Digital Equity Online Survey; Make Your Voice Heard – Help Your Community Get Online; Monterey County’s Goal is at least 250 Survey Responses by June 30!
The internet is a critical part of everyday life. Yet 1 in 5 Californians, including many
in Monterey County, do not have access to affordable, reliable broadband service,
devices, and the skills to use them. Going without a reliable broadband connection can
affect the ability to land a better job, provide a better education to the next generation or
fully access medical care. The gap between those with broadband connection and
those without is known as the “digital divide.”
Over the next few months, the California Department of Technology will be leveraging a
federal planning grant to develop a state Digital Equity Plan. When completed, the plan
will deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to California and ensure that
residents have affordable, high-speed internet access, as well as the skills and tools
needed to participate in the digital economy.
Here is where you can help. To create a Digital Equity Plan that works for everyone,
input is needed, and that input is being gathered by a statewide survey. Please take the
survey and encourage others to as well by June 30, 2023. The goal is to have 250
responses from Monterey County residents to best gauge needs and input from community
service providers and residents, but the more who respond give them a clear picture of
what is needed.
Feedback collected from this survey will help form a plan to fund programs that provide
reliable internet, computers, and the skills to use them.
The state of California needs to hear especially from those who struggle most with accessing the
internet. This includes English language learners, veterans, immigrants, adults over 60
years old, people who live in rural areas, individuals with disabilities, minorities and
those living at or below the federal poverty level.
Drafting the plan will be a major milestone toward enabling better digital access for
those in Monterey County so it is crucial that as many community members as possible
participate in this planning process while there is still time.
Click here to take the California Digital Equity Online Survey:
bit.ly/CADigitalEquitySurvey
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