Digital Inclusion Trailblazers is a public inventory of local government initiatives promoting digital literacy and broadband access for underserved residents. NDIA first launched this effort in 2016 as an advocacy tool for local, state and national digital inclusion leadership, and as a handy database of examples for communities interested in taking similar steps themselves.
The digital inclusion field, and local governments’ roles in it, have grown and changed a great deal over the past three years. To reflect those changes, NDIA is launching a new, annual Digital Inclusion Trailblazers designation process.
With support from Google Fiber and help from a Working Group of our affiliates, we’ve updated our Trailblazer indicators. There are now six indicators for a Digital Inclusion Trailblazer:
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- The local government has, or directly funds, at least one full-time staff dedicated to digital initiatives, policies and/or programs.
- The local government has a digital inclusion plan or is in the process of developing a plan.
- Representatives of the local government participate in a digital inclusion coalition.
- The local government has conducted or plans to conduct and publish survey research on Internet access and use by their residents.
- The local government directly funds community digital inclusion programming.
- The local government is taking steps to increase affordability of home broadband service.
We invite any local government that fits one or more of these indicators to apply to be a 2020 Digital Inclusion Trailblazer. The application form below provides a check list and documentation requirement for each indicator. The deadline for applications is midnight Friday, November 15, 2019.
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