This post is a part of our Pursuing Racial Justice and Equity series, which highlights the courageous and vital work happening across our Google Fiber and Google Fiber Webpass cities to fight systemic racism and create more just communities where everyone has the opportunity and the ability to thrive.

United Way of the Greater Triangle (UWGT) has the bold mission to eradicate poverty and increase social mobility through the power of partnerships. With that mission, we serve a four county region in North Carolina in which more than 200,000 residents experience poverty every day.

For 133 years, United Ways across the country have served those crushed under the weight of impoverished environments. That service has looked, felt, and sounded like charity: direct social services in response to existing, immediate needs. Yet the issues have not gone away; they have gotten worse and that’s especially true for Black and brown communities.

The next 133 years demand more. In a time when everyone is making public statements about their stance on race in this country, we believe that “well done is better than well said.” United Way of the Greater Triangle is up to the challenge to act. We believe in:

• An orientation to justice where we look for solutions that attack the root causes and don’t just deal with the effects of poverty.



• A re-imagination of philanthropy where authentic partnerships with marginalized communities mean they retain the right to design the solutions for their lives rather than have approaches imposed on them.



• An acknowledgment that the burden of poverty does not rest on the shoulders of the impoverished but on the systems with which they interact and the people that hold those systems up.



• An anti-racism community.

The “what” won’t change. We have known the key levers of poverty for decades: early childhood care and education, literacy, high school graduation, career readiness, affordable housing, mental health, and food.



United Way of the Greater Triangle’s investment strategy honors the importance of these focus areas by dedicating two of the three core pillars of our work to supporting children and parents from Cradle to Career and acknowledging that safe and affordable housing, access to nutritious meals, and homes free of violence and substance abuse lead to Healthy Families.

The third leg of our community impact strategy, Equity In Leadership, promises to empower marginalized leaders, amplify the stories of community that celebrate strength and don’t exploit deficits, and prepare the entire community for the full inclusion and success of people of color and women. Shout out to Google Fiber for their support of our initial grant-making investment in this pillar: 10 To Watch.

The positioning of equity as a stand-alone pillar, in the center of our strategy, also means that equity sends tentacles into our Cradle to Career and Healthy Families strategy. That looks like:

• Pulling apart community level data connected to the key levers of poverty to focus our work on the parts of our community that are suffering the most.



• Critically analyzing our own funding portfolio and internal operations through an equity lens. Through that same framework, we’re building and implementing new policies, procedures, and grant-making processes.



• Asking our nonprofit partners equity-centered questions, not as a punitive measure, but as a way to determine how UWGT can leverage its assets to support and further the equity journey of our entire region.

Our equity lens tells us where disparities exist. Our anti-racism lens tells us why. With the recent launch of the Anti-Racism Community Fund (with support from partners like Google Fiber), United Way of the Greater Triangle continues its evolution into becoming the organization that our community needs now and in the future. We cannot live our mission and the Triangle cannot live into its desire to be anti-poverty without being an anti-racism community.

The Anti-Racism Community Fund will:

• Invest in the leadership development and ideas of local community leaders.



• Invest in scalable, anti-racism solutions aimed at systems perpetuating systemic racism.



• Invest in the training, education, and awareness building that increases the capacity of the entire community be anti-racist.

A fundraising campaign alone is not enough to achieve the long-term, sustainable results we need. United Way of the Greater Triangle is proud to join the existing anti-racism movement, providing visibility to our audience and access to our platforms, adding to a narrative campaign that engages the community in solution oriented conversations about race, changes interpersonal interactions and shifts decision making to support the inevitable success of the entire community.

No matter where you are when you read this, you have the opportunity to take your next step in this movement. “Google” anti-racism and learn about the movement. Identify the leaders in your area that are leading the movement. Ask your local United Way about how equity is shifting the way they show up in community. Boldly adjust your personal or organizational mission and focus to be who your community needs you to be.

