March 14, 2024 • 29 mins
Have you ever considered the power of connectivity? This week, we're honoring AmeriCorps Week with a heartfelt tribute to those dedicated to empowering communities that are lagging behind in our digital world. Joining us on Small Talk, Sylvia Brown, Shruti Machiraju, and Ali Milligan from Communities Unlimited, offer an insider's perspective on the American Connection Corps' endeavors to make high-speed internet universally available, transforming it from a luxury to a necessity for rural residents.
Our conversation meanders through the digital landscapes of underserved areas, where the absence of high-speed internet casts long shadows on opportunities for growth. Our guests recount their personal paths into AmeriCorps and share stirring stories, like the development of a digital curriculum for a homeless shelter in Texarkana, providing a beacon of light for those in digital darkness. These narratives don't just highlight the disparities in internet access; they emphasize the critical need for digital equity and inclusion to bridge this divide.
As we round off AmeriCorps' 30th anniversary celebrations, let's reflect on the impactful service experiences that shape the lives of AmeriCorps members like Shruti, Allie, and Sylvia. If you're captivated by the call to action for a more digitally inclusive society, this episode invites you to be part of this transformative journey.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Essentially, what I want to encourage is
underrepresented, under-infested, under-resourced communities.
To take a look at AmeriCorps,experienced women, communities
of color whether that is black,american, hispanic or immigrant
and certainly, perhaps,low-wealth persons.
(00:23):
To explore AmeriCorps, theopportunities to see and do
unique things is a great bolsterto confidence, as well as
experiences.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Welcome to Small Talk , the community's unlimited
podcast designed to empoweremerging and rural communities.
I'm Chris Baker and it'sAmeriCorps Week, and on this
week's podcast, our guests arethree AmeriCorps members who
have been working with us hereat Communities Unlimited on our
broadband team.
We wanted to have them on totalk about their experiences and
to talk about AmeriCorps.
So, sylvia Brown, shrutiMataraju and Allie Milligan,
(01:01):
thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Thanks for making space for us.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Sylvia, can I start with you?
I want to talk.
Tell me about the AmericanConnection Corps and the
AmeriCorps and tell me what therelationship with Communities
Unlimited is.
How does that work?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
So AmeriCorps is, if you think about an umbrella,
it's the umbrella entity andAmeriCorps is the federal
organization that managesvolunteer programs.
We're actually in our 30th yearand next week, March 10th
through 16th, will be our 30thanniversary and AmeriCorps Week.
(01:40):
And so within AmeriCorps, thereare 40,000 communities annually
, 200,000 applicants and folkson the ground in communities
ranging from urban, suburban,rural and tribal, and the
(02:00):
American Connection Corps, ofwhich I'm a fellow, along with
Shruti and Allie, is one ofthose programs that is
partnering through Lead forAmerica to focus in on the
digital divide.
There are three focuses of theAmerican Connection Corps People
(02:23):
, Place and Possibility.
And in linking up withCommunities Unlimited, the
broadband division or departmentheaded by Catherine Krantz, saw
that as an opportunity to buildthe capacity and capability to
do more for the communities inthe seventh state in which
(02:46):
Communities Unlimited is working.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
And Allie To Sylvia's point what have you guys been
doing?
What are some of the thingsthat you've been working on?
Speaker 3 (02:56):
So a lot of our work recently has been creating
digital equity roadmaps for 40communities in Arkansas,
louisiana, oklahoma, mississippiand Texas and we've been
gathering socioeconomic anddigital opportunity data to
inform digital equity needs inthese communities.
This week, recently, we've beenstarting to output those into
the community facilitators andCU so that they can bring those
(03:18):
to the communities themselves sothat we can start hopefully
working on some digital equityprogramming in those communities
that we're currently working in.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Okay.
So, shruti, can you define,because I don't know can you
define what an equity roadmap is?
Speaker 4 (03:31):
So a digital equity roadmap is essentially a report
where we, as digital equitycoordinators, figure out the
need for digital equityprogramming in a specific
community.
So that will look like gatheringcensus data on different
demographics and socioeconomicinformation on specific
(03:52):
communities, as well as lookingat the access to broadband and
looking at the different coveredpopulations in a community.
So the covered populations asdefined in the Digital Equity
Act would be like ruralresidents, residents living at
150% of the poverty level orbelow, veterans, aging community
(04:13):
members, just to name a few.
And then those coveredpopulations essentially are
populations that tend to havelower levels of connectivity or
digital literacy.
And so we take that informationand we create recommendations
and best practices on ways tohelp those communities and
demographics to learn digitalskills or to get access to
(04:33):
devices just so that they canhave the ability to use the
internet.
Through that we also just putlike best practices and
resources to help communityleadership teams that will
eventually get our plans to helpbuild programs around those in
their own communities and helpthem work with internet service
providers in their local area toincrease access for their
people to internet, such ashelping them with making plans
(04:57):
more affordable and, on top ofthat just giving them resources
to maybe even get funding formore opportunities to help with
their digital issues.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
So, sylvia, why are you working in this field?
How did you get here today?
Speaker 1 (05:14):
I won't take that literally there, chris, but how
did I get to the AmeriCorps andAmerican Connection Corps?
Interestingly, when I wasstarting out early in my
professional career, and reallyprobably maybe five or six years
after AmeriCorps started, Iattempted to apply for
(05:36):
AmeriCorps membership, but lifegot in the way.
And I tried several years later, when I was in my mid-career,
and another life happened, asthey say, life-lifed.
