Baystate Health and the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts are hosting a virtual community conversation on western Massachusetts’ challenges and response to the digital divide.
Date: Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Time: 10:00am – 12:00pm (EDT)
Click here to register
There is an urgent need to tackle the sharp digital divide between our community’s online and offline populations, that has further been intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic. The responsibility for addressing digital exclusion lies jointly with public and private organizations, who must come together to ensure that access to essential services isn’t denied to the digitally marginalized.
Inequalities are rooted in race/ethnicity, income and wealth, language and cultural differences, all of which accounts for disparities that intersect with access to education, healthcare, housing, and other social domains. One aspect of the disparity includes access and use of information and communication technology (ICT) and broadly, the concept of the digital divide. The term “digital divide” can be described as the mismatch between access to and use of ICT.
The sponsors request that participants complete a pre-event survey on your current understanding and perspective on the digital divide by Friday, May 22, 2020 to help guide the conversation.