Posted by Nick Allen, Chief Program Officer, United Way of the Greater Triangle



~~~


Author: Nick Allen


Title: Chief Program Officer, United Way of the Greater Triangle


category: community_impact

This post is a part of our Pursuing Racial Justice and Equity series, which we kicked off last week. This series highlights the courageous and vital work happening across our Google Fiber and Google Fiber Webpass cities to fight systemic racism and create more just communities where everyone has the opportunity and the ability to thrive. Our first post comes to us from Joi Imobhio, Political Director for the Workers Center for Racial Justice in Chicago.



At the Workers Center for Racial Justice (WCRJ) in Chicago, our work begins with organizing our community: majority-Black neighborhoods where residents experience ongoing racialized poverty, over-policing and criminalization. Under normal circumstances, we spend much of our time talking with constituents face-to-face about the challenges they are experiencing, and encouraging them to take action on those issues as part of WCRJ. 

COVID-19 has forced us to quickly adapt and find new ways to connect with our community. As the 2020 census and elections coincide with unprecedented public demand for racial justice, we can’t afford to slow down. The pandemic has only heightened our sense of urgency, as we insist upon action from elected officials to address the racial disparities exposed by the pandemic.

We feel fortunate to live in a time when so many effective technologies are available to us, allowing us to keep organizing while maintaining social distance. Black civic engagement is a key part of our work, and involves a year-round schedule of in-person trainings, educational sessions, town hall meetings, and door-to-door outreach. Thanks to the digital tools that we’ve been able to access — and the creativity of our members — WCRJ has continued these programs remotely since moving our work online in March. 

One of the tools that is empowering us in the COVID era is Outvote, a mobile app that allows us to reach a broad network of voters through friend-to-friend texting. Users who download the app can follow our policy and voter engagement campaigns, and receive notifications when we have new actions for them to take. This year we transformed our Forum for Safety and Liberation — usually held in August at a large venue — into a full Week of Action with daily assignments for our Outvote users. In just that week alone, our virtual allies sent 8,963 emails to elected officials, with over 100 new contacts participating. The impact was so great that we will likely add this approach in future years, whether or not COVID is a factor.

The power of digital organizing came into sharp focus in the run-up to Illinois’ March 2020 primary elections, which took place just days before the official shelter-in-place order. As residents came to understand the threat of the virus, many polling stations were closed due to shortages of volunteers. Confused residents were unsure of how to cast their ballots. As the city made arrangements for residents to vote at alternative locations, WCRJ was able to quickly disseminate this information to our constituents via Outvote and social media. 

Given the possibility of another wave of COVID-19 cases in the fall, we know that voters will likely experience new and unforeseen barriers to democracy this November. We are contingency planning for a variety of scenarios, and in all cases, we emphasize digital outreach as an effective means for helping constituents access the polls. We are excited to be expanding our work into the neighboring state of Wisconsin for the first time this year; and, with the help of these technologies, we plan to reach tens of thousands of Black voters there, in addition to over 150,000 people in Illinois.

From now until November, much of our work will be devoted to ensuring that voters understand the various options available to them this year, and that each person has created a plan for voting. However, we know that not everything will go according to plan. When unexpected barriers arise, tools like Outvote and social media platforms will allow us to rapidly provide the most up-to-date, accurate information to our contacts, helping us prevent the pandemic from disenfranchising Black voters. 

Posted by Joi Imobhio, Political Director, Workers Center for Racial Justice




~~~~

category: community_impact

author: Joi Imobhio

title: Political Director, Workers Center for Racial Justice

This post is a part of our Pursuing Racial Justice and Equity series, which we kicked off last week. This series highlights the courageous and vital work happening across our Google Fiber and Google Fiber Webpass cities to fight systemic racism and create more just communities where everyone has the opportunity and the ability to thrive. Our first post comes to us from Joi Imobhio, Political Director for the Workers Center for Racial Justice in Chicago.



At the Workers Center for Racial Justice (WCRJ) in Chicago, our work begins with organizing our community: majority-Black neighborhoods where residents experience ongoing racialized poverty, over-policing and criminalization. Under normal circumstances, we spend much of our time talking with constituents face-to-face about the challenges they are experiencing, and encouraging them to take action on those issues as part of WCRJ. 

COVID-19 has forced us to quickly adapt and find new ways to connect with our community. As the 2020 census and elections coincide with unprecedented public demand for racial justice, we can’t afford to slow down. The pandemic has only heightened our sense of urgency, as we insist upon action from elected officials to address the racial disparities exposed by the pandemic.

We feel fortunate to live in a time when so many effective technologies are available to us, allowing us to keep organizing while maintaining social distance. Black civic engagement is a key part of our work, and involves a year-round schedule of in-person trainings, educational sessions, town hall meetings, and door-to-door outreach. Thanks to the digital tools that we’ve been able to access — and the creativity of our members — WCRJ has continued these programs remotely since moving our work online in March. 

