3b - Digital Equity Town Hall — original pdf

Backup

Digital Equity & Inclusion Townhall Summary Report - Part I Community Technology & Telecommunications Commission, City of Austin Nehemiah Pitts III, Commission Chair Digital Equity & Inclusion Townhall w/ CTTC On October 9th, 2021 Mission Capital and the Community Technology & Telecommunications Commission hosted a Digital Equity & Inclusion Townhall. Serving as a culminating portion of Digital Inclusion Week 2021 programming and part of our CTTC 2019 - 2020 Work Plan to host special conversations capturing lived experience, this event included a variety of Austin residents receiving services, policymakers, and the community leaders of local nonprofits. As reflected by last years work, the global COVID-19 pandemic has necessarily elevated the importance of Digital Equity and Inclusion conversations for affected communities and the leaders that serve them. The purpose of this convening was to allow Austin citizens the opportunity to directly communicate their lived experiences and persistent challenges with accessing internet-enabled devices and equitable broadband internet today. Following on previous meetings with local residents, community leaders, organizations, city staff, and local Internet Service Providers (ISPs), these citizen accounts and collaboration stories will provide “challenge data points” for cataloging and potential resolution in Part II of this Summary Report. Digital Equity & Inclusion Townhall Speakers Community Entities w/Staff & Clients United Way of Greater Austin Paola Silvestre - Director of Family Pathways Liliana Fuentes Lugo - Client Estefani Garcia - Client Viridiana Hernandez - Client Raul Alvarez Isabel Torres - Client Deja Gilline Davis - Client Housing Authority of the City of Austin & Austin Pathways Catherine Crago - Head of Strategic Initiatives Lupe Garcia - Smart City Ambassador/Client Irene Ensley - VP of Residents Council/Client Ana Clerc - Google Program Adminstrator Ashlee Johnson - ACC IT Intern Digital Equity & Inclusion Townhall Ecosystem Participants CTTC Commissioners Nehemiah Pitts III, Commission Chair - District #1 Steven Apodaca - District #2 - - - Maxine Eiland - District #7 Telecommunications and Regulatory Affairs Office (TARA) - Khotan Harmon, 2021 Digital Inclusion Fellow Elected Officials/Staff Nonprofit Co-Hosts - Mayor Pro-Tem Natashia Harper-Madison - District #1 - - Reyda Taylor, PHD, Senior Consultant Data & Evaluation Chelsea Hartness, Membership Manager Discuss this report and possible action at next meeting. Actions may include voting to collaborate on the creation of one or more of the following: 1.) Client Follow Up 2.) Program Ideation & Collaboration w/APL, HACA, and United Way to start Next Steps?