

We also have Computer Foundations 2, which is more so for our community members who have completed Foundations 1. They really want computer foundations and approach or a lens that is focused on professionalism. So Foundations 2 really focuses on Microsoft Office. We go into Google Doc, of course, and navigating other office tools and online conferencing. We go in more into managing files.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text, As technology becomes more integrated into society, knowing how to operate a computer and navigate the internet is necessary to complete many day-to-day tasks. This class will develop digital literacy and enable students to use computers for a variety of functions. Upon course completion, students will be able to execute the following tasks. Identify, open, create, save and edit documents in Word. Use tools on Ribbon to edit and format Word documents. Indentify, open, create, save and edit sheets in Excel. Input and format data in Excel. Identify, open, create, save and edit presentations in PowerPoint. Navigating office tools: Google Drive, Slack, Zoom, Teams. Deep dive into managing files. Send and receive emails and email attachments and download files.

(SPEECH)
We go into a deep dive into managing files rather. But our Foundations 2 is really for those who want to go into the workforce, who are in the workforce, who may have the admin job, or a small business owners as well. So our computer foundations, again, is for our adults who want to independently navigate the digital world.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text, Digital Navigators. www.ByteBack.org/DigitalNavigators.

(SPEECH)
Another program that we have, and I'm so excited that digital navigators is a focus today. It is a keyword. NDIA really popularized the term digital navigators. And for us, because we are experts as far as curriculum building specific to adult learning, we know that we needed to build something very specific to our learners new to the digital world.

So again what are 360 digital navigators? It is our community-2-community approach. Digital navigators is a community-to-community approach. Of course, equipping digital navigators with skills, resources, and knowledge necessary to support fellow community members.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide text, Through this initiative, we will certify hundreds of direct service workers as Byte Back 360 Digital Navigators and support thousands of community members!

(SPEECH)
So what we are doing at Byte Back, we're actually partnering with community based organizations. We are training. They may already have a digital Navigator program. We've partnered with libraries, with universities. We're partnering with other community based organizations. Some may already have digital navigators, and we actually train their digital navigators. I'm going to circle back to that as to why we are training digital navigators.

But the second part to that is we are actually training staff members. Direct service workers, so case managers, community outreach specialists. Anyone working directly with community members, we are partnering with those orgs. We're training their team members to be 360 digital navigators. So that they have the skills, the tools, the resources to support the community members with digital tasks. And we know that they play a critical, critical role in this as well.

So the reason why we are training already existing digital navigators as a part of this model is because in our expertise and our curriculum building, we focus on two things.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide Header text, Training Outline. Digital Navigators 101: This 4 hour training teaches the fundamentals of adult learning science, effective teaching strategies, and how to work with someone new to the digital world. This training includes a 1 to 2 hour-post-training check-in to discuss challenges faced while in the community and best practices learned.

(SPEECH)
The first part that we focus on is adult learning sciences. Teaching effective strategies around adult learning sciences. How to work with someone new to the digital world.

And this focus is on learning theory basics, adult education, evidence based practices. We really dive into the pedagogical emphasis, if you will, or focus on teaching adults new to the digital world. We find that many digital Navigator programs are great, and they're doing great work, but they don't have that teaching lens. So we really focus on that adult learning training component.

And the second part to that, we really focus on stimulating digital literacy training. So we are also training the digital Navigator to be able to teach digital literacy skills to community members. So when they're in that session supporting community members with digital tasks, they not only have the tools around adult learning sciences, but they also are being equipped with the basics of computer safety, navigating the internet, email, and managing computer files, Microsoft Office, of course, navigating resources,

ACP. We're walking the digital navigators through step-by-step ACP, the application process, the resources that they need. We're providing them with those resources as well. So we are really taking this 12 hours. 4 hours and 8 hours is 12 hours in total, and equipping our digital navigators with everything that they need to then go support their community members with digital tasks. Whatever those tasks may be.

(DESCRIPTION)
Additional Second part features. Text, Telehealth and financial/banking applications. Common workplace tools like Google Docs, Zoom and Slack.