One of the tools that is empowering us in the COVID era is Outvote, a mobile app that allows us to reach a broad network of voters through friend-to-friend texting. Users who download the app can follow our policy and voter engagement campaigns, and receive notifications when we have new actions for them to take. This year we transformed our Forum for Safety and Liberation — usually held in August at a large venue — into a full Week of Action with daily assignments for our Outvote users. In just that week alone, our virtual allies sent 8,963 emails to elected officials, with over 100 new contacts participating. The impact was so great that we will likely add this approach in future years, whether or not COVID is a factor.

The power of digital organizing came into sharp focus in the run-up to Illinois’ March 2020 primary elections, which took place just days before the official shelter-in-place order. As residents came to understand the threat of the virus, many polling stations were closed due to shortages of volunteers. Confused residents were unsure of how to cast their ballots. As the city made arrangements for residents to vote at alternative locations, WCRJ was able to quickly disseminate this information to our constituents via Outvote and social media. 

Given the possibility of another wave of COVID-19 cases in the fall, we know that voters will likely experience new and unforeseen barriers to democracy this November. We are contingency planning for a variety of scenarios, and in all cases, we emphasize digital outreach as an effective means for helping constituents access the polls. We are excited to be expanding our work into the neighboring state of Wisconsin for the first time this year; and, with the help of these technologies, we plan to reach tens of thousands of Black voters there, in addition to over 150,000 people in Illinois.

From now until November, much of our work will be devoted to ensuring that voters understand the various options available to them this year, and that each person has created a plan for voting. However, we know that not everything will go according to plan. When unexpected barriers arise, tools like Outvote and social media platforms will allow us to rapidly provide the most up-to-date, accurate information to our contacts, helping us prevent the pandemic from disenfranchising Black voters. 

Posted by Joi Imobhio, Political Director, Workers Center for Racial Justice




~~~~

category: community_impact

author: Joi Imobhio

title: Political Director, Workers Center for Racial Justice

Back in February, we announced that we were no longer offering a traditional TV product to new customers. As we said then, the best TV is already online, and we’ve seen many of our customers opt for one of our streaming service partners when they sign up for their internet service. In fact, more than 84% of our customers use some sort of streaming service. Whether you are part of the 16% who haven’t yet found the right way to watch or you’re a seasoned streaming pro, we’ve put together some info on our website to help make it easier for you to find the best content for you.



The past few months have made the choice and control that streaming provides even more critical. With live sports at a trickle and new movies coming out online instead of in the theater, knowing how to find the content you want when you want it is essential. And that time is going up: our network saw around a 35% increase in traffic overall as people began to work and learn and live at home full time, and we also saw an increase in streaming traffic, with people watching earlier in the day and for longer periods of time. And as always, gigabit internet makes it easy to put any — or many — streaming services to work.

We’re continuing to work to make it easier to find the TV and video content you want with more streaming choices available for our internet customers. We’re thrilled to welcome Philo as a new streaming partner. Philo offers over 60 channels of live and on-demand TV for just $20 a month, providing yet another affordable way to watch your favorite shows. Philo joins YouTube TV and fuboTV as one of our streaming offerings, and we’re working to make it even easier to get the streaming options our customers want.

2020 has been a year of transition. How we watch TV and what we need to do it well has changed, And fast, reliable internet makes it possible.

Posted by Liz Hsu, Director, Product Strategy






~~~~


author: Liz Hsu
title: Director, Product Strategy
category: product_news

categoryimage: true

As students and their families across the U.S. begin a school year like no other, the contrast between the power of the internet and the depth of the digital divide has never been so pronounced.

A staggering 15 to 16 million students (30%) lack the internet or computer devices they need to access the education they deserve. 300,000 to 400,000 teachers (10%) can’t teach because they lack internet at home. Black, Latinx, and Indigenous/Native American households lack access at disproportionately higher rates, exacerbating long-standing inequities in education.

Google Fiber exists to help bring reliable internet to more people in communities across the country. Our team of Government and Community Affairs Managers exists to help advance digital access for the most underserved residents, who are disproportionately Black and Brown, in our communities. Since our earliest days, digital inclusion has been one of our central pillars, and we’ve now added a financial sponsorship program to support our partners doing racial justice work in Google Fiber and Google Fiber Webpass cities.

