Broadband Adoption

ZeroDivide was awarded $2,070,399 in two grants from the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). As part of the Federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), we are in the implementation stage of two programs focused on broadband adoption.

Generation ZD - Youth Media Initiative (Arizona, California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington)

Tribal Digital Village Broadband Adoption Program (California)

Generation ZeroDivide (Gen ZD)

ZeroDivide is creating a new generation of youth technology users within underserved communities in California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Washington states.

The “Generation ZD Digital Literacy Program” targets low-income,
minority, disabled, and otherwise underserved youth between the ages of
5-25, who have limited or no access to digital and information
technology in the home. These young people will be served through a
three-prong approach of a digital literacy skills curriculum; an online
content creation and distribution program; and capacity-building and
sustainability efforts at community anchor institutions within each
participant state.

Working in partnership with 7 community anchor institutions across 6
western states, ZeroDivide will train new broadband users, build
replicable best practices digital media curricula, and provide technical
assistance and capacity-building support.

The Community Anchor Institutions are Access Humboldt, CA; Akaku: Maui Community Television, HI; Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Fe, NM; Community Media Access Partnership (CMAP), CA; Portland Community Media, OR; Reel Grrls, WA; and Spy Hop Productions, UT. They will be supported in disability accessibility work by the Alliance for Technology Access.

Access Humboldt
is an innovative, self-sustaining media resource for community anchor
institutions, residents, local governments, educational institutions and
in Humboldt County, CA. Access Humboldt will conduct sustainable
training, skill-sharing and workforce development programs for the North
Coast region of California, including youth from the Native American
Table Bluff Wiyot Tribe, Karuk Tribe, and Hoopa Tribe.

Akaku: Maui Community Television
is designated by the Hawaii Dept. of Commerce and Consumer Affairs as
the sole provider of Public Education Government access services in
Maui. Akaku’s key role is to implement digital literacy training to
Maui’s rural Native Hawaiian and minority youth through its (Project
YBEAM) Youth Broadband Education & Awareness Mentoring), an online
peer-to-peer program for and about Maui’s marginalized youth. YBEAM
provides computer literacy training and raises awareness of broadband
technology through TV, radio, webstreaming, and education. The Akaku
Y-Beam Project will recruit interpreters to work with their computer
technology/broadband/media literacy trainers to
culturally/linguistically competently serve youth constituents who speak
Ilocano, Tagalog, Spanish and various Pacific Islander dialects. The
project will also acquire adaptive technologies such as Merit ESL,
Interchange, and Connect in order to help students master new media
skills.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Fe (BGCSF):
This Intel Computer Clubhouse will provide low-income youth ages 6 to18
with access to broadband technology, hardware, interactive software,
and mentorship and training. Over 50% of BGCSF staff is bilingual, and
most BGCSF materials are offered in both English and Spanish, to serve
members for whom English is not the first language or the language
spoken at home. BGCSF is also culturally sensitive to the different
approaches needed to serve Spanish-speaking new immigrant families
versus multi-generational Santa Fe resident families of Hispanic origin.

Community Media Access Partnership (CMAP)
provides free and low-cost media literacy, multimedia storytelling,
technology, and video production trainings to residents, community
organizations and educators. Through digital media content creation and
internet literacy programs, CMAP provides broadband education,
awareness, training, access, equipment, and support to community anchor
institutions, job-creating facilities, where vulnerable populations are
served. CMAP’s large limited English English proficient population will
be served through bilingual (English-Spanish) instruction, including
Spanish language video and multi-media production trainings.

Portland Community Media (PCM)
is dedicated to increasing technical proficiency and reducing
technology disparities among youth, the economically disadvantaged,
persons of color, immigrants, veterans and persons with disabilities.
PCM will implement a Youth Media curriculum for youth aged 14 to 18 to
help participants develop a passion for technology, resulting in
improved study habits, critical thinking, problem-solving and
team-building skills. Media produced by participants will air on PCM’s
cable channels.

Reel Grrls
empowers young women from diverse communities to realize their talent,
power and influence through media production. Reel Grrls is the first
all-girl, year-round media training program in the US. BTOP funds will
support an afterschool and weekend digital literacy program, and expand a
three-month apprenticeship into a year-round program where teen girls
produce videos for non-profits. Reel Grrls participants come from
populations most vulnerable to recession effects, including young women
on probation, foster care, and/or from low-income neighborhoods.

Spy Hop Productions
is a youth media arts center that provides safe after-school mentoring
programs in film/video production, radio, music, sound engineering,
digital design, and animation. Participating youth (K-12) use media to
engage in their communities and to learn critical thinking. BTOP funding
will support programs, which provide hands-on and project- based
learning experiences to promote positive youth development through
individuality, creativity, leadership, and intellectual curiosity.

GenZD is a project of ZeroDivide funded by the U.S. Government's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP).

Tribal Digital Village Broadband Adoption Program

Through the “Tribal Digital Village Broadband Adoption Program,” ZeroDivide will work with Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association (SCTCA) to implement a four-prong broadband adoption strategy which encompasses an outreach and public awareness campaign; basic digital literacy skills training; advanced content creation training; and sustainability. The proposed program is expected to raise broadband adoption among SCTCA’s 8,900 Tribal community members from the current 17% baseline to over 70%. It will also augment deployment of a residential broadband network to 2,000 Tribal homes. Geographic isolation and cultural barriers make tribal communities particularly vulnerable to disparities in broadband deployment and adoption.

SCTCA encompasses the reservations of 19 federally recognized tribes, primarily located in San Diego County, California, and reaching from southern Riverside County southward 150 miles to the US-Mexico border.

Tribal Digital Village Broadband Adoption Program is a project of ZeroDivide funded by the U.S. Government's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP).

For more information on partnership opportunities, please contact (provide email)