And so now as a senior career,I saw the opportunity of the
(05:56):
American Connection Corps askind of a full circle moment,
because in my career journey I'dworked on Capitol Hill and one
of the first issues I dealt withwas internet and the telecom
companies, telephone companiesgetting into the internet,
(06:16):
deployment and build out.
And those policy decisions thatwere made during that period of
time have, frankly, come hometo roost, because those policy
decisions from the big telecomswill get to the rural
communities eventually.
We're coming, we're coming, andso they worked with the easy,
(06:37):
low-hanging fruit of urbancommunities, higher income
communities.
And now, after experiencing thepandemic, we realized that
internet connectivity high-speed, quality, affordable internet
connectivity is not a nice tohave or a luxury.
It's now, some would say, evenevening up to a utility.
(07:01):
And so, when the opportunitycame across my LinkedIn of
American Connection Corpsrecruitment, I initially sent it
to some folks in my network andeventually said you know,
Sylvia, this again is a goodopportunity to bridge and the
(07:22):
policy and lived experience thatyou've had with the opportunity
to do some work here in mycommunity.
But also I knew the reputationof communities unlimited and
wanted to kind of get a tastefor how they operated internally
.
And so it's really, you know,kind of a confluence of
(07:44):
circumstances that brought meand brings me to this
opportunity to be a part of theAmeriCorps community and the
American Connection Corps onthis critically important issue
of bridging the digital dividethrough access, affordability
and adoption.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And one of the things that I was sent.
I really loved this line inthere.
It says the digital divide isthe problem, digital equity is
the goal and digital inclusionis how you get there.
What kind of things are youguys working on where you've
seen the digital divide, becauseI think some people who listen
to this may not know exactly howbig that divide is and how
(08:27):
we're going to bridge that gap.
I don't know.
Maybe, Allie, could you tell usan example or two of some
things that you've seen out whenyou're working that people may
or may not know about.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Yes, so right now I'm currently working on some
curriculum for a homelessshelter in Texarkana, texas, and
it has been quite challengingbecause you think of just not
being able to have Wi-Fi at homeor having a Wi-Fi on your phone
or like a service plan on yourphone.
It goes even more farther to notbeing connected when you're not
sheltered.
So figuring out ways how tomake connectivity important to
(09:01):
homeless people has been part ofmy mission as part of my ACC.
So right now I'm working onsome curriculum for them
learning how to type, becausenoticing when they're starting
to do food stamp applications orMedicaid or Medicare and they
don't know how to type, theydon't know how to fill out these
documents that are needing tobe filled out.
So just making sure that theyhave those basic computer skills
(09:21):
so that they're able to reachthe resources that they need,
and also working on like resumebuilding and knowing how to work
Word documents or Google Docsso that they have the capacity
to be able to build farther onwhen they do get housed, is just
some specific ways that I'mworking in my community right
now.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
And Trudy, could you talk to us about digital equity
being the goal?
Equity is an easy term todefine.
The digital equity is a littlebit more of a little harder for
me.
I understand the concept of it,but again same question Is
there some things that you'veseen in your time here that you
can give us some examples thatpeople may or may not know about
(10:00):
?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
So I guess one way is just one way I've seen digital
equity play out is justessentially tying my background
and my childhood to like workingin digital equity.
So I grew up in a pretty bigcity like right outside of
Houston and here fiber internetis very common, like it's so
easy to get access to internet,even if you go to a library you
(10:21):
can pretty much get high speedinternet.
And then just being able to goto like different, like
communities, and seeing how Ikind of grew up privileged and
that not everyone just has likehigh speed internet Some
libraries and communities don'teven have internet it just made
me realize that this is likedigital equity is like a serious
thing that's impactingcommunities and a lot of those
communities aren't really beingheard or are sort of neglected
(10:44):
by even just like their stategovernments.
So I'm just being able to seelike rural communities that
weren't even on my radar upuntil recently.
Not having the privilege I hadthat I took for granted has
definitely opened my eyes to howbig of an issue digital equity
has been.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Yeah, you know, and one of the things I guess that
I've seen is that, like you werementioning in a second ago,
allie, more and more things aregoing online.
More and more applications forthings are online, more and more
functions are online and,sylvia, you were talking about
being really close to utility,and that's absolutely true.
Can I pose the same question toyou, sylvia, and some examples
that you may share of thingsthat you've seen, where digital
(11:21):
equity was an issue that canhelp people understand the
problems we're trying to work on?
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Sure, I think you think about the topic equity and
digital equity being, in acouple of different layers and
ways, intersectional.
Even to your point, chris, andas well Shruti, their many may
actually be access to aninternet service provider, so
(11:48):
folks could possibly be able totap into fairly high speed.
However, the second part ofthat, is it affordable?
Is it a entry point to a pricepoint where they are able to
afford the internet at theirhome?
Just thinking about myself andback in the day when I did live
(12:10):
in an urban environment inWashington DC, the internet was
not as ubiquitous.
You dealt with it at the officeand you went home and lived
your life.
But now, like you said, it'sintegrated into our daily lives.
However, folks may not havethat opportunity to utilize home
(12:30):
internet as readily due toaffordability.
You also think about equityfrom the perspective of devices.
I say, okay, you've gotinternet at home, but it's a
mobile device on your cell phone.
Well, if you're trying to helpyour kid do their homework, how
(12:53):
easily is it accessible to pullup a form that may not be linked
to or being in a readableformat on a mobile device?
Then you talk about digitalequity from a skill set.
Do you know now the phones,tablets or touchscreen?
