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Speaker 1: From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.

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Speaker 1: Each week right here, we come together, we talk about

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Speaker 1: all the topics important to you and the place where

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Speaker 1: you live. It's great to have you back with us

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Speaker 1: this week. I'm Nicole Davis. Well, let's talk about the

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Speaker 1: digital divide, which is still very prevalent here in the

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Speaker 1: United States and even in Massachusetts. The digital divide is

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Speaker 1: essentially the gap between people who are digitally literate and

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Speaker 1: have access to devices and those, for whatever reason, who don't.

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Speaker 1: We're talking seniors, people in low income households, rural areas, students,

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Speaker 1: people who are disabled, many others are impacted here and

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Speaker 1: in many ways, they're all getting left behind as we

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Speaker 1: move more and more online. That is where the City

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Speaker 1: of Cambridge is now stepping into help. Their Digital Navigator

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Speaker 1: program is connecting people in the city with experience, knowledge

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Speaker 1: and the devices they need to get by. Cambridge Community

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Speaker 1: Television one of the entities helping with this effort, and

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Speaker 1: here now from CCTV Samara Merle. We're going to talk

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Speaker 1: with her about this. Samara, thanks so much for being here.

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Speaker 1: Tell us more about the program and how it works.

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Speaker 2: Well. So CCTV is a community media organization that believes

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Speaker 2: in equity and inclusion in all their programming and giving

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Speaker 2: people the opportunities to be able to express themselves and

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Speaker 2: be heard. And the Cambridge Digital Navigator Program is a

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Speaker 2: program that we began about a year ago, a year

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Speaker 2: and a half ago, and it's designed to address all

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Speaker 2: the components that make up the digital divide. Our navigators

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Speaker 2: are it support specialists certified and they provide one on

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Speaker 2: one access to technical support, device distribution, affordable internet access,

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Speaker 2: intermediate digital literacy classes that are provided that are designed

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Speaker 2: to provide technology gap skills training, and they also do

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Speaker 2: community care referrals for community members as well. To date,

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Speaker 2: we have processed over two thousand service requests for the

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Speaker 2: community and served over eight hundred residents.

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Speaker 1: That is incredible. And you know, especially as a lot

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Speaker 1: of us tend to lean toward TikTok or Instagram social

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Speaker 1: media for a lot of our media consumption, that doesn't

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Speaker 1: mean that community TV and radio and other community media

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Speaker 1: doesn't matter as much. If anything, I think it helps

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Speaker 1: you take another step and find another way to communicate

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Speaker 1: with your residents. Yes, and I.

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Speaker 2: Think that this particular program is really critical because has

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Speaker 2: technology is moving at a lightning pace. You know, we

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Speaker 2: have people who are being left behind. As a matter

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Speaker 2: of fact, about forty percent of low income residents in

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Speaker 2: the city of Cambridge reported that they didn't know how

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Speaker 2: to use the Internet for essential functions like banking, applying

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Speaker 2: for jobs, for getting medical support, or even purchasing growth streets.

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Speaker 2: So it's just really critical that we give our residents

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Speaker 2: in our citizens because it's you know, while we're talking locally,

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Speaker 2: this is you know, a much broader and bigger problem

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Speaker 2: domestically here in the US and the globe overall. And

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Speaker 2: it's kind of frightening to think about that, like.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean it seems like, you know, to

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Speaker 1: people like you and I who are on the internet

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Speaker 1: probably most of the day and working with technology, to

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Speaker 1: us at second nature, and you think, living in urban

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Speaker 1: areas that most people would you know, be up and

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Speaker 1: with it when it comes to broadband access and when

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Speaker 1: it comes to technology access. But even though technology is

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Speaker 1: moving forward so quickly, we have to remember not everybody

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Speaker 1: can go along with it for a variety of reasons.

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Speaker 2: One of the reasons is that it's not affordable.

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Speaker 1: No, it's not.

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Speaker 2: You know, we in doing this work in the past year.

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Speaker 2: What's been really striking to me is that the demand

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Speaker 2: for devices, and when I say devices, I'm really speaking

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Speaker 2: specifically about laptops, has been very great, and I think

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Speaker 2: we forget that people can't do all the things that

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Speaker 2: I just mentioned before if they don't have an affordable

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Speaker 2: device that can perform those complex functions that you know

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Speaker 2: I just mentioned.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, some people would say go to the library, or

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Speaker 1: you know, go to your local public school. They've got

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Speaker 1: some access, but there are limited hours there, and public

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Speaker 1: access is important and I'm glad we have that, but

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Speaker 1: these devices, I mean, what if, you know, goodness, you

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Speaker 1: need to do an interview in the library is not open,

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Speaker 1: or what if you can't even get to the library.

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Speaker 1: You know, access is critical when it comes to that

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Speaker 1: sort of situation.

