‘Power Up Tour’ focuses on digital equity, device access around city

Philly s new Power Up Tour is giving away laptops to residents most of in need in each of the City Council districts The city will eventually provide devices in total with about distributed in each of the council districts Lack of personal device access is a huge barrier in the city right now revealed the Office of Innovation and Device s Broadband and Digital Inclusion Manager Juliet Fink-Yates We know access to a computer is invaluable for making sure that residents can do their schoolwork or work on their resumes or get jobs she reported I think that if we all only worked on our mobile phones there s a lot of things we can t do with that Helpers at the latest Power Up Tour event provide information and training for those receiving devices Photo courtesy of City of Philadelphia s Office of Innovation and Apparatus Fink-Yates emphasized it is tough to find laptops that cost anything less than several hundred dollars While she declared there are sometimes affordable workarounds to internet services living without a consistent device at home can be a major blow We hear all the time from our digital navigators that the number one need is veritably a computer she stated The price of a computer at the lowest cost is like - for a new computer Even a refurbished one is often a real barrier Folks can t come up with that amount of money to purchase a computer According to the city s majority current content of households in Philadelphia don t have a functioning laptop or desktop Fink-Yates revealed this can create a big disparity for those with and without working apparatus Residents want to be able to leverage equipment to do what they want to do she commented I think having the pandemic really revealed us that having a computer in your home creates equity across the city So it enables anybody to be able to do the things they want to do safely in their own home Life without devices accessibility For those who may not have reliable internet access or devices Fink-Yates reported there are options These may include libraries group centers or nonprofits But she emphasized there is more protection with a consistent device and that a lot of people may resort to using their phones for certain tasks A lot of folks are working on their phones and they are trying to do things that are really hard to do on their phones she announced Like submitting applications and resumes which are really hard to format nicely when doing all of that on your phone She adds having a personal computer can aid in providing privacy and comfort for all residents which is part of the city s aim with this plan They may not want to go to the library or a populace space to look up a wellness condition right she explained They may want to do that in the privacy of their own home And having the ability to do that and do that safely and know how to do that is really critical as part of our digital equity work And while equipment is not a primary need like food or shelter it can really limit someone s options to provide for their primary necessities commented Alex Wermer-Colan the executive director of Philly Locality Wireless Access to digital instrument while maybe a secondary need is essential to getting those primary demands he stated Without internet access it can be hard to get healthcare it can be hard to get a job it can be hard to connect with others Philly Area Wireless is working to build large-scale wifi networks around the city Wermer-Colan explained this kind of work along with the city s Power Up Tour initiative can help to make critical positive change for Philadelphians The city s done a lot of research that has shown the need to help people get over the hurdle of making an expensive purchase for something like a laptop and that kind of gift or that kind of donation can greatly change someone s life he announced Philly Public Wireless helps create more digital equity in the city by installing wireless systems particularly outdoors Photo courtesy of Philly Population Wireless Jonathan Wilson is the executive director of the Fathership Foundation a nonprofit that worked with the Power Up event He explained equity in innovation is crucial as it allows people to have equal opportunities in school work and other spaces Say a scholar doesn t have a computer he announced They may have to rely on masses spaces like maybe a recreation or learning center For that candidate it just limits their performance Say they forgot an assignment they may have to wait until the center opens or wait until they get to school to complete it If they d had a laptop they could ve logged into their account and finished whatever they had to do This gives them the opportunity to keep up with everyone else The Fathership Foundation regularly works with public members to provide tuition offer strength programs and close the wealth gap Wilson explained his organization worked to identify those preponderance in need of laptops Our role was identifying those people in need he declared Generally we did just look back to our database and who had participated in our programs and we were familiar with who were really in need And we were able to pinpoint those who really needed computers A more connected future Fink-Yates revealed there are several moving parts that go into providing affordable machinery and internet to Philadelphians She stated the Power Up Tour is a good way to get over the initial cost of a computer So we hear all the time that there is a huge need across the city she explained We hear that folks don t have computers they re not working or they re old and broken That s the other thing Computers need to be replaced or upgraded every insufficient years typically to continue to work And a lot of folks don t have the ability to do that or the ceiling to do that and so it s a persistent issue across the city that folks are in need of computers Beyond this she reported it s vital for Philadelphians to have reliable Internet access in their homes She stated this can create consistency and is pivotal especially for bigger families Everybody demands internet access in their home she stated They need high-speed internet access It has to work reliably for them and it also has to work reliably for everybody in the family using it at the same time for countless applications And for digital equity groups like Philly Society Wireless establishing widespread internet connection around the city is significant Wermer-Colan announced If you don t have internet if you don t have a home you should still be able to access the internet he stated It shouldn t be something restricted by price For the future he explained the group will continue to install internet infrastructure around the city particularly in outdoor spaces Philly Population Wireless will continue to provide access to networks around the city Alex Wermer-Colan reported Photo courtesy of Philly District Wireless One thing the city can do to continue helping is leveraging its real estate he revealed The city s access to buildings can uniquely benefit organizations that need permission to enter spaces to install wireless Organizations like ours uniquely benefit from access to that sort of real estate and the more that communities can leverage citizens property to share to expand tools available to region the better he commented Wilson is also hopeful that the city will continue with similar initiatives that serve a great number of people as there are numerous more people who could use expanded internet access I think the Power Up Tour is a good initiative and I hope they re able to scale it he revealed It was a drop in the bucket and we are touching the people in our public But there are so plenty of more people in need As for the city Fink-Yates mentioned the Power Up Tour is one of a multitude of initiatives that provide people with both internet access and tool We collaborate across the city with different departments she mentioned So we collaborate with the Free Library we collaborate with the Parks and Recreation Department we work closely with the school district So our squad is constantly talking with various departments across the city around this work She explained she hopes the combination of these support and programs along with other initiatives like the Power Up Tour can continue to bridge the gap in internet access across the city There are three upcoming Power Up Tour stops on May June and June For more information about these stops or the tour you can visit their website The post Power Up Tour focuses on digital equity device access around city appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY