NH’s Digital Equity Plan
Following up on our June Digital Equity Planning for NH listening session. The National Collaborative for Digital Equity (NCDE) and UNH Cooperative Extension have been officially awarded the six-month contract to develop NH’s four-year plan and funding request for digital equity. They can now start forming inclusive groups in each of NH’s 9 regional planning commission regions (per this map/website).
The role of the regional coalitions is to identify the digital divide priorities they most want NH’s plan to address with that region’s share of about half of NH’s $5 million/year for four years, starting in 2024.
Each regional coalition will also name 2 reps to an 18-person statewide advisory board that will determine how to spend the other half of the $5 million/year, so that priority setting, planning and resource allocation happen transparently and responsively.
REGIONS
Central Region
Lakes Region
Nashua Region
North Country Region
Rockingham Region
Southern Region
Southwest Region
Strafford Region
Upper Valley/Lake Sunapee Region
The NCDE will be reaching out to recruit folks in their respective stakeholder groups. The hope is to fill every regional coalition by the end of July and to convene them via a Zoom call for their regional coalition in August. This in turn will position the coalition members individually and together to be at the table to determine how funds get spent, by whom, over the next several years, and how the funded efforts should be held accountable for impacts that matter to the stakeholders. This may be an imperfect approach however, the NCDE is open to improvements on this plan.
If you are interested in being on your regional coalition team, or know of someone who should be on a team, please email us at WelcomingNH@Miracoalition.org and we will pass your information on to the NCDE. Please include the town you live in and contact info.