In our community partnerships, we think about all aspects of digital inclusion. For example, in our longtime partnership with the Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA), Google Fiber provides free in-home gigabit internet access to hundreds of public housing residents. Beyond that, and thanks to the leadership of HACA, the City of Austin, and Austin Community College, residents have access to digital literacy training, computer devices and tech support.

Across all of our Google Fiber cities, we have learned from challenges, invested in the digital equity ecosystem, and amplified the work of community organizations to help get our neighbors trained and connected. We are proud of this enduring work and the partnerships we have formed along the way.

But it isn’t enough. As we collectively face the intertwined impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and generations of systemic racism, we know we have much more to do.

The Black Lives Matter movement rightfully calls for more from companies that have the opportunity to change systems and influence their industries. Google made a commitment to improving racial equity both internally and externally. Google Fiber is aligning with that by committing resources to racial justice organizations like the Southern Center for Human Rights, Workers Center for Racial Justice, and Austin Justice Coalition across our Google Fiber and Webpass cities. As with our ongoing digital inclusion work, we’re working with local organizations with deep ties to their communities. The Google Fiber funds will support their racial justice work.

We also know we have work to do internally to live up to our values. In 2019, we adopted a commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity (EID) as one of our company’s core values. We knew we wouldn’t be able to fulfill our mission, succeed as a business or sufficiently champion our customers without it. Over a year ago, we convened a task force of cross-functional leaders to begin an internal systemic change process aimed at more deeply integrating EID into every aspect of our business — from our product offerings to our customer service approach to our internal HR systems. Systems change work is a long game, and it takes shared, accountable leadership.

While we want to move quickly, we also need to embed EID, brick by brick, within all aspects of our business and across all of our team leaders for our values to be realized. We are seeing progress in learning and engagement from people across our organization — and we are both daunted and heartened by the steps we have mapped out ahead.

Caption: Cross-functional group of leaders at November 2019 systems meeting (Not pictured: La'Naeschia O'Rear, Jenn Chang)

These internal and external efforts are only part of a longer journey. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be featuring some of our local partners on this blog to highlight their work to bring racial justice and equity to their communities. And as we continue to advance digital inclusion and better connect communities, you can expect Google Fiber to be persistent in our pursuit of racial equity, within our workforce and in the way we do business in each of the cities we serve.



Posted by Parisa Fatehi-Weeks, Head of Equity, Inclusion, and Community Impact

~~~

Author: Parisa Fatehi-Weeks

Title: Head of Equity, Inclusion, and Community Impact

Category: community_impact

categoryimage: true

While we love all of our Fiber locations equally, Utah has always been special to us.

Provo was one of the earliest Google Fiber cities — there, we built great relationships grounded in the city’s vision to connect an entire community to high-speed internet. That experience led us north to Salt Lake City, where we’ve been building, in the more traditional sense, a from-scratch fiber network to deliver gigabit internet to homes and businesses across Utah’s capital city.

As we finally near completion of construction in Salt Lake City, we’re not ready to stop growing in Utah. So, we’re excited to announce that we’ll continue to build our network into the neighboring city of Millcreek.

We’d like to offer a tremendous thank you to Millcreek Mayor Jeff Silvestrini and the Millcreek City Council, which tonight approved a license agreement giving Google Fiber access to rights of way to begin construction in the city later this year. We’re excited to work with the city of Millcreek under the leadership of Mayor Silvestrini to bring fast, reliable gigabit internet to residents in this first expansion along the Wasatch Front.

We still have a lot of work to do — we know there are still customers in Salt Lake City waiting for Google Fiber to reach their home. But tonight’s vote allows us to continue the project into Millcreek without delay, with the goal of serving our first Millcreek customers in early 2021.

Anyone interested in staying updated on our progress and learning when Google Fiber will be available at their address can sign up for updates at google.com/fiber.

Posted by Jacob Brace, Government & Community Affairs Manager, Utah


~~~~

author: Jacob Brace

title: Government & Community Affairs Manager, Utah

category: company_news

Google Fiber’s mission is to help all communities — big, small, urban, rural, and everywhere in between — get access to internet that’s fast, reliable, fairly priced and open. Today, we’re taking the next step on our journey, working with the city of West Des Moines, Iowa, to bring gigabit internet to their residents and businesses.