(13:18):
Do you know what that littlesymbol on the device means to
turn on, turn off?
Do you know how to scroll inorder to move to the next part
of that application?
To the practical point, in aintergenerational household, and
giving an example of my mom,I'd gotten her a tablet several
(13:43):
years ago and that tablet set onthe bookcase for years, unless
and until her grandkids came andplayed with the black tablet.
Two years or so ago she startedutilizing the tablet a lot more
and she's on the tabletscrolling on Facebook, although
(14:04):
it's lurking through my account.
But now she's become morecomfortable utilizing the tablet
and even passing a bit of thatinformation that tablet to my
dad so that they could look atpictures of first day of school
for my younger brother, wholives in Tennessee.
She was having some medicalissues, some reactions, and so
(14:28):
she was able to take somepictures, some selfies, and take
that with her to her doctor'sappointment.
And so when we think about whatdigital equity means, it's not
just access to the internet,home internet, to be clear, it's
the affordability of theinternet, affordability and
(14:48):
access to the devices.
What is the adoption, uptake orsubscription to these services
and, like I said, having thatlevel of comfort to utilize
these devices and to utilize thehome internet service.
And so key within thisconversation is being a
supportive, trusted messengerand also meeting people where
(15:12):
they are recognizing that we'retrying to talk to folks.
Talk with folks about the fullspectrum of digital access in
their lives and not just thebottom baseline of workforce
development or education,helping folks to be fully
(15:34):
connected, if you will.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
People who may even have access to the internet and
not subscribe to it in theirhomes, especially in the
high-speed internet world.
I struggled understanding that,but it was made very easily
understandable to me a whileback when I was talking to
Catherine about some of theprograms for affordability of
the internet.
Can you guys talk to me aboutmaybe some experiences where
(15:58):
you've talked to people and justhad that discussion about why
they don't subscribe to it evenif it's available to them?
Is there any kind of anecdotesyou may be able to give to me
about that?
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Well, I think we're kind of exploring that now.
I think there have been studiesdone that.
We were at a national conferencea few weeks ago net inclusion,
sponsored by the NationalDigital Inclusion Alliance.
Some of the reasons folks justmay not see it as a critical
(16:31):
part of their daily activities.
Some of it may be that, like Isaid that affordability we had
just come off of a two-yearprogram called the ACP but it
was a $30 credit for folks toutilize or become a subscriber
(16:51):
to internet service home-basedinternet service and it was $75
to tribal communities.
That was a big push to try tokeep that and we're hopeful that
perhaps Congress may continuefunding for that.
But what folks found with thatadoption of ACP was, like we
(17:16):
said, just trying to get thatentry point to being affordable
and being able to utilize it.
I think you have a couple ofthings maybe not a couple, but a
little bit more that's tappinginto folks of why they are not
subscribers.
Like I said, one it may notseem like it's something that is
(17:37):
beneficial be able to fit intothe kitchen table, budget items
and their personal lives.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Anyone else want to add anything on top of that?
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Yes, I would.
Recently, to go along with that, we worked with the Mississippi
Broadband Association becausethey were having some issues
having support in internetadoption, so we ended up
creating a flyer for them todistribute to their communities
about why internet is important,and we broke it down into
different things such as likeentertainment, staying connected
(18:09):
with friends and family whodon't live close, education,
being able to attend classesfrom anywhere and continuing
education at any age, jobopportunities, finding careers,
linkedin, all those differentjob applications that are out
there now, healthcare, stayingconnected, like with telehealth
and being able to access onlineportals that doctors' offices
(18:29):
and medical offices may have.
And also growing your business,like economic development, and
all those things, because wewant the communities to see how
versatile adopting internetconnection can be, and it's not
just for social media oranything basic.
It can be literally every partof your life you can put into
internet and broadband in sometype of aspect, and I think
(18:51):
that's also very important.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Can you guys tell me about the program at the school
district in Texas, the computerskills program?
Can one of you guys talk to meabout that one that you're
working on?
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Sure, we have an appointment set up, hopefully
with our community facilitatorcolleague, to dig a little bit
more into the school district'sinterest in offering digital
curriculum.
What we have surfacedinformation for them to be a
(19:22):
part of that conversation is toand this speaks as well to
digital equity is that it'scritically important that, with
any of these conversations, thatcollaboration is what rules the
day.
And so, in trying to think aboutwhat they would like to offer
(19:43):
for adult digital literacy oradult learning, it's critically
important that they engage witha broad spectrum of stakeholders
, stakeholders that range fromtrusted messengers within the
faith community, within socialrelationships, those unofficial
mayors of the block, as well asmaking sure the conversation
(20:08):
speaks directly to theindividuals that they are trying
to engage.
So hearing from thosestakeholders and community
members directly, becausethere's kind of a saying within
the social services andorganizing community nothing
about us without us.
And so to be sure that thoseconversations include those
(20:31):
community members alsorecognizing that the topic of
digital literacy and digitaleducation and learning is top of
mind to a number of differententities workforce development,
social services and so checkingin with their state education
(20:51):
standards to make sure thatthey're meeting those adult
education standards, in additionto those adult literacy and
digital literacy educationstandards.
So a lot of, hopefully, of whatwe'll get a chance to speak
with the points of contact aboutwill be to help them to
(21:12):
recognize that they don't haveto create something from whole
cloth.
There are models out thereavailable.
There are folks that maybe havedone a bit of the heavy lifting
already and it perhaps may justbe choosing choosing something
off the shelf, tweaking it tothe needs of their community and
(21:33):
of their neighbors so that theneed can be met.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Okay, so it's AmeriCorps week.
