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What Is the ‘Fix’ for the Capital Region’s Digital Divide?

On January 23, the Sacramento Public Library along with Valley Vision and the City of Sacramento Office of Innovation and Economic Development, co-hosted many state, regional, and local partners at the beautiful Tsakopoulos Library Galleria for the region’s first ever Digital Inclusion Summit. The purpose was to define digital equity for the Sacramento Region, identify barriers that lead to the Digital Divide, and create meaningful measurement tools. The Summit included a keynote speaker, lightning talks from 13 presenters, and group goal-setting for regional next steps.

We kicked off with Alex Bahn, Digital Equity Manager of San Francisco’s Office of Digital Equity, sharing the steps and takeaways from the San Francisco Digital Equity Playbook. The Playbook, a pilot program produced by his office, was intended for agencies serving the most vulnerable populations at risk of being digitally excluded. The office conducted focus groups and interviews at housing and workforce centers which identified barriers around digital technology adoption: feeling embarrassed, time constraints, affordability, fear of technology, language barriers, disabilities, and lack of access. By identifying the barriers, Alex and his team were able to create a playbook of resources for populations to overcome being digitally excluded in a world of increasing digitization. The more surprising takeaway (given proximity to the Silicon Valley) was the comparison of San Francisco to Sacramento in our current status in addressing digital inclusion, and our need for greater collaboration to bridge the digital gap.

Next up, 13 lightning talks from organizations across the region working to advance digital inclusion. Speakers provided key information about their efforts in the continuum goal of closing the digital divide:

  • Jared Amalong – Sacramento County Office of Education: Equity in K-12 Computer Science Education;
  • Julius Austin – Sacramento Promise Zone/SHRA: Sacramento Promise Zone – Collaboration;
  • Patrick Becknell – Mutual Housing California: Digital literacy inclusion and access in affordable housing;
  • Erika Bjork – Sacramento Metro Chamber: Trends in digital skills workforce in the region;
  • Markus Geissler – Deputy Sector Navigator of ICT-Digital Media for the Sacramento region: Beyond Computer Science: Explore all ICT Disciplines;
  • Navneet Grewel – Yellow Circle: Cybersecurity learning platform;
  • Kandace Knudson – Sacramento City College: What it looks like to support access to academic technology (our student technology help desk);
  • Cameron Law – Social Venture Partners of Sacramento: Aligning Funding toward digital inclusion/literacy;
  • Azizi Penn – YouthArtCode: My experience with the summer program YouthArtCode;
  • Stephanie Tom – California Department of Technology: Statewide Broadband efforts; state and local collaboration; private/public partnerships;
  • Harsh Verma – ACM Sacramento Chapter: ACM for Education and Future Worlds Symposium;
  • Alan Ware – AMW Design: Education strategies for underrepresented youth and other populations;
  • Andrea Willis – Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE): USA Learns, a website that teaches ESL and helps prepare for U.S. citizenship.

The presentations were followed by goal setting led by Valley Vision. Breaking out into groups, the insight and ideas generated from each table were amazing! The following regional priorities were identified:

  1. Bring Community Together: Map regional gaps in digital inclusion. Create partnerships across sectors to connect community.
  2. Access and Competency of Use (Technical Skills): Acquire tech and computing resources, and the competency to use them.
  1. Affordability of Universal Access to the Community (Broadband)
  2. Asset Map: Create a database that serves as an asset map for a Regional Digital Literacy Initiative.

Attendees then signed up for working groups that will tackle these priorities. We are excited to push forward with these collaborative efforts to bridge the Digital Divide in the Sacramento region.

To know more about digital skills and our efforts with digital inclusion, please email Sonia Duenas, or subscribe to Valley Vision’s Vantage Point email newsletter.

Sonia Duenas is a Valley Vision Project Associate contributing to the 21st Century Workforce and Leadership & Civic Engagement impact areas.

