BEAD Challenge Process Underway in Florida - What You Need to Know
The BEAD Challenge Process is a one-time opportunity to correctly label homes and businesses as served, unserved, or underserved by broadband throughout Florida. Is your home or business correctly labeled? Read on and get involved.
Lookout for Broadband Labels
Just as products on your grocer’s shelf display nutrition labels, the FCC has mandated that Internet Service Providers feature broadband labels to help consumers fully understand their internet subscription plans before purchasing and avoid hidden costs.
Digital Navigators Train in Cybersecurity
One of the important aspects of digital navigation training is learning about internet safety and security, and this month Digital Navigators had the opportunity to obtain next-level professional development in cybersecurity to keep themselves, their clients, and their organizations safer and more secure. As such, on May 3, 2024, 11 Digital Navigators from FUNducation and Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida gathered to earn their Introduction to Cybersecurity badges from Cisco in a supportive session designed to help reticent learners successfully complete the free, on-demand course.
Will States Use One-Time Federal Funding to Get Digital Inclusion Right?
To kick off Digital Inclusion Week 2023, I share additional thoughts from my panel at #FloridaBroadbandSummit for decision makers across sectors and at all levels who are involved in making use of unprecedented government funding to close the #digitaldivide.
Technology is for Everybody, Especially Seniors
Is the expectation that older adults can adopt the internet and devices realistic? September is Senior Center Awareness Month and thanks to Sarasota County’s Health and Human Services’ Age Friendly Newsletter, we explore this question as well as give advice for caregivers and seniors themselves who are tech-curious on how to start learning about technology.
College Voices Share their Digital Divide Struggles with Florida DEO and the Office of Broadband in Miami
Miami-Dade County had the opportunity to meet with Katie Smith from the Florida Office of Broadband on July 11, 2023 at Miami-Dade College along with Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity. As expected, internet service providers attended, but the fight for Florida’s digitally equitable future belonged to the younger generation. Among the many stakeholders who were present to hear about plans for Florida’s BEAD and Digital Equity Act funding, local college students turned out to make their experienced voices on the digital divide heard.
Digital Navigator Program Cohorts 1 & 2 Come Together
Through generous support from The Patterson Foundation, Maribel Martinez Consulting continues to build connective tissue in Charlotte, DeSoto, Manatee, and Sarasota counties between six nonprofit organizations working on digital navigation as a strategy to close the digital divide.
The Starfish Analogy
Learn about how the starfish analogy applies to digital equity and how Maribel Martinez Consulting is narrowing the digital divide in one Central Florida community a little bit more on May 7, 2022.