Talk to me about that, talk tome about what that's all about,
and is there anything you guyswant to highlight?
Speaker 1 (21:47):
because Well, it's the 30th anniversary 1993, till
now 2024.
And there are over a millionAmeriCorps alum.
In a few months, in July, we'llbe able to proudly say I served
and be able to have that as apart of our banner, both from a
(22:14):
professional standpoint as wellas a personal standpoint.
This year's theme is it's not amoment, it's a movement, and I
think that's important to pointout because the needs of a
community form, capacitybuilding to capabilities, to
(22:35):
education, senior support.
Disaster relief happens not justfor a moment but it's a
continual process.
If you're recovering,particularly in disasters, it's
a process that continues longpast when the incident happened.
And the same with benefits forsupporting senior meal delivery,
(23:00):
supporting volunteers that arein these communities day in and
day out and trying to do thebest they can for the
individuals and neighbors thatthey are working with.
And so we certainly encouragesupport folks to check out
americorpsgov to find out ifthey would like to be AmeriCorps
(23:22):
members themselves.
There's no age limit other than, I believe, 18.
We do have AmeriCorps seniorsas well, and if not for
themselves and thinking aboutsomeone in their care circle I
mentioned earlier in my career,before getting started along
life, I tried to get engaged asa graduating out of college or
(23:46):
getting started in the college.
So utilize AmeriCorps to notonly give back, but also to grow
in your personal perspective,to gain some talent, to test
your medal and also to expandyour network as well.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Shruti, do you think that your medal has been tested?
Have you grown?
Can you talk about some of thestuff that you've experienced?
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Yeah, I mean I would say a short answer.
My medal has definitely grown.
One thing I heard a lot gettinginto this was to be comfortable
, being uncomfortable, andthat's definitely proven pretty
true and has definitely helpedme, I guess, toughen up and just
be able to take things a lot, Iguess, lighter and just
overcome a lot of challenges.
So before AmeriCorps I wasworking a lot in outreach,
(24:36):
specifically to universities andcongress members.
I guess that was a lot easierthan I expected it to be,
because it's sort of one ofthose things it's like there's
always someone responding to youand there's always a connection
I could have utilized to getpeople in the room.
And then working withcommunities that are not
necessarily people that areseeking out my help, but me
(24:56):
seeking them out, to communicatewith them, is definitely
something I struggle with a lotJust being able to, I guess, get
a basis of.
It's not necessarily that theyare looking for my help, but I'm
here to help them and to helpthem understand what communities
understand, seeing myself as aresource and being able to deal
(25:17):
with some of the challenges of.
Maybe a community member orcommunity leader won't like what
I have to say, but that's okay.
At least I'm there, I'm tryingto do something and doing the
best I can given the situationand also just knowing that not
everyone's gonna be on boardwith everything I have to offer.
But if I can at least get oneperson engaged to end, one
person willing to help withdigital equity in their
(25:39):
community, then that's also awin.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, for sure.
I'm always fascinated by peoplethat are doing the work in the
field, because it comes out toyou from a lot of different
angles and you just honestlynever know what you're gonna get
.
So I guess what I'm trying tosay is I admire the work that
you guys are doing.
I'll say it the way Chris wouldsay it I think it's really cool
.
I wanna thank you for your timeand also for your time at CU as
(26:03):
well, and for the AmeriCorpsweek that is currently going on
and the March theme they have ofrecruitment.
Could I ask you guys in casesomebody's hearing this and
wants to dip their toe in theAmeriCorps water, so to speak
why they should?
Allie, do you wanna start withwhy you would recommend somebody
take part in the program?
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Sure.
So I come at it from a uniqueperspective of being an
AmeriCorps member, because I'mstill in college, I'm still
gaining my undergraduate degree,so I think it gives you a great
stepping stone if you haven'tstepped foot into a professional
realm yet, and it gives you thetime management skills, the
communication, the networking,and they have plenty of good
(26:42):
educational incentives, withthere being a large educational
award at the end of your serviceI look forward to, and so I
think that it prepares you somuch for the professional realm
and I think it's a greatopportunity that I'm getting
before I actually have my firstreal professional career and I'm
very thankful for thatopportunity.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Awesome.
I know, sylvie, you touched onit quite a bit when you were
talking there earlier, but isthere anything else you wanted
to add recruitment month thatyou would say, yeah, here's my
sales pitch.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, I would.
Essentially, what I want toencourage is underrepresented,
underinvested, under-resourcedcommunities.
To take a look at AmeriCorps,experience women, communities of
color whether that is black,American, Hispanic or immigrant
(27:34):
and certainly perhaps low wealthpersons.
To explore AmeriCorps, as Alliewas sharing earlier, the
opportunities to see and dounique things is a great bolster
to confidence, as well asexperiences, Sometimes in the
personal and professional realm.
(27:55):
It's not what you know, it'swho you know.
And so to help folks,particularly those who even in
thinking about under-resourcedrural communities, tribal
communities, to explore theseexternship internship
opportunities and take advantageof the opportunity to get paid
(28:16):
while you learn and they're inyour community, not just off in
another location or out of state.
So that's certainly the biginterest and push that I have is
being sure that we get morefolks to be able to be exposed
to these opportunities, but alsooffering their life experiences
(28:39):
to AmeriCorps.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Awesome.
That's our AmeriCorps membershere at Communities Unlimited.
I appreciate you guys' timeSylvia Brown, shruti Macharaju
and Allie Milligan.