Our People-Centered Digital Future

On Monday, December 10, Valley Vision had the honor of joining an historic event with key Internet pioneers (pictured above are Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, and Vint Cerf, known as Father of the Internet), the People-Centered Internet coalition, and the next generation of positive change agents in a discussion of Our Shared Digital Future. Valley Vision joined the ranks of “The Brain Trust of Pioneers, Change Agents, And Agents of Courage” attending the conference at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California. The event was also lived streamed on YouTube in order for a global audience to participate.

Dubbed Our People-Centered Digital Future, the conference coincided with the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and an announcement by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) that 50-percent of the global population is now connected to the Internet. Announced at the event was the release of the World Economic Forum Paper: Our Shared Digital Future. Authored by leaders from business, government, academic, and civil society, the paper stresses an urgent need for collaboration in order to shape a digital future that is beneficial for all. It defines a set of shared goals for action in the digital space and calls on global leaders to take action in shaping our digital future.

The six shared goals highlight what is needed in order to achieve an inclusive, trustworthy and sustainable digital future and provide a common framework across goals:

  1. Leave no person behind: ensuring high-quality internet access and adoption for all
  2. Empower users through good digital identities: ensuring that everyone can participate in the digital society through identity and access mechanisms that empower the user
  3. Make business work for people: helping companies navigate digital disruption and evolve to new responsible business models and practices
  4. Keep everyone safe and secure: shaping norms and practices that enable a technology-dependent environment that is secure and resilient
  5. Build new rules for a new game: developing new flexible, outcome based and participatory governance mechanisms to complement traditional policy and regulation
  6. Break through the data barrier: developing innovations that allow us to benefit from data while protecting the legitimate interests of all stakeholders

Valley Vision’s impact areas and work efforts intersect with several of these shared goals. Since 2009, Valley Vision has been working to close the Digital Divide and expand broadband access and adoption. In a world where information, education, jobs, healthcare, and other services are increasingly being accessed digitally, we risk allowing people who are disconnected from the Internet to fall further behind in the opportunity divide. Through our Connected Community Initiative, we aim to close this divide and provide equitable Internet access across the region.

Moreover, regional leaders, including the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, the Metro Chamber, the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, and Valley Vision, are collaborating to implement a Regional Prosperity Strategy centered on an inclusive economy. The strategy is based on research from Brookings, and helps chart a course to the Sacramento region’s future economic prosperity. A major imperative for equitable prosperity is investment in digital skills training. The region needs enhanced digital skills both to grow the pool of high-skill technical workers and to expand the number of workers that have basic digital literacy. Digital skills are needed both for well-trained computer and information technology professionals such as software developers and engineers; and in order for entry-level employees to meet basic job requirements for digital software like Excel and other programs.

Over the past year, Valley Vision has been leading a regional conversation around the Future of Work and how automation, digitalization, and the disruption created by technological advances will impact jobs and the region’s workforce. As a workforce intermediary, Valley Vision is partnering with educators and employers to assess current and anticipated future skills gaps and to deliver on an action plan to build a robust pipeline of qualified workers across multiple career education sectors including Information Communications Technologies (ICT); Advanced Manufacturing; Energy, Construction and Utilities; Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Water Technologies; and Health and Life Sciences.

Prescient for the Future of Work, it’s important to note that today ICT and Digital Media are integrated into almost every technology, industry and job. As noted in the Brookings report, close to three-quarters of occupations in the region now require high or medium levels of digital skills. Whereas 49-percent of middle skill jobs required medium or high levels of digital literacy 15-years ago, 87-percent of today’s jobs require these skills.

As we pursue the goal of getting the remaining 50-percent of the world’s population online, there is a great need for collaboration and urgent action to shape a digital future that is beneficial for all. Valley Vision looks forward to the continuing the advancement of this work and in securing an equitable digital future.

Tammy Cronin is a Valley Vision Project Leader working on the 21st Century Workforce and Broadband Access and Adoption.

Valley Vision Goes Back to School

It’s that time of year again, as summer comes to an end and leaves start to turn familiar colors of brown and red, that excited parents and eager children return through the front doors of their elementary school for “Back to School Night.”