West Des Moines is a city with a long-term technology vision. In 2016, it established a Strategic Plan,  laying out a future where everyone in the City has access to fast and affordable internet. Tonight, the City Council approved a measure for the city to build an open conduit network to help realize this goal. Google Fiber is excited to be the first tenant — and first city-wide internet service provider — on that network, to help serve homes and businesses in the City with gigabit internet, and to foster new competition in the market. West Des Moines residents who are interested in learning more can sign up on our website for updates on the project and service availability.

Tonight’s announcement not only marks an exciting step forward for the people of West Des Moines and Google Fiber, but it demonstrates the innovative power of public and private sector collaboration, showcasing what each party — a city and a company — does best.

Municipalities like West Des Moines excel at building and maintaining infrastructure. At digging and laying pipes under the roads, restoring and preserving the sidewalks and green spaces, reducing traffic congestion, and lowering construction disruption. And for our part, Google Fiber is proud to be an internet company that specializes in providing a fast, reliable internet connection — along with the customer experience we’re known for.

This isn’t the first time Google Fiber has collaborated with a city to create a fiber optic network. In Huntsville, Alabama, we lease fiber from Huntsville Utilities to provide high speed internet service across that city.

Whether in Huntsville, in West Des Moines, or anywhere else, our goal is to work with communities to find the right model that brings world-class internet to more people and businesses, and that increases competition. We will continue to explore partnerships with other forward-thinking cities, utilities, and enterprises. After all, there is still so much more to do to make internet service faster and more affordable and enable everyone to get the great internet they deserve.

Tonight is a big next step on that journey. West Des Moines marks our first new market in more than four years. During that time, we’ve been focused on improving our customer experience around speed, reliability, and service. Google Fiber has learned a lot in our first 10 years — we've made some good decisions, and we've made some mistakes. Yet, our commitment to provide high-speed, reliable internet while finding sustainable ways to build and deliver service and move the industry toward meaningful change has never wavered.

As we’ve worked on these challenges, it’s become clear that communities should have more choice about how they get broadband — and from whom. Whether it's provided by the private sector, the public sector, or through a combination of the two, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to delivering the connectivity that people so desperately need.

As the last few months have demonstrated, access to fast and reliable internet is fundamental to life in the 21st century — no less necessary than water and electricity. Whether learning or working from home, whether shopping or gaming or watching streamed video, whether reaping the benefits of telehealth or connecting to family and friends via video, everyone should have access to open, reliable, and fairly-priced internet.

When it comes to the internet, people in this country have been underserved for far too long. Cities and companies can work together to change that — and that’s our goal. And we’re excited to take the next step forward in Iowa.

Posted by David Finn, Director of Corporate Development


~~~~



author: David Finn

title: Director of Corporate Development

category: company_news

categoryimage: true

Earlier this week, our partner, NTEN launched applications for its sixth cohort of Digital Inclusion Fellows. The Fellowship program supports organizations serving communities impacted by the digital divide and who want to launch or expand digital literacy programs. In this time of social distancing and the urgent need to get more of our neighbors online, the program can be a resource to more organizations than we ever imagined when we first started.

Google Fiber is proud to have co-founded this program with NTEN in 2015. We’ve sponsored 68 Fellows over the first five years, driving meaningful work to address digital equity in their communities and establishing themselves as national leaders. Google Fiber-sponsored Fellows have provided almost 80,000 training hours for nearly 20,000 people across the country. They’ve built a legion of 1,200 expert volunteers who can help their neighbors navigate technology when they need a guiding hand.

There is a lot to share about past Fellows and the digital inclusion projects they’ve led — here are just a few examples from past cohorts:

• Krysti Nellermoe (Cohort 5), at the International Rescue Committee in Salt Lake City, developed new systems to expand digital services at every point of the refugee experience. Resources included integrated skills training in job readiness and financial literacy programs for new arrivals to the United States, as well as business development and entrepreneurship workshops for those who have been in the country longer. She also established a Tech Mentor program, which provided new devices and in-home training for participants, and a series of Citizenship and Digital Safety workshops for teens. The IRC also hired a full-time digital inclusion coordinator over the last year, which great increased the reach of the program.
• Emily Flores (Cohort 5), at the San Antonio Public Library, launched a Digital Inclusion Certification program, providing training in computer basics, job seeking skills, social media, and professional administrative skills in both English and Spanish.
• Lindsey Sipe (Cohort 4), at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, developed Project LIFT, a six-week technology course where families each received 12 hours of digital literacy training and received a laptop and hotspot at the end of the course. Over 300 families have completed the course to date.

In the age of COVID-19, every organization -- from schools and clinics to churches and nonprofits -- needs a digital inclusion plan and dedicated resources to help underserved clients get online and support the building of their digital skills. The NTEN Digital Inclusion Fellowship is just one way Google Fiber is working to increase the reach and impact of these vital efforts. Thank you for helping us spread the word and encourage applications for the next cohort of the program.

Posted by Parisa Fatehi-Weeks, Head of Equity, Inclusion and Community Impact