It's AmeriCorps week their 30thanniversary.
Please go check them out onlineand I'm gonna go ahead and
volunteer this for you guys.
If anybody wants their opinionon working in AmeriCorps, just
go to our website,communitiesuorg, look for their
(29:02):
name and contact them there.
They'll tell you all about it.
I appreciate you guys' time.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Thanks, Chris, for the interest.
Yes, thank you.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
That's another episode of Small Talk with
Communities Unlimited.
Listen to previous episodes atcommunitiesuorg or anywhere you
get podcasts, and we'll see youfor a new episode here in a
couple of weeks.
Essentially, what I want to encourage is
underrepresented, under-infested, under-resourced communities.
To take a look at AmeriCorps,experienced women, communities
of color whether that is black,american, hispanic or immigrant
and certainly, perhaps,low-wealth persons.
(00:23):
To explore AmeriCorps, theopportunities to see and do
unique things is a great bolsterto confidence, as well as
experiences.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Welcome to Small Talk , the community's unlimited
podcast designed to empoweremerging and rural communities.
I'm Chris Baker and it'sAmeriCorps Week, and on this
week's podcast, our guests arethree AmeriCorps members who
have been working with us hereat Communities Unlimited on our
broadband team.
We wanted to have them on totalk about their experiences and
to talk about AmeriCorps.
So, sylvia Brown, shrutiMataraju and Allie Milligan,
(01:01):
thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Thanks for making space for us.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Sylvia, can I start with you?
I want to talk.
Tell me about the AmericanConnection Corps and the
AmeriCorps and tell me what therelationship with Communities
Unlimited is.
How does that work?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
So AmeriCorps is, if you think about an umbrella,
it's the umbrella entity andAmeriCorps is the federal
organization that managesvolunteer programs.
We're actually in our 30th yearand next week, March 10th
through 16th, will be our 30thanniversary and AmeriCorps Week.
(01:40):
And so within AmeriCorps, thereare 40,000 communities annually
, 200,000 applicants and folkson the ground in communities
ranging from urban, suburban,rural and tribal, and the
(02:00):
American Connection Corps, ofwhich I'm a fellow, along with
Shruti and Allie, is one ofthose programs that is
partnering through Lead forAmerica to focus in on the
digital divide.
There are three focuses of theAmerican Connection Corps People
(02:23):
, Place and Possibility.
And in linking up withCommunities Unlimited, the
broadband division or departmentheaded by Catherine Krantz, saw
that as an opportunity to buildthe capacity and capability to
do more for the communities inthe seventh state in which
(02:46):
Communities Unlimited is working.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
And Allie To Sylvia's point what have you guys been
doing?
What are some of the thingsthat you've been working on?
Speaker 3 (02:56):
So a lot of our work recently has been creating
digital equity roadmaps for 40communities in Arkansas,
louisiana, oklahoma, mississippiand Texas and we've been
gathering socioeconomic anddigital opportunity data to
inform digital equity needs inthese communities.
This week, recently, we've beenstarting to output those into
the community facilitators andCU so that they can bring those
(03:18):
to the communities themselves sothat we can start hopefully
working on some digital equityprogramming in those communities
that we're currently working in.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Okay.
So, shruti, can you define,because I don't know can you
define what an equity roadmap is?
Speaker 4 (03:31):
So a digital equity roadmap is essentially a report
where we, as digital equitycoordinators, figure out the
need for digital equityprogramming in a specific
community.
So that will look like gatheringcensus data on different
demographics and socioeconomicinformation on specific
(03:52):
communities, as well as lookingat the access to broadband and
looking at the different coveredpopulations in a community.
So the covered populations asdefined in the Digital Equity
Act would be like ruralresidents, residents living at
150% of the poverty level orbelow, veterans, aging community
(04:13):
members, just to name a few.
And then those coveredpopulations essentially are
populations that tend to havelower levels of connectivity or
digital literacy.
And so we take that informationand we create recommendations
and best practices on ways tohelp those communities and
demographics to learn digitalskills or to get access to
(04:33):
devices just so that they canhave the ability to use the
internet.
Through that we also just putlike best practices and
resources to help communityleadership teams that will
eventually get our plans to helpbuild programs around those in
their own communities and helpthem work with internet service
providers in their local area toincrease access for their
people to internet, such ashelping them with making plans
(04:57):
more affordable and, on top ofthat just giving them resources
to maybe even get funding formore opportunities to help with
their digital issues.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
So, sylvia, why are you working in this field?
How did you get here today?
Speaker 1 (05:14):
I won't take that literally there, chris, but how
did I get to the AmeriCorps andAmerican Connection Corps?
Interestingly, when I wasstarting out early in my
professional career, and reallyprobably maybe five or six years
after AmeriCorps started, Iattempted to apply for
(05:36):
AmeriCorps membership, but lifegot in the way.
And I tried several years later, when I was in my mid-career,
and another life happened, asthey say, life-lifed.
And so now as a senior career,I saw the opportunity of the
(05:56):
American Connection Corps askind of a full circle moment,
because in my career journey I'dworked on Capitol Hill and one
of the first issues I dealt withwas internet and the telecom
companies, telephone companiesgetting into the internet,
(06:16):
deployment and build out.
And those policy decisions thatwere made during that period of
time have, frankly, come hometo roost, because those policy
decisions from the big telecomswill get to the rural
communities eventually.
We're coming, we're coming, andso they worked with the easy,
(06:37):
low-hanging fruit of urbancommunities, higher income
communities.
