News World 24

Rural areas in the U.S. struggle to provide residents with broadband internet access and the computers needed to maximize the benefits of online educational and economic resources. Digitunity, a non-profit organization committed to ending the digital divide, has released a commissioned report on the potential causes and solutions to the rural digital divide. 

"We know the digital divide has few boundaries," said Scot Henley, executive director of Digitunity. "It exists in large coastal cities and small towns in America's heartland. It affects people across demographics. With this report, we now know more about why that divide exists and how communities can resolve it."

Areas with substantial internet access and usage typically have higher levels of economic and community development in comparison to those with lower levels of use. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed in late 2021, dedicated an unprecedented amount of federal funding toward increasing broadband availability and adoption in less connected areas.

Digitunity's report, written by Oklahoma State University professor Brian E. Whitacre, discusses the direct correlation between internet access and rural economic development. It also looks in depth at the issue of device ownership, focusing on nationwide access and usage of large-screen devices recognized as superior to smartphones in the digital equity space. 

The three major segments of the report, titled "Status Quo," "Supply," and "Support," cover the socio-demographics impacted, as well as the supply chain processes and support networks working to resolve the digital divide rural communities face. The report's findings align with Digitunity's mission and focus on partnership networks. 

"Since its inception, Digitunity has operated on the belief that community-based organizations are essential to ending the digital divide," Henley said. "This report clearly defines the problems facing rural communities and how they can work with organizations like Digitunity to foster the solutions to those problems."

To learn more about Digitunity's mission to eliminate the digital divide in both rural and urban communities, please visit digitunity.org.  

About Digitunity
Since the 1980s, Digitunity has advanced digital inclusion by connecting donors of technology with organizations serving people in need. Our mission is to ensure everyone who needs a computer has one, along with robust internet connectivity and digital literacy skills. To learn more about our mission, please visit digitunity.org.

Boolean Girl has teamed up with the Virginia Tech Thinkabit labs, The Alice and Eugene Ford Foundation and corporate sponsors like Amazon and Batelle to launch an ambitious nationwide program to spark an interest in technology, computer science and engineering.  The 'micro:bit for All' program aims to put a micro:bit microcontroller kit in the hands of every 5th grader so they can code, build and invent devices with lights, motors and sensors.

"This is our moonshot, " says Brian Moran, co-founder of Boolean Girl. "We have already handed out hundreds of kits and we are only scratching the surface. There is no bigger mission than to make sure kids engage in STEM. The micro:bit kit makes it FUN."

Sleepy Hollow Elementary school in Fairfax, Virginia is a title one school that received 75 micro:bit kits for designing, building, and prototyping.

"This powerful device is a pocket-sized computer that helps students explore how software and hardware work together," says Kathleen Fugle STEAM Resource Teacher at Sleepy Hollow. "At the end of the school year, each fifth-grade student will receive one micro:bit kit to take home for continued STEAM learning. We are grateful to Boolean Girl, and the Virginia Tech Thinkabit Lab for this generous donation that we know will make a difference."

With generous donations from Amazon, Abingdon Elementary in Arlington and Ferdinand T. Day Elementary in Alexandria have received dozens of kits. Barcroft Elementary school in Arlington is on deck to receive kits on December 10th and take advantage of courses taught in English and Spanish. 

"We are just getting started," Moran said. "With more and more schools interested and more and more sponsors willing to help we really hope to hit our ambitious goal and help thousands of fifth graders!"

About Boolean: Over the past several years the non-profit Boolean Girl has taught thousands of girls to code and build things with electronics. 

For more information on Boolean Girl and getting involved in Micro:bit for all and the December 10th event please visit https://booleangirl.org.