1. Overall Description Project Partners Results Comparison to similar projects This project was started, in 2009, to help bridge the gap in digital literacy for three low- income neighborhoods in Detroit. At the time less than 40% of homes in Detroit had broadband access. The primary funder, the Knight Foundation, gave a $810,00 grant to the Community Telecommunications Network (CTN) to build and operate a broadband network to provide free or low-cost internet to these three neighborhoods (Hope Village, Osborn, and Northend along Woodward Ave.). Knight’s grant also led to a creation of partnerships (see Project Partners) for digital literacy classes and computers to 5,250 residents. The major focus for this project was teaching the residents the value of the internet and making it valuable to their lives. The neighborhood non-profits worked together to build the programs by hiring trainers and donating spaces in their buildings for classes. CTN originally planned to put up four WiMax towers, but were forced to change this after Cisco decided they were not going to build the towers for them. Clearwire stepped in after this and projected to make three towers by 09/2010. However, issues in the company caused a delay until 04/2011. Another issue with the towers was the lack of range the grant was for. It only covered 40% of the expected area. This along with the delays, caused another issue. The 2,100 who had graduated from the 08/2011 digital literacy programs, along with the 1,700 of those who received free computers did not have access to the internet as was hoped. In the end, only around 300 of those graduates were able to use the free broadband access. However, of the 2,100 graduates 1,500 went out and purchased internet access for themselves. This illustrates that the digital literacy classes were successful in showing the practical, financial, and educational advantages of being connected to these residents. The various issues this project faced also showed several important lessons. They include the focus on digital literacy, highlighting the relevance to the residents, the effectiveness of having local non-profits in the community, and providing computers. Community Telecommunications Network- A non-profit corporation given the responsibility of building and operating the broadband network. Focus: HOPE- A non-profit human rights organization that provides job training and community programs. They provided space for and helped design the classes. Matrix Human Services- An organization that provides skills course, housing, and other services. They also provided digital literacy courses in Osborn. Family Place/Child Care Coordinating Council- A non-profit focused on childhood development and pregnant teens. It provided classes and provided computers to women and young families in the area. The main difference between this Detroit project and those similar to it is the focus on a smaller scale, specifically the areas with below 40% broadband access and poverty levels making over 30% of the population. Similar programs, in Philadelphia and San Francicso, instead focused on trying to supply broadband access to the entire city. Detroit’s program also had three key demographics: senior citizens, families with children, and young adults looking for work. Brea Marshall, 10, plays an instructional typing game. The computer was earned by her mother who completed a free basic computer training at the Family Place in Detroit. The mother now has access to a computer for her snack food business and to help her daughter with homework. Kristin Kendall instructs a class on basic data storage at Matrix Human Services in Detroit

2. http://www.knightfoundation.org/media/uploads/publication_pdfs/13832_K F_Report_ConnectDetroit_4-4.pdf http://www.knightfoundation.org/media/uploads/publication_pdfs/13832_K F_Report_ConnectDetroit_4-4.pdf http://www.matrixhumanservices.org/ http://www.focushope.edu/page.aspx?content_id=1&content_type=level1 http://www.knightfoundation.org/publications/detroit-broadband http://knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/2012/4/5/five-lessons- bridging-digital-divide/ http://knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/2012/4/5/five-lessons- bridging-digital-divide/References