~~~~

author: Parisa Fatehi-Weeks

title: Head of Equity, Inclusion, and Community Impact

category: community_impact

Like you, the Google Fiber team has become increasingly dependent on our internet connections for daily life. We’re working from home, teaching our kids, staying in touch with our friends and families, ordering meals and groceries, gaming, streaming, and trying to stay fit, centered and up-to-date on what’s happening inside our homes and outside our front doors  almost all of which needs the internet. 

So, we checked in with the Google Fiber team across the country to see how they’re putting their internet to use these days:

(((youtube)))

Since our beginning, Google Fiber has worked to connect more people to great internet. We’ve never been more committed to that mission. We’ll keep working toward that goal, because we know you’ve got a lot happening on the internet.

~~~~~

yturl: https://www.youtube.com/embed/18yaPKlRQQM

category: company_news

It’s National Library Week, and though many libraries are closed due to COVID-19, they continue to work to serve their clients and keep them connected to the larger world. To mark the week and honor the incredibly critical role libraries are playing every day both during this crisis and during more normal times, we’re sharing a post from Jill Joplin, Executive Director of the DeKalb County Library Foundation. The DCLF provides support beyond tax dollars to DeKalb County Public Library in Georgia and DCPL is just one of Google Fiber’s many library partners across the country working to help connect their communities during this time. For example, in San Antonio, we’ve partnered with Libraries without Borders to bring their Wash & Learn Initiative to local laundromats—and right now the WiFi has been extended to the parking lots so people can get online from the safety of their cars. In Nashville, Salt Lake City, Austin and other cities we have provided longtime support for Digital Inclusion Fellows and digital literacy support at public libraries.

At DeKalb County Public Library (DCPL), the Take the Internet Home with You initiative is one of the library’s most popular services and in today’s current COVID-19 environment, it is also one of the most valuable. Normally, patrons are able to check-out a WiFi hotspot for 21 days, and the devices are constantly checked out. Patrons wait by the front desk or call the library each day looking for returned hotspots. Our user data reveals more than 50% of patrons who check out these devices do not have access to the internet in their home.



Two of our regular patrons, who check out the devices as often as they can, were able to check out a device prior to the library’s closure due to COVID-19. The library is allowing patrons with the devices to keep them during the entirety of the closure and no late fines are being assessed. We checked in with them to see how they were using their devices. Joan is a retiree without home internet. She is very grateful to be able to keep the device she checked out during the library’s closure. She is staying in touch with her family and up to date with news and updates related to COVID-19. 

Our other patron, William, says what he once considered a pleasure — the ability to get online at home — is now a blessing. He has been able to file his unemployment paperwork online because he also had checked out a hotspot prior to the library closing. He also is keeping in touch with friends and enjoying streaming movies he wouldn’t be able to see without cable or an internet connection in his home. 

Although to many of us it seems like the entire world is virtually connected, in reality, 10% of Americans don’t have access to the Internet — that number goes up to 30% for low-income Americans. Staff at DeKalb County Public Library realized a few years ago that patrons were accessing the library’s WiFi signal during times the library was closed by sitting in the parking lot or on the steps of the building. Once we’d identified this need, DCPL began seeking funding to provide mobile hotspot devices for check out. 

Thanks to our partners at Google Fiber, Mailchimp, and New York Life, DCPL has been able to provide 200 hotspots to patrons across the library system. The library would not be able to offer this service without this funding from our partners.  While demand was always high for this initiative, with the economic impact of COVID-19, we anticipate it will be even more important in the future. We are proud we can support our patrons with this essential service. 

Posted by Jill Joplin, Executive Director,
DeKalb County Library Foundation



~~~~

author: Jill Joplin

category: community_impact

categoryimage: true