And now, after experiencing thepandemic, we realized that
internet connectivity high-speed, quality, affordable internet
connectivity is not a nice tohave or a luxury.
It's now, some would say, evenevening up to a utility.
(07:01):
And so, when the opportunitycame across my LinkedIn of
American Connection Corpsrecruitment, I initially sent it
to some folks in my network andeventually said you know,
Sylvia, this again is a goodopportunity to bridge and the
(07:22):
policy and lived experience thatyou've had with the opportunity
to do some work here in mycommunity.
But also I knew the reputationof communities unlimited and
wanted to kind of get a tastefor how they operated internally
.
And so it's really, you know,kind of a confluence of
(07:44):
circumstances that brought meand brings me to this
opportunity to be a part of theAmeriCorps community and the
American Connection Corps onthis critically important issue
of bridging the digital dividethrough access, affordability
and adoption.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And one of the things that I was sent.
I really loved this line inthere.
It says the digital divide isthe problem, digital equity is
the goal and digital inclusionis how you get there.
What kind of things are youguys working on where you've
seen the digital divide, becauseI think some people who listen
to this may not know exactly howbig that divide is and how
(08:27):
we're going to bridge that gap.
I don't know.
Maybe, Allie, could you tell usan example or two of some
things that you've seen out whenyou're working that people may
or may not know about.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Yes, so right now I'm currently working on some
curriculum for a homelessshelter in Texarkana, texas, and
it has been quite challengingbecause you think of just not
being able to have Wi-Fi at homeor having a Wi-Fi on your phone
or like a service plan on yourphone.
It goes even more farther to notbeing connected when you're not
sheltered.
So figuring out ways how tomake connectivity important to
(09:01):
homeless people has been part ofmy mission as part of my ACC.
So right now I'm working onsome curriculum for them
learning how to type, becausenoticing when they're starting
to do food stamp applications orMedicaid or Medicare and they
don't know how to type, theydon't know how to fill out these
documents that are needing tobe filled out.
So just making sure that theyhave those basic computer skills
(09:21):
so that they're able to reachthe resources that they need,
and also working on like resumebuilding and knowing how to work
Word documents or Google Docsso that they have the capacity
to be able to build farther onwhen they do get housed, is just
some specific ways that I'mworking in my community right
now.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
And Trudy, could you talk to us about digital equity
being the goal?
Equity is an easy term todefine.
The digital equity is a littlebit more of a little harder for
me.
I understand the concept of it,but again same question Is
there some things that you'veseen in your time here that you
can give us some examples thatpeople may or may not know about
(10:00):
?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
So I guess one way is just one way I've seen digital
equity play out is justessentially tying my background
and my childhood to like workingin digital equity.
So I grew up in a pretty bigcity like right outside of
Houston and here fiber internetis very common, like it's so
easy to get access to internet,even if you go to a library you
(10:21):
can pretty much get high speedinternet.
And then just being able to goto like different, like
communities, and seeing how Ikind of grew up privileged and
that not everyone just has likehigh speed internet Some
libraries and communities don'teven have internet it just made
me realize that this is likedigital equity is like a serious
thing that's impactingcommunities and a lot of those
communities aren't really beingheard or are sort of neglected
(10:44):
by even just like their stategovernments.
So I'm just being able to seelike rural communities that
weren't even on my radar upuntil recently.
Not having the privilege I hadthat I took for granted has
definitely opened my eyes to howbig of an issue digital equity
has been.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Yeah, you know, and one of the things I guess that
I've seen is that, like you werementioning in a second ago,
allie, more and more things aregoing online.
More and more applications forthings are online, more and more
functions are online and,sylvia, you were talking about
being really close to utility,and that's absolutely true.
Can I pose the same question toyou, sylvia, and some examples
that you may share of thingsthat you've seen, where digital
(11:21):
equity was an issue that canhelp people understand the
problems we're trying to work on?
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Sure, I think you think about the topic equity and
digital equity being, in acouple of different layers and
ways, intersectional.
Even to your point, chris, andas well Shruti, their many may
actually be access to aninternet service provider, so
(11:48):
folks could possibly be able totap into fairly high speed.
However, the second part ofthat, is it affordable?
Is it a entry point to a pricepoint where they are able to
afford the internet at theirhome?
Just thinking about myself andback in the day when I did live
(12:10):
in an urban environment inWashington DC, the internet was
not as ubiquitous.
You dealt with it at the officeand you went home and lived
your life.
But now, like you said, it'sintegrated into our daily lives.
However, folks may not havethat opportunity to utilize home
(12:30):
internet as readily due toaffordability.
You also think about equityfrom the perspective of devices.
I say, okay, you've gotinternet at home, but it's a
mobile device on your cell phone.
Well, if you're trying to helpyour kid do their homework, how
(12:53):
easily is it accessible to pullup a form that may not be linked
to or being in a readableformat on a mobile device?
Then you talk about digitalequity from a skill set.
Do you know now the phones,tablets or touchscreen?
(13:18):
Do you know what that littlesymbol on the device means to
turn on, turn off?
Do you know how to scroll inorder to move to the next part
of that application?
To the practical point, in aintergenerational household, and
giving an example of my mom,I'd gotten her a tablet several
(13:43):
years ago and that tablet set onthe bookcase for years, unless
and until her grandkids came andplayed with the black tablet.
Two years or so ago she startedutilizing the tablet a lot more
and she's on the tabletscrolling on Facebook, although
(14:04):
it's lurking through my account.