Valley Vision was excited to participate in Back to School Night at both Martin Luther King, Jr. Technology Academy and Leataata Floyd Elementary School as they welcomed  their students back for a new academic year. Students and parents learned about programs and events happening at the schools, and were also able to meet and interact with teachers and staff. There were plenty of games and activities for everyone as both schools actively showcased what makes their institution special. Martin Luther King Jr. Technology Academy was especially lucky to have both Senator Richard Pan and Assemblymember Kevin McCarty as part of the welcoming committee. Both elected officials gave welcoming speeches and announced each student would receive a free backpack for attending the evening’s event.  While Valley Vision was at Leataata Floyd Elementary School, project associate Emma Koefoed interacted with parents to collect data on Internet accessibility as a way to gauge how families are responding to the low-cost Internet programs. As a thank you, Valley Vision was excited to give away $25 dollar gift cards to four lucky winners who participated in the survey.

As part of our Connected Communities Initiative, Valley Vision, in partnership with services providers such as AT&T and Comcast, has been working to help provide information on low-cost Internet services that are currently available to families in low-income neighborhoods, including the communities near Leataata Floyd Elementary School and Martin Luther King, Jr. Technology Academy. By meeting certain requirements such as having a child in the SNAP/CalFresh program, be a recipient of SSI, or a HUD Housing residents, can qualify a home for Internet connectivity at speeds up to 10 megabits per second, for $10 per month.

Access to the Internet is an economic gateway, providing life-altering opportunities for people of all ages. In 2015, Wired Magazine quoted a study by Pew Research that found “15 percent of Americans don’t have access to the Internet at all, most notably senior citizens, adults without a high school education, and low-income families.” In 2016, the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) found that although Internet connectivity had increased overall for California households, mostly due to increased use of smartphones, “lower-income Californians remain less likely to have access.” CETF found that only 68 percent of people who make less than $22,000 annually reported being able to get online at home.

Being able to access the Internet means many things. For students, it provides a chance to perform research relating to school work, obtain higher education, access online tutoring tools, and boosts their capacity for learning and educational attainment. Availability of low-cost Internet solutions provides opportunities for parents and guardians as well who are part of that 68% of low-income Californias without access to the internet. With reliable any-time Internet access at home and not having to depend on public libraries, employment offices, or local restaurants for free WiFi the chance for social and economic mobility become possible.  At Valley Vision, we will continue our work to close the digital divide in the Sacramento region, and we invite you to get involved!

To learn more about AT&T ACCESS click here. To learn more about Comcast Essentials click here. To keep up with Valley Vision’s work to advance livability in the Sacramento region, subscribe to our Vantage Point email newsletter!

Emma Koefoed is a Valley Vision Project Associate contributing to the 21st Century Workforce and Healthy Communities impact areas. 

The Future of Work in the Capital Region

I got my first smartphone in 2011. Only seven years ago, yet, this technology has fundamentally changed my daily life, for better and worse.

It is simultaneously amazing, overwhelming, enhancing, and distracting to have nearly every piece of information I need at my fingertips (not to mention a lot of information that I don’t need). Of course it’s not just phones. Technologies like 3D printers, the ability to collect “big data,” autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, and so much more have fundamentally changed our personal and work lives, and the worldwide economy. As Thomas Friedman describes, technology is accelerating faster than humans can adapt, creating tension and uncertainty. I already feel this in my work and family life.  As I think about me and my children’s ability to thrive and be successful in the future, I wonder, what are the consequences of life immersed in technology? What will happen next? How do we prepare people for this future?

These are the questions that underpinned the recent series of forums that Valley Vision hosted, entitled Workforce Technology Forum Series: Changing Occupations and Skills in an Automated World. These forums were supported by our regional Workforce Development Boards (WDB), demonstrating the leadership and collaboration of the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA)/Sacramento Works WDB, the Golden Sierra WDB, the North Central Counties Consortium WDB, and the Yolo WDB. The goal is to bring together workforce development practitioners, educators, employers, community partners, and elected officials, including Congresswoman Matsui and Congressman Bera, to have critical discussions and start prioritizing actions to ensure that our regional workforce (and their children!)  can readily adapt to whatever changes the future brings. Valley Vision held forums in Woodland, Rocklin, Marysville, and Sacramento to understand the unique issues going on all around the region.