(SPEECH)
So we are in Sacramento, of course, is our focus in California. We are also in Washington DC, we're in Baltimore, we're in Detroit, in Miami, which is really exciting. But we are always happy and willing to partner with community based organizations, whether it be in Sacramento or other cities across the state.

Whether they want digital literacy skills training, which is, again a more independent sustainable approach or whether they want digital Navigator training, where we're training either their team members, your team members, your teachers as digital navigators, or-- the digital Navigator model is interesting because it is an immediate solution to digital skills divide. It helps community members immediately with tasks that they need done right now.

The benefit of that is that community members receive that service at that moment. However, the downside to it is that we are not necessarily pouring into the community members to give them the sustainability, the skills to sustain their own independence navigating the digital world. That's where we come in and partner also with the organization and do the digital literacy, our Computer Foundations training, which is that 24 hour training.

So in a nutshell, that is who we are, Byte Back, and we are excited to be a part of the Sacramento community and excited to partner with other community based organizations both on our digital Navigator training, as well as our digital literacy Computer Foundations training. So thank you so much. I'll pass it back to you all.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text, Chrissie Powell, Chief Growth & Impact Officer. C Powell @ byte back dot org.

(SPEECH)
VERONICA PARKER: All right. Thank you, Chrissie, for letting us know what Byte Back is up to and what you all have to offer our California Adult Education programs. So now, we will move into our segment from our colleague, Anthony Burik, of the Outreach and Technical Assistance Network. Anthony?

(DESCRIPTION)
Anthony has a headset and wears a light toned button down shirt.

(SPEECH)
ANTHONY BURIK: Great. Thank you so much, Veronica. And thanks, everyone, for your information. I feel like we probably could just stop right now. We've gotten so much information, but let me give you a few more things in the last minutes here.

So my name is Anthony Burik. I'm the coordinator for distance learning projects at OTAN. OTAN is the Outreach and Technical Assistance Network. We are a state leadership project for adult education in California. So we basically do technology training for adult educators around the state, and we've been doing it now for over 30 years.

So we're excited to keep doing the work that needs to get done in the digital space for adult educators who really are thinking about how to use technology in their classroom, how to bring that technology training to their students, their programs and their communities.

So let me share my screen here. OK. So I just wanted to talk about a couple of things, if you're not already familiar with them and hopefully, this will be coming up. So hopefully, you see this slide that I'm showing here on the California Adult Education digital learning guidance. This is a document that's been available since last fall. And I do have a bit.ly link there on the screen. You can go ahead and pop that into your browser to open up the guidance document.

(DESCRIPTION)
Link, bit dot l y slash C A E D L G.

(SPEECH)
So this is a document that a number of agencies worked on last year under the direction of CDE and the Chancellor's Office to basically sort of put together a guidance document on digital learning that would bring in all the different topics that have to do with digital learning. And a lot of them actually have been mentioned today. So the way that this guidance document is organized is there is a chapter 1. It is the introduction to the guidance. But the heart of the guidance is the following six chapters, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

And actually chapter 2, which is the first chapter, does talk about equity and access. And it covers the topics that were mentioned today by the different presenters. So we talk about devices. We talk about connectivity. We talk about digital literacy skills. We also talk about accessibility. And we talk about UDL or universal design for learning, which is one thing that we hope that teachers will take a look at in terms of how to organize their instruction, thinking about how to reach all learners, not just with technology, but also with the learning as well.

And then there are other chapters, but the nice thing about the guidance document is we really encourage folks to start with chapter 2, with the equity chapter, and think about equity and access topics as you're moving through the rest of the guidance. So when it comes to thinking about instructional models or how to use technology in your classrooms and in your programs, you're always reflecting back on equity and access. And that's sort of like an essential piece of your training, right?

So you can design the most beautiful blended learning classroom, but if your students don't have access to devices, or they're not up on their skills, that's going to be a real challenge in terms of implementation. But the idea with the guidance document is to really always be thinking about equity topics as you're moving through the various topics that are covered in the remainder of the guidance. So I encourage folks to take a look at that.