But now she's become morecomfortable utilizing the tablet
and even passing a bit of thatinformation that tablet to my
dad so that they could look atpictures of first day of school
for my younger brother, wholives in Tennessee.
She was having some medicalissues, some reactions, and so
(14:28):
she was able to take somepictures, some selfies, and take
that with her to her doctor'sappointment.
And so when we think about whatdigital equity means, it's not
just access to the internet,home internet, to be clear, it's
the affordability of theinternet, affordability and
(14:48):
access to the devices.
What is the adoption, uptake orsubscription to these services
and, like I said, having thatlevel of comfort to utilize
these devices and to utilize thehome internet service.
And so key within thisconversation is being a
supportive, trusted messengerand also meeting people where
(15:12):
they are recognizing that we'retrying to talk to folks.
Talk with folks about the fullspectrum of digital access in
their lives and not just thebottom baseline of workforce
development or education,helping folks to be fully
(15:34):
connected, if you will.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
People who may even have access to the internet and
not subscribe to it in theirhomes, especially in the
high-speed internet world.
I struggled understanding that,but it was made very easily
understandable to me a whileback when I was talking to
Catherine about some of theprograms for affordability of
the internet.
Can you guys talk to me aboutmaybe some experiences where
(15:58):
you've talked to people and justhad that discussion about why
they don't subscribe to it evenif it's available to them?
Is there any kind of anecdotesyou may be able to give to me
about that?
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Well, I think we're kind of exploring that now.
I think there have been studiesdone that.
We were at a national conferencea few weeks ago net inclusion,
sponsored by the NationalDigital Inclusion Alliance.
Some of the reasons folks justmay not see it as a critical
(16:31):
part of their daily activities.
Some of it may be that, like Isaid that affordability we had
just come off of a two-yearprogram called the ACP but it
was a $30 credit for folks toutilize or become a subscriber
(16:51):
to internet service home-basedinternet service and it was $75
to tribal communities.
That was a big push to try tokeep that and we're hopeful that
perhaps Congress may continuefunding for that.
But what folks found with thatadoption of ACP was, like we
(17:16):
said, just trying to get thatentry point to being affordable
and being able to utilize it.
I think you have a couple ofthings maybe not a couple, but a
little bit more that's tappinginto folks of why they are not
subscribers.
Like I said, one it may notseem like it's something that is
(17:37):
beneficial be able to fit intothe kitchen table, budget items
and their personal lives.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Anyone else want to add anything on top of that?
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Yes, I would.
Recently, to go along with that, we worked with the Mississippi
Broadband Association becausethey were having some issues
having support in internetadoption, so we ended up
creating a flyer for them todistribute to their communities
about why internet is important,and we broke it down into
different things such as likeentertainment, staying connected
(18:09):
with friends and family whodon't live close, education,
being able to attend classesfrom anywhere and continuing
education at any age, jobopportunities, finding careers,
linkedin, all those differentjob applications that are out
there now, healthcare, stayingconnected, like with telehealth
and being able to access onlineportals that doctors' offices
(18:29):
and medical offices may have.
And also growing your business,like economic development, and
all those things, because wewant the communities to see how
versatile adopting internetconnection can be, and it's not
just for social media oranything basic.
It can be literally every partof your life you can put into
internet and broadband in sometype of aspect, and I think
(18:51):
that's also very important.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Can you guys tell me about the program at the school
district in Texas, the computerskills program?
Can one of you guys talk to meabout that one that you're
working on?
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Sure, we have an appointment set up, hopefully
with our community facilitatorcolleague, to dig a little bit
more into the school district'sinterest in offering digital
curriculum.
What we have surfacedinformation for them to be a
(19:22):
part of that conversation is toand this speaks as well to
digital equity is that it'scritically important that, with
any of these conversations, thatcollaboration is what rules the
day.
And so, in trying to think aboutwhat they would like to offer
(19:43):
for adult digital literacy oradult learning, it's critically
important that they engage witha broad spectrum of stakeholders
, stakeholders that range fromtrusted messengers within the
faith community, within socialrelationships, those unofficial
mayors of the block, as well asmaking sure the conversation
(20:08):
speaks directly to theindividuals that they are trying
to engage.
So hearing from thosestakeholders and community
members directly, becausethere's kind of a saying within
the social services andorganizing community nothing
about us without us.
And so to be sure that thoseconversations include those
(20:31):
community members alsorecognizing that the topic of
digital literacy and digitaleducation and learning is top of
mind to a number of differententities workforce development,
social services and so checkingin with their state education
(20:51):
standards to make sure thatthey're meeting those adult
education standards, in additionto those adult literacy and
digital literacy educationstandards.
So a lot of, hopefully, of whatwe'll get a chance to speak
with the points of contact aboutwill be to help them to
(21:12):
recognize that they don't haveto create something from whole
cloth.
There are models out thereavailable.
There are folks that maybe havedone a bit of the heavy lifting
already and it perhaps may justbe choosing choosing something
off the shelf, tweaking it tothe needs of their community and
(21:33):
of their neighbors so that theneed can be met.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Okay, so it's AmeriCorps week.
Talk to me about that, talk tome about what that's all about,
and is there anything you guyswant to highlight?
Speaker 1 (21:47):
because Well, it's the 30th anniversary 1993, till
now 2024.
And there are over a millionAmeriCorps alum.
In a few months, in July, we'llbe able to proudly say I served
and be able to have that as apart of our banner, both from a
(22:14):
professional standpoint as wellas a personal standpoint.
This year's theme is it's not amoment, it's a movement, and I
think that's important to pointout because the needs of a
community form, capacitybuilding to capabilities, to
(22:35):
education, senior support.