What did we learn?

National research provided the basic foundation to inform our discussions. Valley Vision compiled a research brief that framed the discussion and documented national trends. We drew from many sources, including a recent report from The Brookings Institution, published in late 2017.  A major focus was the rate of digitalization (or penetration of digital technology into the workplace) in sectors, geographies, and occupations across the nation. Some of the key findings included:

  • Jobs are becoming more digitalized at every level – fifteen years ago you could get an entry level job without any digital skills. Today those jobs are fewer and fewer. This goes for middle skills, or “good jobs” as well. Today 86% of middle skill jobs require digital skills, compared to 49% fifteen years ago.
  • The more a job is digitalized, the higher the wage is, on average. So, moving into the future, digitalization will be a major driver of social mobility.
  • Right now, there is uneven access to digital jobs – Latinos, Blacks, and women are underrepresented. Without intentionally working to level the playing field, significant demographics of people will get left behind.

The most important learnings were from the participants of the forums themselves, which helped to support national research findings and provided an important local context. Some of the highlights include:

  • The national findings were consistent with what employers across the region are experiencing. For example, Gordon Rogers with the Owens Group is experiencing the jump to higher levels of digitalization across occupations in architecture. Yet, it is difficult to find enough employees that are prepared to use the digital technologies that are required to meet customer demand.
  • Sectors that you might not expect to be impacted, are. For example, the standardization of recipes, processes to monitor food safety, and the digitalization of menus and ordering has transformed the restaurant industry, according to John Pickerel from Buckhorn Steakhouse, headquartered in Winters and employing 600 people in the region. Information technology is a fundamental skill across sectors.
  • Information technology needs to be a basic skill taught across all disciplines in school. Employers also need workers with adaptable skills who can learn new technologies on the job and be ready for continuous learning.
  • Lack of resources and bureaucratic systems get in the way of educators preparing students for the technology needs of today and tomorrow. They can’t afford the tools they need and investing in changing technologies can be difficult to rationalize. Educators need support from employers to increase occupation awareness, provide information, and assist with resources to effectively train students.

Our complete report with top recommendations will be coming out soon and we are planning a Summit this summer to discuss how we move to action. Additionally, the Brookings Institution has been hired by Valley Vision and local partners to conduct an “economic stress test” on our region. This report will dive into a more detailed, region-specific analysis of the digitalization rate of the Capital region and the implications for the future. Their analysis and recommendations will help inform our understanding of what the future of work will look like for our region, and what we should do about it.

We never could have imagined the way smartphones and other technologies have changed our lives just ten (or so) years ago. As we think about changes to come, we can’t predict the future, but we can use data and good collaboration practices to transform our current systems to be resilient, inclusive, and adaptive.

To collaborate or stay up-to-date with Valley Vision’s work, please subscribe to Valley Vision’s email newsletters or contact us.

Evan Schmidt is Valley Vision’s Director of Strategy and Evaluation working on the Public Opinion Surveying initiative and projects in the Healthy Communities and 21st Century Workforce strategy areas.

Overcoming Student Barriers Through Technology Integration

On February 21st and February 22nd, the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) hosted its annual School2Home Leadership Academy in Downtown Los Angeles. The goal of the Academy is to encourage continued executive school leadership to close both the School Achievement Gap and Digital Divide collaboratively. With support from CETF, Valley Vision assists Leataata Floyd Elementary (LFE) to implement its School2Home program. The school serves the Marina Vista and Alder Grove communities, two public housing projects near downtown Sacramento where residents face significant barriers to upward mobility. The School2Home program provides helps integrate technology in the classroom at the elementary school level, and supports teachers, students and families to improve digital literacy and learning outcomes.

