A Preview of Our Upcoming Conversation

On October 3, 2023, at 2:00 pm eastern time, the Marconi Society is proud to partner with MCNC, North Carolina’s research and education network, and digital equity leaders in North Carolina to discuss the strategies, successes and challenges in creating digitally equitable communities across the state.  Register here to join us.

Innovators from across the state will join our expert panel, ready to share their perspectives and answer your questions. Our panel includes:

• Tracy Doaks, Moderator, CEO & President, MCNC
• Nate Denny, North Carolina Deputy Secretary for Broadband & Digital Equity
• Tracy Futhey, Chief Information Officer & Vice President, Duke University
• Patrick Fleming, Chief Information Officer, NC Community Colleges
• Bo Coughlin, Chief Operating Officer, Fybe
• Tracy Olson, CEO, NC Telehealth Network
• Tommy Jacobson, COO, MCNC

Here are some highlights of our upcoming conversation:

Digital equity is a focus across the board in North Carolina.

Digital equity is a multi-faceted priority for organizations in North Carolina, ranging from the state, to the research and education network, to higher education, private sector and anchor institutions.  While many states are just beginning to mobilize around digital equity, North Carolina is off and running.  Examples of organizations that are focused on digital equity include:

• Duke University, with a plethora of programs to help bring digital equity to North Carolinians.  Duke’s information technology (IT) organization is an integral part of these efforts, starting a decade ago with the North Carolina Next Generation Network (NCNGN), designed in collaboration with Google and AT&T, to bring gigabit networks to residential locations, including underserved areas. Duke’s IT department  also collaborated with the City of Durham and NCCU to network several Durham Housing Authority sites. This project was launched during COVID and when so many schools were closed, providing students in those locations with a broadband network alternative, rather than forcing them to rely only on cellular.

• Fybe, providing high-speed fiber Internet access to the rural, underserved areas of the state. School children in these unconnected areas have a distinct learning disadvantage in comparison to their peers in larger metro areas and providing broadband access to resources and support is a critical way to level the playing field.  High speed services in rural areas also help provide telemedicine for those who would have to drive over an hour to a clinic.

• MCNC, which is focused on equal access to digital resources and opportunities, regardless of socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, location, or other factors. MCNC’s network, the North Carolina Research Education Network (NCREN), is a 4,400-mile fiber network that serves as a powerful broadband infrastructure that scales to meet the service delivery needs in ALL communities, while providing agile and responsive services and tools that support and enhance economic development, collaboration, and innovation in the 21st century.  For decades, MCNC has provided affordable access to all communities, supported digital literacy efforts to ensure inclusivity, and encouraged policies to connect community anchor institutions throughout the state.

• NC Telehealth Network Association (NCTNA), focused on digital equity for all healthcare providers in the state.  NCTNA teams with MCNC to offer affordable broadband to the state’s health care providers, allowing them to share resources such as people, data, and applications.  The organization has a long–term commitment to supporting rural healthcare providers and patients, through a network that connects them to specialists and consultation from leading institutions throughout the state.  Through its leadership role in the North Carolina Healthcare Broadband Coalition, NCTNA helps ensure that healthcare providers across the state have the affordable broadband and support that they need to offer the best services possible to all North Carolinians.

• The State of North Carolina, through its Division of Broadband and Digital Equity within the North Carolina Department of Information and Technology.  This division is home to the state’s Broadband Infrastructure Office and the nation’s first Office of Digital Equity and Literacy.  Reflecting the state’s commitment to ensuring that all North Carolinians have the high-speed Internet, devices and digital literacy they need to participate in the digital world, the Office of Digital Equity recently awarded nearly $10 million in the state’s first digital equity grant program to state agencies and universities for digital literacy training, device access and digital inclusion planning. 

Surprises in the Ability to Scale and in Key Applications

Our panel has been pleasantly surprised in their work on a number of fronts.  

While the term “digital equity” is still reaching the mainstream, people in North Carolina have been “doing” digital equity for years.  Whether this is public wifi at coffee shops, computer labs at churches and libraries or free computer classes for the community, locating, scaling, and building awareness of these existing programs will make it far easier to create digitally equitable communities.

The appetite for and level of excitement about the opportunity to receive high speed Internet and associated services has also been a surprise, surfacing the underlying demand.

From a healthcare perspective, the overall awareness and acceptance of telehealth has increased significantly as providers and the community become connected, greatly increasing the options for rural residents and those that cannot easily get to in-person appointments.  In particular, the growth and success of tele-psych has been a pleasant surprise, particularly during the past several highly stressful years.  A number of providers mastered the delicate art of virtual therapy to help keep North Carolinians mentally healthy.

Digital equity is more than just providing high-speed Internet service – it is about understanding and remedying the underlying inequities in our state and society that keep many from reaching their full potential.  Solutions that are designed and implemented in partnership with the community are the most successful ones.  Since we are solving difficult, complex problems, it is also important to celebrate the successes and victories along the way in order to maintain morale and momentum.

The power of partnership has also been a pleasant surprise, such as the collaboration between Duke, MCNC, North Carolina Central University and Davidson to secure NSF funding to extend Duke’s services and infrastructure to minority serving and smaller institutions across the state.  

Strategies to Help All States:  Agility, Research and Partnerships

North Carolina’s approach to digital equity is research-led, including regional listening sessions across the state to understand issues associated with affordability, devices and digital literacy.  The state is partnering with higher ed institutions on a state-wide survey provided in multiple languages, as well as an asset survey to understand how organizations and businesses across the state can support access and digital literacy initiatives.  

Partnership is key and is occurring throughout the state.  Whether it is between MCNC, businesses and private sector service providers to serve more customers, between anchor institutions and others within and beyond the state to understand how to solve challenges, through public/private partnerships to serve rural areas, no one organization can do any part of this on their own.  Partnerships can take time and require real commitment and trust  – patience is a must!  The results are worth it.

Change is the one constant and the overall openness in North Carolina to learning new skills, meeting with new people and considering new ideas has helped us create flexible and adaptive digital equity initiatives.

We look forward to seeing all of you on October 3!  Come with your ideas and questions.