Disaster relief happens not justfor a moment but it's a
continual process.
If you're recovering,particularly in disasters, it's
a process that continues longpast when the incident happened.
And the same with benefits forsupporting senior meal delivery,
(23:00):
supporting volunteers that arein these communities day in and
day out and trying to do thebest they can for the
individuals and neighbors thatthey are working with.
And so we certainly encouragesupport folks to check out
americorpsgov to find out ifthey would like to be AmeriCorps
(23:22):
members themselves.
There's no age limit other than, I believe, 18.
We do have AmeriCorps seniorsas well, and if not for
themselves and thinking aboutsomeone in their care circle I
mentioned earlier in my career,before getting started along
life, I tried to get engaged asa graduating out of college or
(23:46):
getting started in the college.
So utilize AmeriCorps to notonly give back, but also to grow
in your personal perspective,to gain some talent, to test
your medal and also to expandyour network as well.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Shruti, do you think that your medal has been tested?
Have you grown?
Can you talk about some of thestuff that you've experienced?
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Yeah, I mean I would say a short answer.
My medal has definitely grown.
One thing I heard a lot gettinginto this was to be comfortable
, being uncomfortable, andthat's definitely proven pretty
true and has definitely helpedme, I guess, toughen up and just
be able to take things a lot, Iguess, lighter and just
overcome a lot of challenges.
So before AmeriCorps I wasworking a lot in outreach,
(24:36):
specifically to universities andcongress members.
I guess that was a lot easierthan I expected it to be,
because it's sort of one ofthose things it's like there's
always someone responding to youand there's always a connection
I could have utilized to getpeople in the room.
And then working withcommunities that are not
necessarily people that areseeking out my help, but me
(24:56):
seeking them out, to communicatewith them, is definitely
something I struggle with a lotJust being able to, I guess, get
a basis of.
It's not necessarily that theyare looking for my help, but I'm
here to help them and to helpthem understand what communities
understand, seeing myself as aresource and being able to deal
(25:17):
with some of the challenges of.
Maybe a community member orcommunity leader won't like what
I have to say, but that's okay.
At least I'm there, I'm tryingto do something and doing the
best I can given the situationand also just knowing that not
everyone's gonna be on boardwith everything I have to offer.
But if I can at least get oneperson engaged to end, one
person willing to help withdigital equity in their
(25:39):
community, then that's also awin.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, for sure.
I'm always fascinated by peoplethat are doing the work in the
field, because it comes out toyou from a lot of different
angles and you just honestlynever know what you're gonna get
.
So I guess what I'm trying tosay is I admire the work that
you guys are doing.
I'll say it the way Chris wouldsay it I think it's really cool
.
I wanna thank you for your timeand also for your time at CU as
(26:03):
well, and for the AmeriCorpsweek that is currently going on
and the March theme they have ofrecruitment.
Could I ask you guys in casesomebody's hearing this and
wants to dip their toe in theAmeriCorps water, so to speak
why they should?
Allie, do you wanna start withwhy you would recommend somebody
take part in the program?
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Sure.
So I come at it from a uniqueperspective of being an
AmeriCorps member, because I'mstill in college, I'm still
gaining my undergraduate degree,so I think it gives you a great
stepping stone if you haven'tstepped foot into a professional
realm yet, and it gives you thetime management skills, the
communication, the networking,and they have plenty of good
(26:42):
educational incentives, withthere being a large educational
award at the end of your serviceI look forward to, and so I
think that it prepares you somuch for the professional realm
and I think it's a greatopportunity that I'm getting
before I actually have my firstreal professional career and I'm
very thankful for thatopportunity.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Awesome.
I know, sylvie, you touched onit quite a bit when you were
talking there earlier, but isthere anything else you wanted
to add recruitment month thatyou would say, yeah, here's my
sales pitch.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, I would.
Essentially, what I want toencourage is underrepresented,
underinvested, under-resourcedcommunities.
To take a look at AmeriCorps,experience women, communities of
color whether that is black,American, Hispanic or immigrant
(27:34):
and certainly perhaps low wealthpersons.
To explore AmeriCorps, as Alliewas sharing earlier, the
opportunities to see and dounique things is a great bolster
to confidence, as well asexperiences, Sometimes in the
personal and professional realm.
(27:55):
It's not what you know, it'swho you know.
And so to help folks,particularly those who even in
thinking about under-resourcedrural communities, tribal
communities, to explore theseexternship internship
opportunities and take advantageof the opportunity to get paid
(28:16):
while you learn and they're inyour community, not just off in
another location or out of state.
So that's certainly the biginterest and push that I have is
being sure that we get morefolks to be able to be exposed
to these opportunities, but alsooffering their life experiences
(28:39):
to AmeriCorps.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Awesome.
That's our AmeriCorps membershere at Communities Unlimited.
I appreciate you guys' timeSylvia Brown, shruti Macharaju
and Allie Milligan.
It's AmeriCorps week their 30thanniversary.
Please go check them out onlineand I'm gonna go ahead and
volunteer this for you guys.
If anybody wants their opinionon working in AmeriCorps, just
go to our website,communitiesuorg, look for their
(29:02):
name and contact them there.
They'll tell you all about it.
I appreciate you guys' time.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Thanks, Chris, for the interest.
Yes, thank you.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
That's another episode of Small Talk with
Communities Unlimited.
Listen to previous episodes atcommunitiesuorg or anywhere you
get podcasts, and we'll see youfor a new episode here in a
couple of weeks.
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