猫咪社区

Staying connected is a tenet of modern life. The United Nations .

But access is not equal nor is it safe for all. While , the rates are higher in white, high-income homes compared to Black, Hispanic, and Native households. And for people experiencing housing instability, the challenges are even greater. But these three changemakers are advancing digital equity to make sure everyone has access to the devices, affordable internet, and safety practices they need to thrive online.聽

Rev. Kim Lagree, Executive Director of Healing City Baltimore

For many people, public libraries are the only available means of accessing the internet. But all too often, that access is denied due to circumstances of addiction or homelessness or mental health. The city of Baltimore is attempting to remedy that, via a citywide effort to help transform the public library system鈥攁nd eventually all city agencies鈥攖o be trauma-informed, so everyone is welcomed, supported, and able to get connected. 

Security guards are trained in trauma-informed care and stand alongside certified peer support staff. 鈥淭hese are people with lived experience who are recovering and living and thriving in society, knowing firsthand what that life is like鈥攚hat the struggles are,鈥� says Rev. Kim Lagree, executive director of Healing City Baltimore, a nonprofit organization focused on helping to bridge the gap between community and government.

鈥淔or me, this work is also personal,鈥� says Lagree, who lost her brother to gun violence in 2015. An ordained minister with decades of community outreach experience, she is grateful 鈥渢o have an opportunity to really be a part of an entire effort and initiative in a city that really speaks to healing in a way that produces visible outcomes.鈥�

was founded in February 2020 as part of the Elijah Cummings Healing City Act鈥攍egislation designed to help the community heal in the aftermath of violence. After a deadly shooting at a local school, the city considered various safety measures: Should it arm police officers at schools? Should it double down on metal detectors? Impacted students testified before the city council that they didn鈥檛 want more violence and weapons; they wanted healing. The result was , based on the idea that if city officials want to reduce violence, they must address the trauma that fuels it.聽

Lagree says the project demonstrates that one can be in the process of healing oneself and still impact others in a positive way: 鈥淲e are both living with this violence in our city, we are both living with this substance use in our city, but we are also seeing lives being healed, lives being improved.鈥� 

Healing City Baltimore has now expanded to more than seven library branches in the city and has spawned similar efforts in other cities, including Cincinnati and Philadelphia.

Gina D. Cooper Benjamin, Deputy Director at the National Digital Inclusion Alliance

Gina D. Cooper Benjamin has always been interested in understanding data technology and figuring out how she can use it for social good. 

鈥淲e know that the digital divide has a disproportionate impact on low-income communities and communities of color,鈥� Cooper Benjamin says. 鈥淭hat really resonates with me, having grown up with minimal resources, and being a person of color, and growing up in communities of color.鈥�

In 2018, she started Hacking IT as a project aimed at Black and Brown girls to do three things: 鈥淕et loud, get political, get tech-ing.鈥� Cooper Benjamin says the 鈥済et loud鈥� part is because often, incorrectly, Black girls and women are told they are being loud or aggressive when expressing themselves normally. She doesn鈥檛 want anyone to be afraid to engage in important conversations because, she says, Black voices and opinions have value and they matter. Growing up, Cooper Benjamin learned to stop speaking up and laughing out loud when it made others uncomfortable. 鈥淚 literally never want another young Black girl to feel that way,鈥� Cooper Benjamin says. 

She explains that 鈥溾�楪et political鈥� is the part where we鈥檙e attaching our voices to things that are happening in our community.鈥� She asks her cohorts what鈥檚 going on in their school or city that they want to speak up about, both in terms of the problems and the solutions. 

The 鈥済et tech-ing鈥� part is focused on understanding one鈥檚 power and how it can be amplified on social media and through the use of technology for good. 

鈥淎s important as solutions are, we have to understand the barriers,鈥� Cooper Benjamin says. The goal of digital inclusion, in her view, is making sure that people have the tools and resources to fully participate in the digital world鈥攅specially our most vulnerable community members and under-resourced communities.

That鈥檚 why she has recently taken the role of deputy director for the , with a mission of advancing digital equity by supporting community programs and equipping policymakers to act. 鈥淚 do this work because I want people who look like me to be as excited about technology and understand the impact it has,鈥� Cooper Benjamin says.

Mashell Sourjohn (Muscogee), Senior Associate State Director of Community Outreach at AARP Oklahoma

鈥淎fter the pandemic, we saw such a great need for digital connectivity, not just for the social aspect of it, but to be able to connect to health care and do our taxes and even register to vote,鈥� says Mashell Sourjohn (Muscogee), senior associate state director of community outreach for AARP Oklahoma. 

That鈥檚 why Sourjohn is focused on digital equity in Native communities and throughout the country. Her AARP chapter has partnered with cell phone companies and nonprofit organizations to distribute approximately 90 free tablets and pay for recipients鈥� internet services for a full year. The national nonprofit organization also operates a tech hotline, offers free online classes to teach elders digital skills, and shares information on available resources.

At workshops for urban elders, grandkids are encouraged to join. Sourjohn says the younger people coach the older people in what has become 鈥渁 really nice multigenerational event.鈥�

AARP鈥檚 Fraud Watch Network also teaches elders how to spot deceptive digital schemes and stay safe. American Indians and Alaska Natives face some of the same fraudulent scams seen across the U.S., but they are also the targets of scams particular to Indian Country. 

鈥淲e are seeing a lot of scams on regalia,鈥� says Sourjohn, who belongs to a Facebook group of ribbon skirt makers, and finds that at least once a week she will see posts by people misrepresenting skirts as their own. Other scams include job offers that may lead to human trafficking, fraudulent homeopathic products, and scammers posing as tribal utility companies or benefit administrators. When the pandemic started and federal Paycheck Protection Program benefits were being distributed, for example, Sourjohn says her tribal nation set up a webpage. Immediately scammers set up an almost identical page with a very similar web address. 

鈥淏eing a Native American citizen, Muscogee Nation, we recognize that our elders are often the go-to people for information, but it really started to click with me about how we really do need to make cyber education, fraud education, more of a community approach,鈥� Sourjohn says. Younger people have a lot to teach elders, too, when it comes to digital literacy. 鈥淚t helps build communities.鈥