By Sarah Wray, Editor, Cities Today

An initiative led by the public-private Dallas Innovation Alliance will see ‘digital ambassadors’ provide support for up to 10,000 residents over the next two years.

The scheme has received a US$ 1 million grant from AT&T as part of the telco’s US$ 2 billion nationwide commitment to help bridge the digital divide.

Technology and resources for the programme are being developed so they can be reused and licensed to other communities.

Through the Connected Dallas programme, digital ambassadors will be hired to help residents with devices, internet plans and the skills to use them for education, job training and applications, transportation, telehealth, and basic services.

It is based on the National Digital Inclusion Alliance’s Digital Navigator model.

Co-Founder and Executive Director, Dallas Innovation Alliance, Jennifer Sanders told Cities Today:

“One of the largest and most complex challenges in digital access is reaching communities where they are to inform and navigate adoption of various internet needs.”

The programme will provide support via phone, text, online and in-person. The initial plan is to set up four to eight community anchor locations with 25 ambassadors per site, and learn from these experiences to scale further.

Sanders said the funding from AT&T will cover a large portion of the programme, with additional commitments from foundations including the Santander Consumer USA Foundation and the Dallas Foundation. Federal funding sources are also being pursued.

Scalable systems                                                                     

The money will be used to develop infrastructure for the programme including external and internal platforms, service software licensing, a call system, and advanced ticketing and programme measurement platform integration. The funding will also support marketing, salaries, website creation and equipment maintenance.

Sanders said: “We absolutely envision long-term sustainability for this programme – though as always with digital inclusion programmes, my personal hope is that we work ourselves out of a job as needs are fulfilled.”

The goal is for the initiative to have a wider reach beyond Dallas.

“Part of the model for sustaining is licensing the technology and resources to other organisations and communities across the country,” Sanders explained. “We’ve already had several conversations outside of Dallas where there is interest in doing just this.”

The technical design of the systems also aims to address another key challenge: the frequency with which digital access information and programmes change.

“This can provide additional frustrations to the community, and with very limited time, they often give up,” said Sanders.

“The Digital Ambassador programme has a focus on keeping information and training as up to date as possible through technology tools and APIs where possible. Through a central, ‘single version of the truth’, information is current and consistent across all support channels and we believe this eliminates another barrier to success.”

Recruitment

Attracting young people is a key focus in the recruitment of digital ambassadors.

“We are looking for members of the community that are actively engaged and passionate about supporting their neighbours,” Sanders commented.

“Part of our goal is to recruit and engage our next generation of high school and college students to support their experience in serving the community and developing skills that will serve well in their future path.”

Connected Dallas will also involve working with organisations that have existing relationships with residents who could benefit, such as libraries, community centres, churches, healthcare providers and others.

“As cities and other strategic or funding entities identify where dollars are needed in this complex issue, an increased look at the balance of community ‘boots on the ground’ support alongside infrastructure and affordability are so important,” said Sanders.

“Programmes deep in the community can be the most labour and resource-intensive, but most critical to success in hard-to-reach communities.”

This is a trend that has been seen elsewhere, such as Philadelphia’s Digital Navigator programme and London’s Digital Inclusion Service pilot.

• Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Cities Today.