Project Title:
Fort Valley State University-Communi-versity: Piloting an Ecosystem for Digital Equity
Funding Program:
Connecting Minority Communities Program
Project Purpose/Type:
Fort Valley State University (FVSU)’s Communi-versity: Piloting an Ecosystem for Digital Equity project will expand broadband connectivity, access, and digital skills for students and residents in Peach County, GA. Students, faculty, and staff members at FVSU along with members of the anchor communities will be provided training and outreach opportunity to make broadband more understandable and attainable. The project will also deploy a full ecosystem of dynamic solutions through the integration of technologies such as satellite, cellular, and fiber to increase broadband connectivity access.
City/Town/Service Area:
State(s):
-
$2,997,558.00Funding Amount$2,997,558.00Total Project Cost0.00Non-Federal Cost Share
The Communi-versity: Piloting an Ecosystem for Digital Equity project activities fall into three categories: (1) A backbone that underlies and enriches all the other project activities; (2) Building awareness, engagement, and skills for on and off-campus users; and (3) Extending broadband connectivity and access. For category one, the backbone activities include convening a Communi-versity advisory board that will be responsible for decision-making process on a range of resource allocations, creation of surveys and other tools, purchase or license of digital services to prepare to train and support users, acquire collaborative tools to develop cloud skills for FVSU students, and develop and deploy a broadband engagement campaign. Category two activities will be related to engagement programs to connect anchor communities, provide training experiences, creation of a training curriculum, and recruit and train TechNavigators to help campus and anchor community participants increase their use of broadband, improve their digital skills, and overcome barriers to adoption on and off campus. Finally, category three activities will expand broadband connectivity and access by providing laptops, hotspots, and cell boosters and establishing satellite-supported broadband hubs across anchor community. Using partnership with Headstart, Extension, and other local entities, Communi-versity will use several local broadband hubs across the community as local touchpoints for training, each staffed with a local team of TechNavigators.
As result of implementing the activities, Fort Valley State University (FVSU) will expand infrastructure and create content to support digital skills and increase broadband services on campus and in the community. Students and community member participants will increase their knowledge of and access to online resources that build workforce skills and increase economic mobility. As a result of category two activities, staff, faculty, and activity participants on and off campus will increase their digital skills and broadband self-efficacy. A self-sustaining cadre of TechNavigators will be established, and those students will build self-efficacy as digitally proficient pre-professionals while fostering the same in others on campus and in the community. Finally, the project will result in opportunity gaps mitigated by increasing the number of students and anchor community members with broadband access and connectivity through the provision of laptops, hotspots, and boosters leading to economic mobility.
The Communi-versity: Piloting an Ecosystem for Digital Equity project will serve students and members of the anchor community. Two well-established FVSU community engagement programs will connect the University and the anchor community. Families in facilities across FVSU’s service region will receive Head Start (HS) training experiences. Students will be recruited and trained as TechNavigators (TNs). Digital devices (laptops, hotspots, and cell boosters) will be made available on campus for students and in the anchor community. Mobile broadband training units, laptops, and Wi-Fi access points to provide broadband access and connectivity in the anchor community.
The recipient does not intend to subaward funds.
The applicant does not fund a consortia. The applicant’s activities do occur in the surrounding anchor communities. Details of community involvement are described below.