NDIA is proud to release the full NDNC Program Evaluation Report alongside our summary, Key Findings & Recommendations Brief, for the National Digital Navigator Corps.
In 2022, NDIA launched the National Digital Navigator Corps (NDNC) a multi-year pilot program to create and expand digital navigator programs in rural and Tribal communities with an investment from Google.org. The program set out to adapt the established digital navigator model for implementation in rural and Tribal communities where barriers to digital equity, such as poor broadband availability, geographic isolation, and a lack of community resources, are particularly acute for economically vulnerable residents.
The cohort of subgrantees comprised 18 community based organizations spanning 15 states. NDIA led the program and provided training and ongoing support to the subgrantees, along with program partner AMERIND Critical Infrastructure (AMERIND/ACI). The National Digital Navigator Corps (NDNC) affirmed and strengthened the core value proposition of the digital navigator model, with digital navigators serving as trusted community resources, supporting thousands of community members with ongoing, individualized support for accessing affordable and appropriate connectivity, devices, and digital skills.
Over a period of 31 months, the 18 subgrantee organizations delivered digital navigator services to more than 6,500 community members, held more than 9,200 sessions, and distributed more than 4,100 devices. NDIA’s Data and Research team completed a comprehensive evaluation of the program, based on data provided by the subgrantees, conversations with subgrantees and program staff, and feedback from community members.
Based on information from the comprehensive program evaluation, we highlighted excerpts from select key findings and recommendations for digital navigator programs themselves, as well as for funders and partners in the Key Findings and Recommendations Brief. These include:
- Adapting strategies and expectations is essential for providing digital navigator services in rural and Tribal areas. Unique challenges, such as low population density across vast areas and limited broadband availability, constrain the capacity of digital navigators. Programs must prioritize localized messaging and outreach tailored to these specific community needs. It is vital to invest time in understanding local dynamics and establishing partner relationships during the planning and development phase. For initiatives like the NDNC, funders and administrators should explicitly allocate budget and time for this preparatory work following recipient selection but prior to the start of live services.
- Building awareness of digital navigator services and a referral pipeline takes time, despite being a trusted and well-known entity in a community. Programs need to be adaptable to test multiple types of outreach strategies. It’s important to make a plan for outreach and education about the digital navigator program with community partners and internally within the host organization. We also recommend using NDIA’s sample digital navigator marketing materials, developed in collaboration with our community network, to create outreach materials for distribution to community partners to build awareness and simplify the referral process.
- Digital navigators often assume multifaceted roles, which can lead to significant risk of overburdening and burnout. Frequently tasked with simultaneous responsibilities—including building community awareness, generating client referrals, and managing data collection—digital navigators often found their duties exceeding their capacity. In many cases, host organizations lacked a comprehensive understanding of the full scope of a digital navigator’s work beyond providing direct technology training and support to community members.
It is essential to surround digital navigators with robust organizational support to effectively scale and sustain the program. Establish clearly defined roles for digital navigators and supporting personnel, such as program managers, data specialists, and communications staff. Ensure all internal team members understand the available digital navigator services to facilitate seamless internal referrals. Furthermore, leverage existing networks and organizational relationships to support digital navigators in their outreach efforts and partnership development. - Consistent, standardized data collection was an ongoing challenge due to a range of technical and programmatic factors. Subgrantee organizations entered the NDNC program with widely varying levels of data-collection experience. It’s critical to establish clear data collection requirements in consultation with digital navigators and budget time for training, data entry, and management.
- Lack of funding is the primary barrier to subgrantees continuing to offer digital navigator services. To address this early, we recommend developing a sustainability plan for digital navigator programs that identifies diverse and overlapping funding sources to ensure the program is not reliant on any single source, mitigates the risk of funding losses, and avoids funding or service gaps.
From a national perspective, the NDNC provided NDIA and our community the opportunity to:
- Increase partnerships with rural and Tribal communities, including hosting Net Inclusion 2025 in the Gila River Indian Community, the first time this conference was held on Tribal land; the launch of Seven Star Communities program to recognize Tribal governments and Native-led organizations leading the way in digital inclusion work, the establishment of the Indigenous Digital Inclusion Working Group and presentations on digital inclusion programs at Tribal Broadband Bootcamps and Native conferences.
- Develop and disseminate digital navigator resources and tools for the NDIA community. This includes the Digital Navigator Program Toolkit, NDNC Stories, and digital navigator resources at digitalinclusion.org.
For further details on the lessons learned and the detailed results of the comprehensive NDNC Program Evaluation, please access the full report. This evaluation measures the grant program’s performance against nine specific outcomes defined in our work with Google.org. You can also review the Key Findings & Recommendations Brief for a full overview and additional information on all the key findings and recommendations.