Leataata Floyd Elementary continues to be a one-of-a-kind institution implementing School2Home – being the only school in Sacramento and the only elementary school state wide. As such, LFE has embarked on an ambitious and targeted goal. While at the School2Home Leadership Academy, a myriad of best practices were shared as were opportunities to interact with educational leaders from Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and other schools from across the state.  LFE left the Leadership Academy with a delineated action plan to increase the implementation impact of School2Home as well as a respective self-assessment tool. Some of the targeted actions LFE will be implementing include growing teachers’ capacity to integrate technology into all levels of teaching and learning, as well as using a variety of technology/web based platforms to support teacher collaboration and communication. This means LFE and Valley Vision will be working to implement further support for the teachers, including on-site coaching on the role technology can play in supporting learning outcomes and integrating technology into the way teachers collaborate with each other. Attendees were provided with the opportunity to participate through a web-based back channel. After partaking in this experience, it became clear that teachers can utilize technology in the way they collaborate and communicate with each other, which serves as an effective method to embed technology into school, instead of technology being siloed and compartmentalized, used solely by the students during certain hours.

During the self-assessment using this model, it became clear that LFE is making an effort in the augmentation and redefinition portion of the model with student showcases, but we are still in the initial stages of fully realizing the potential of the model.

Kenneth Shelton, an educator of over 14 years turned Global Keynote Specialist and Educational Technology Strategist for EdTechTeam, provided an inspirational talk. He discussed various pressing issues in the educational system, including the importance of having technology embedded in teaching and a matching rigor that is conscious of equity to ensure the entire potential success technology has to offer is expended. Ultimately, technology has the potential to raise student achievement in unprecedented ways, but these improvements will only come to fruition in the lives of students who are underserved if the teachers are aware of the socio-economic problems some of these students face, and form an instructional rigor that is equitable to these conditions. LFE has taken a step in this direction by implementing trauma-informed training to all teachers and staff, which provides insight to staff on what many students at LFE are facing and how certain traumas can impact student performance.

These are important issues to address and one that LFE and Valley Vision will continue to support in its implementation of School2Home.

Alejandra Gallegos is a Valley Vision Project Associate contributing to the Clean Economy and Healthy Communities strategies.

Making Moves to Close the Digital Divide

The California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) has awarded a $25,000 grant to Valley Vision to manage implementation of the School2Home digital literacy program at Leataata Floyd Elementary School (LFE) in Sacramento during the 2017-18 academic year. This will be the third year that CETF and Valley Vision have supported LFE leadership with program implementation on-site. This year, LFE is expanding School2Home schoolwide, training all teachers and staff on effective integration of technology into their classrooms, and reaching about 350 students and families, up from 66 students just last year. With the expansion of the program, every child at LFE will have access to a laptop and other digital tools every day to support and augment their learning.

Leataata Floyd Elementary School serves the two neighboring public housing communities – Marina Vista and Alder Grove – where nearly half of residents do not have access to high-speed home Internet or digital tools. In addition to monitoring implementation of School2Home’s core components, Valley Vision plans to facilitate parent engagement workshops throughout the year focused on digital literacy and student success, aiming to expand digital access and inclusion within the neighborhood. Valley Vision and LFE leadership trained 40 parents in 2016-17 and are hoping to reach an even greater number this year.

Over the last year, Valley Vision has also continued to work with the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) as a planning partner on Jobs Plus, a four-year initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to support employment readiness among residents of public housing communities. Valley Vision’s goal, through management of both School2Home and the Connected Capital Broadband Consortium, is to help equip residents of Marina Vista and Alder Grove with the 21st Century skills needed to be successful in the digital age. Without access to broadband, residents of these communities will be less able to compete with their digitally connected peers. Moreover, despite proximity to the downtown area of our State’s capital city, many of the families with children at Leataata Floyd Elementary School are unable to access critical information, resources and services that most of us rely on every single day.

CETF has also awarded a $10,000 grant to Hacker Lab to provide technology skill development opportunities to parents with children at Leataata Floyd Elementary School and the surrounding community. Valley Vision and Hacker Lab are working collaboratively to maximize impact of the awarded grants. Both Valley Vision and Hacker Lab will be participating in an October 4th resource fair hosted by SHRA to outreach to residents on low-cost home Internet programs as well as the new resources and opportunities coming into the school and community.

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Jenny Wagner was a Valley Vision Project Associate working on School2Home, the Cleaner Air Partnership, and other Healthy Communities-related initiatives.