Connected Beyond the Classroom Initiative Aims to Bridge City’s Digital Divide
September 22, 2020 - San Antonio
Addressing the challenges of learning from a distance. “As we begin to expand this pilot to a handful of neighborhoods on the City’s Westside this fall, we are picking up great momentum toward the goal of equipping 20,000 students in 50 neighborhoods across town with an essential tool they need to succeed: reliable Wi-Fi access,” said District 8 San Antonio City Councilman Manny Pelaez regarding the Connected Beyond the Classroom initiative. Photo: Solen Feyissa.
By Jade Esteban Estrada - Staff Writer, San Antonio Sentinel
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- The City's Connected Beyond the Classroom digital inclusion pilot program will expand to three to five areas of need by December, according to city staff
- In an effort to help bridge San Antonio's digital divide, the program aims to equip 20,000 students in 50 neighbhorhoods across the city with Wi-Fi access
The City of San Antonio’s Office of Innovation provided an update regarding the Connected Beyond the Classroom digital inclusion pilot program at the Innovation and Technology Committee meeting on Tuesday. The initiative, which is underway in some West Side neighborhoods, will be expanded to three to five more areas of need by December, according to city staff.
As distance learning becomes a new paradigm for students across the nation, District 8 San Antonio City Councilman Manny Pelaez, who chairs the Innovation and Technology Committee, feels that the Connected Beyond the Classroom pilot program is emblematic of the City’s commitment to bridging the digital divide at the local level.
“At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, we got the ball rolling on a plan to help students impacted by the digital divide by connecting them with remote access to their school’s LTE Wi-Fi network,” Pelaez said in a press release.
“As we begin to expand this pilot to a handful of neighborhoods on the City’s Westside this fall, we are picking up great momentum toward the goal of equipping 20,000 students in 50 neighborhoods across town with an essential tool they need to succeed: reliable Wi-Fi access,” he added.
On June 4, San Antonio City Council approved the Covid-19 Recovery and Resiliency Plan. Its guiding principles are public health and safety, equity, braided funding, community resiliency and well-being. Digital inclusion was allocated a $27.3 million budget from the City’s general fund, according to a report Chief Innovation Officer Brian Dillard.
Before Tuesday’s huddle, Pelaez took to Facebook to invite residents to view the assembly on the City’s website. He reminded his followers: “The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted, more clearly than ever before, that we have a digital divide problem in San Antonio.”
Read the minutes here.
Jade Esteban Estrada is a staff writer at the San Antonio Sentinel, where he covers public health and other citywide issues. He can be reached at jade@sasentinel.com.