About the Alliance
The Alliance for Digital Equity is a Western Massachusetts based coalition of community-focused organizations working toward digital equity for all people. Simply put, in an era where everything is done online, we don’t want anyone to be left behind.
The goal of the Alliance is to get people the access they need—to the equipment, to the infrastructure, and to the knowledge and skills—and that will allow them to fully participate in the digital world. The Alliance works to develop big picture solutions as well as the routes that lead to them.
The Alliance plays several key roles to promote digital equity. The first is to help people understand what digital equity is, why it is important to communities, and why it is a civil right for all people. The Alliance works at a grass-roots level to raise awareness and to highlight community-focused efforts that help eliminate the digital divide. By bringing people and existing community resources together, the Alliance acts to increase the rate of positive change. Through collaboration, impact can be expanded by boosting the number of people reached—and the number of people served.
History & Structure
The focus on addressing Digital Equity in the region was initiated by Baystate Health and the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts in April 2020 as the onset of the Corona virus pandemic forced dramatic changes in existing systems such as education, health care, social services and resulting in the isolation of many residents without access to reliable and adequate broadband service. An initial assessment based on key informant interviews was developed in Spring 2020 to document the scope of the issue.
The Alliance is an evolving coalition of organizations and individual stakeholders committed to addressing the Digital Divide.
The organizations represented communities across sectors and geographies, In the Summer 2020, Baystate Health, Office of Public Health and the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts convened a series of 3 regional forums hosting over 100 to 150 people per session in community conversations. The goal of the gatherings was to “Discover” (explore digital divides), “Dream” (vision of digital equity), and “Do Something” (act to close divides). Following this intensive community engagement process, the Alliance was formed in the Fall 2020.