(DESCRIPTION)
Additional Chapter Text, Chapter 3, Foundations of Adult Education and Digital Learning, Chapter 4, Designing Flexible Learning Environments. Chapter 5, Adopting Models that Work. Chapter 6, Data-Driven Instruction and Digital Assessments. Chapter 7, Fostering Healthy, Equitable, and Inclusive Digital Communities.

(SPEECH)
We actually, at OTAN, we are working with ISTE to build out some teaching resources that reflect on or they referred to guidance topics. So those are in production. We hope to have those available maybe by the beginning of the next school year.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide Text, Student Technology Intake Survey, parentheses, D L G Chapter 2, Understanding Learner's Needs. Image of Survey template.

(SPEECH)
So one of the things that's actually mentioned in chapter 2 is the need to really understand your learners and where they're coming from. And I love the reference to the three-legged stool that everyone's been talking about. And so to almost kind of take a step back, before you actually try to sit on the stool, is you need to be able to know where your learners are.

And so one of the resources that we have available is the student technology intake survey. Many of you who work at adult education agencies in California are familiar with this survey. It's actually been around for a number of years. It's gone through some transitions, and we're actually planning an updated version to be available in the '23-'24 school year. But one of the-- let me just-- I wanted to just bring us to the survey page just for a second here.

So the survey is available on the CAEP TAP website. And just a couple of things to note here. Again, kind of talking about equity and access issues, one is, if you don't happen to have a computer, there is a PDF paper version that you can print out and share with your students. You might actually use it with your students before they go into the lab and do the survey just so you can help them understand the definitions and kind of what is the data that we're looking for.

Another nice thing about this particular survey is that if you actually go to the very top of the page, the select language button or dropdown at the top of the page. So for students who maybe English is not their first language or English is one of their languages, but maybe not their native language, they might be able to actually take the survey in their own native language.

So we want to be able to get the data from students to really understand where our student population is. And I think with that data in hand, it really helps us to move forward on the planning on devices, connectivity, and digital skills training. So sort of understand what to focus on.

So that survey is actually available on the CAEP TAP website. And typically, an adult school or adult ed agency will have its students fill out the survey. And then you can work with CAEP TAP and OTAN to get those survey results sent to you, so that you can use that information and data in your planning.

(DESCRIPTION)
Slide Header Text, Digital Literacy Assessment, parentheses, D L G Chapter 6. Logo, NORTHSTAR Digital Literacy. Three panels. First panel text, Essential Computer Skills. Basic Computer Skills. Internet Basics. Using Email. Windows. Mac O S... Second Panel text. Essential Software Skills. Microsoft Word. Microsoft Excel. Microsoft Power Point. Google Docs. Third Panel text, Using Technology in Daily Life. Social Media. Information Literacy. Career Search Skills. Accessing TeleHealth appointments. Your digital footprint. Supporting K through 12 Distance Learning.

(SPEECH)
The other thing that I wanted to talk about today is our partnership with Northstar Digital Literacy. So many of you know about Northstar Digital Literacy. Basically, Northstar, for many years, has created a digital literacy assessment, which is meant to really help, again, understand where your students are in terms of their digital skills. Whether they're at the beginning of the scale or beginning of this-- end of the spectrum, maybe somewhere in the middle of the spectrum or maybe they do have more advanced skills, but they're looking to really enhance their skills for the workplace or for post-secondary opportunities.

So we've worked with Northstar sort of off and on through the years, but we actually have, right now, a pilot program with Northstar. So anybody can go to the Northstar website and do their assessments, their online assessments. You can take an assessment in any one of the topics that you see here on the screen, whether it's an essential computer skills assessment or an essential software skills assessment or something a little bit more advanced using technology in daily life-- one of their assessments.

So anybody actually can go to the Northstar website and take those assessments for free. Once you complete the assessment, you'll get sort of a basic results page back. So this can help you figure out where are the gaps that you need to close in terms of your understanding of any one of these topics.

