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Digital Equity IT

Increase access to and effective use of technological devices and programs among communities experiencing barriers in the Rochester area. To do this, we will generate immediate and longer-term solutions related to the following barriers to access: 1) technological devices/hardware with appropriate software installed (computers and tablets); 2) affordable, reliable internet; and 3) culturally appropriate education to support digital literacy.

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This project is in Concept Phase.

  • Please scroll the following to view Beam's understanding of the project's strategy, indicators, expected results, and monitored metrics.
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Collaborators, Project Type, Impacts, Related Projects

 

Collaborators 

Lead Organization: Rochester Area Nonprofit Consortium

Contact: Brooke Carlson ; Email: TBD ; Phone: TBD

Known/Likely Collaborators: County of Olmsted, MN ; Diversity Council ; Families First (Fomerly: Child Care Resource and Referral) ; IMAA ; OpenBeam ; Rochester Area Foundation ; Rochester Area Nonprofit Consortium ; Rochester Public Library ; Rochester's Adult Literacy Program (Hawthorne Education Center)

Potential Collaborators: Ability Building Center ; Collider Foundation ; ROCHESTER AREA YOUTH TECH FOUNDATION ; Rochester Community & Technical College ; Winona State Rochester

Related Projects

Collider Inclusion Open Entrepreneur Ecosystem Navigator ; Commitment to Action for Racial Justice project ; Developing and Executing on Cradle to Career Plan ; Diversity Council Education Equity Plan ; Non-profit Consortium Buildout ; Partcipation in DEED's Digital Opportunity Plan

Impacts 

Major Impact:  Technology Enablement

PlanScape Impacts :

Level 1: Children & Youth, Computer Literacy, Diversity and Inclusion, Education, OpenBeam, Technology Enablement

Level 2: Education, Education, C2C: Prenatal-K Development, C2C: Kindergarten Readiness, C2C: 3rd Grade Reading, C2C: 8th Grade Math

DMC Impacts:

Community Health Impacts:

Type of Project

Planning  

 

 

Detailed Description

BACKGROUND


Key Program Components:
■ Initial Participants: Immigrant and refugee families or other families receiving public benefits with young children. Quickly expand to older adults as funding is secured through FSR.
■ Centralized Help Desk and Training: To streamline the delivery of tech support as residents build their computer literacy, RPL will be the centralized “help desk” for program participants. RPL will also work with RAFL staff as well as IMAA’s cultural consultants to provide training to partner organization staff to support consistent program delivery.
■ Community ”Hubs”: The hubs, which include RAFL, IMAA, Families First, FSR and 125 Live, will initially be virtual and become physical locations throughout the community. Each will: leverage their trusted relationships to reach people experiencing barriers, manage and loan out devices, ensure recipients are connected to appropriate educational opportunities, and be the first line of tech support for inquiring participants before directing to RPL for additional support.
■ Multiple Internet Solutions: There is an immediate need for creative solutions to increase internet access, such as connecting to existing hotspots or
deploying new ones throughout the community (e.g. County, City, Rochester Public School, and hub buildings). Discussions are already underway regarding longer-term solutions which will require partnerships with internet service or wireless providers, the City, and Rochester Public Utilities

 

Theory of Change

 

 

 

 

 

 

Metrics
Unknown

 


 

Last modified by allnode on 2023/09/11
Created by support on 2020/06/30

 

 

 

Site Information
Project Phase Definitions
The following defines the various project phases:
  1. Available - a product, program or service is in production
  2. Develop - program or application is being developed
  3. Plan - idea is solid, stakeholders are identified, and there is strong commitment to go forward from all parties.
  4. Concept Phase - idea scoped out with enough details to give an early sizing and/or to build a proof of concept
    demonstration
  5. Pre-concept Phase - an early idea or a requirement.
About Beam

Community Beam (dmcbeam.org) is a registry of private and public resources (organizations, projects, initiatives, programs) that underpin economic and social developments of greater Rochester:

  • For the commercial sector, we tend to register startup activities (new companies and new commercial projects) that bring diversification and high-impact opportunities to the area.
  • For the non-profit sector, we wish to shine light on all the organizations and services that otherwise labor under relative obscurity.
  • Our hope is that dmcbeam.org will encourage cross-sector collaborations and creative solutions.

While there are a number of registries in the community, dmcbeam.org's  distinct value is to pilot a database with a data structure and categorizations that answer the questions such as: What organizations or projects/programs in our community that have purported relevance with some of the over-arching focuses put forward by initiatives such as DMC, J2G and Health Improvements?

This database could be used as one of the ways to explore the capacities of the community. If you are someone on an exploratory journey to learn about the greater Rochester community. dmcbeam.org could be an interesting first step.

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