It has been two years since we started Partners Bridging the Digital Divide, and it has certainly been an exciting time to be immersed in digital inclusion. There has been a growing movement to work together, and we have been involved in some of these efforts at the city, state and national levels.

We have 19 Partners, spanning the continent from Texas to Canada and California to Florida. We have published three white papers, and are working on the fourth. We have made available five partner profiles and this is my twenty-fifth blog  post.

But it isn’t for these numbers that we have expended hundreds of volunteer hours. The real value is in providing information and making the connections to help our partners improve digital inclusion. When a library is helping its customers learn about pivot tables and turns to our video and course material to help provide that service, we’re doing our job. When an agency in one part of the country is looking for a contact in a distant state and we can connect them, then we’re doing our job. When a small agency refurbishing computers is looking for help on how to provide their clients with internet connectivity, and we can give them access to the resources to help those clients, then we’re doing our job. When an agency has a treasure trove of course material that we can share with a broader audience by hosting it and keeping it up to date, then we are doing our job.

Helping our partners to do what they need, giving them access to helpful resources, and sharing the resources they have developed with others so we can all achieve our goals, is why we exist. We cannot exist without partners, we could not do it without our supporters, and we could not do it without the other organizations with which we are affiliated. Together, we are helping to make digital inclusion a reality for many who had never fully accessed the digital world before.

These are challenging times. By working together with a clear goal,  we will contribute to making the world a better and more connected place. I am glad to be a part of it.