Our particular pilot program at the moment with Northstar is OTAN-- well, let me step back for a second. So an adult education agency actually can pay an annual subscription fee to become a Northstar location. And what that means is that-- let me go to the next screen here-- is you actually have access to a number of things that are available on the Northstar website. So the first is that, again, those assessments are available, but now you can get actual score reports-- more detailed score reports.

And then if you pass the assessments, you actually can earn a badge that you can post on your, for example, if you have a digital portfolio or maybe if you have a LinkedIn Learning profile-- a LinkedIn profile, you can add the badge to your LinkedIn profile. You can add it to your email address. So it's a way to indicate your ability in any one of the topics.

But then Northstar over the years recently have-- they've been doing some work on creating a digital skills curriculum. And so when you are Northstar location, you have access to that curriculum. And so schools are trying to figure out how to use the curricular materials either, for example, like in a digital skills training class or maybe as a part of their regular program instruction. So in their ESL program, they're trying to figure out how to integrate ESL content along with digital skills training. Put those two things together. So there are some suggestions in the online curriculum how to do that.

And then the other thing that's available through the Northstar location subscription is an online learning platform. So, again, students can use this platform synchronously or asynchronously. It's really meant to meet the students where they are. It covers the same topics that are covered in the sort of overall Northstar platform.

So our partnership, again, with Northstar is to basically identify adult education agencies around the state and cover the cost of the Northstar location during the pilot program time. And so really, the intent of this pilot is for these agencies around the state to be able to take a look at the Northstar resources, share them with their students, use them in their classes. Maybe in their distance learning programs, if they have those at their schools.

And then also for them to have the opportunity to try this out, think about how to use Northstar in their communities. And then once the pilot program is available, we will work with those agencies to see about if they would like to continue with Northstar, how they can get that kind of seamlessly-- make that seamless transition after the pilot program is done.

So this is one of the things that OTAN has done over the years. We work with vendors and other programs that are out there to create these pilot opportunities for adult education agencies around the state so that they have the opportunity to think about how to intentionally integrate technology into the programs and services that they are offering their students and their communities. So this is sort of one of our recent examples of a pilot that we've been doing now for a number of years.

So I think with that, I'm going to turn it back over to Veronica and Mandilee to take us to the last part of our presentation today. Thank you.

VERONICA PARKER: All right. Thank you so much, Anthony. We are at time. But before we close, we do still have our presenters on the line. So we would like to offer you all a couple of minutes to ask questions if you have them. So anyone want to come off mute before we do our formal closing? Anyone have any burning questions that they like to ask any of our presenters who are still with us?

Right, I'm not hearing anything. And all of the questions that were in the chat have been addressed. I see links to upcoming events, as well as links to resources that have been presented during today's session. So thank you all for sharing those resources. We hope that everyone finds them useful. Again, not seeing anything, so I think I'll move forward with our formal closing.

Again, thank you, everyone. Chrissie and team members from Byte Back, as well as Kelly Henwood and your colleagues out in San Diego, as well as Anthony. Thank you all very much for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and how you are serving communities as well as adult learners. We wholeheartedly appreciate all of you for being with us this afternoon and partnering with us to get this information out.

Everyone who attended, again, thank you all for your time and your engagement in this afternoon session. We truly, truly hope that you have found some valuable information and/or resources that you'll be able to share with your educators at the local level, as well as support your learners.

Any questions that you all have, definitely feel free to contact TAP. Some of our presenters have shared their contact information, which we've shared in the chat. So if you'd like to connect with them in the future, please be sure to do so. We are going to continue this conversation next Wednesday, May 10, during our peer learning circle. And again, that is a lightly facilitated discussion where you all will be able to engage with one another on how you can move forward with supporting learners as it relates to closing the digital divide.

So if you haven't done so already, please be sure to register for that session. That is an hour session from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM. And we have provided a Google form where you're able to submit questions that you may have. And we'll work through those questions during that particular session.

So again, thank you all very much for your time and your engagement this afternoon. We are happy to partner with you all. And we look forward to seeing you next week. So thank you, everyone. Have a great day.

MANDILEE GONZALEZ: Bye, everyone. Thank you.