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Speaker 2: And what if you are trying to get a job

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Speaker 2: and you're trying to work from home or hybrid, which

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Speaker 2: a lot of jobs are. I mean, like, look at

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Speaker 2: what us right now. If I did not have access

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Speaker 2: to a work ready laptop, I would not be able

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Speaker 2: to conduct this interview in this way with you. So

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Speaker 2: we have residents who, you know, they want to be

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Speaker 2: gainfully employed and earning a living wage. They want to

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Speaker 2: continue their access to education and the other social supports

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Speaker 2: that they need in their journey of upward economic mobility

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Speaker 2: in order to be able to you know, contribute significantly

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Speaker 2: to Cambridge's economy and prosperity overall, as well as participate

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Speaker 2: in democratic civic action. So you know, this this program

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Speaker 2: is really integral, not just for you know, the city

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Speaker 2: of Cambridge, but I think for the nation overall.

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Speaker 1: Then there's also the question of digital literacy, because you

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Speaker 1: can have the device, but you may not know how

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Speaker 1: to use it. You know, what if you're a senior

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Speaker 1: or somebody who just hasn't had access to a laptop

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Speaker 1: for a long time, and all of a sudden you're

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Speaker 1: getting this laptop and you're like, oh my gosh, I

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Speaker 1: have no clue how to use this. How does your

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Speaker 1: program help teach people how to use this?

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Speaker 2: Well, we provide one on one appointments for people. They

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Speaker 2: can come in and our digital navigators will you know,

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Speaker 2: show them how to use the computer in a safe way,

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Speaker 2: you know, because that's really important. And we have a

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Speaker 2: number of service areas. We have actually five service areas

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Speaker 2: that are specifically designed to address the digital divide like,

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Speaker 2: so we have tech support, we have a tech support

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Speaker 2: service area, we have the device distribution, the intermediate Digital

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Speaker 2: Literacy Skills service area. We also try to assist our

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Speaker 2: residents with obtaining affordable Internet access, and we also do

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Speaker 2: provide community care referrals. Our community members can reach out

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Speaker 2: to a digital navigator in several ways. We try to

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Speaker 2: make the program accessible so that they can schedule in

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Speaker 2: person appointments or virtual appointments, or they can walk in.

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Speaker 2: We really try to think about you making it easy

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Speaker 2: to access these really vital services.

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Speaker 1: You have the devices and you are learning how to

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Speaker 1: use them. What about software? Can you help people with

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Speaker 1: applications with software or is it just teaching them how

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Speaker 1: to turn it on and get it going and then

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Speaker 1: go home and figure it out.

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Speaker 2: Well. The devices that we distribute come with Microsoft Office,

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Speaker 2: a lifetime access to Microsoft Office.

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Speaker 1: That's great.

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Speaker 2: Yes, and we're currently teaching an intermediate Digital Literacy course

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Speaker 2: in Windows and Microsoft Office. So we you know, we

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Speaker 2: will fill out applications. We will help people fill out applications,

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Speaker 2: whether that might be you know, a medical or a

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Speaker 2: social support application. I've seen community members come in to

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Speaker 2: get help with their resume, you know, like how to

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Speaker 2: format it because most jobs nowadays you have to apply online. Right,

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Speaker 2: I'm trying to think of is there any company that

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Speaker 2: will accept a paper resume? I on not know.

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Speaker 1: You have to have a LinkedIn. You got to have

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Speaker 1: a digital resume, and then when you're applying, you have

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Speaker 1: to even though you're submitting the digital resume, fill out

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Speaker 1: everything instead a second time.

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Speaker 2: Right yeah, no, yes, so you know, our digital navigators

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Speaker 2: are equipped to do all of those things, like I said,

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Speaker 2: they are also certified IT support specialists.

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Speaker 1: If somebody is listening and they want to donate some

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Speaker 1: tech knowlogy, Do you only take donations from businesses or

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Speaker 1: schools or can you take one off donations like a

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Speaker 1: laptop or a cell phone.

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Speaker 2: We can take donations. We are in collaboration with an

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Speaker 2: organization that specializes in refurbishing use devices, so we can

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Speaker 2: take donations that way.

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Speaker 1: What would you say is the best way for community

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Speaker 1: members to contribute to this effort that you're doing right here, Well, we.

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Speaker 2: Will take donations at CCTV.

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Speaker 1: Okay, okay, it's a good place to start.

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Speaker 2: Right as we will take we will take monetary donations

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Speaker 2: at CCTV. We will take new laptops again, you know,

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Speaker 2: refurbished devices, We will take them at CCTV, but we

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Speaker 2: have to funnel them through our organization that can properly

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Speaker 2: refurbish a device. And yes, if they want to make donations,

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Speaker 2: we have a website Cctvcambridge dot org. There's a website

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Speaker 2: with a web page that has all the information on

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Speaker 2: how to contribute, how to donate, how to get in

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Speaker 2: touch with the Digital navigator.

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Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, speaking of digital navigators, do you need more

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Speaker 1: people to help guide people who are getting access to

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Speaker 1: these devices or do you have a group that you're

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Speaker 1: working with right now that is running these courses and

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Speaker 1: these one on one meetings to help people out.

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Speaker 2: Yes, we have six navigators. They are stationed at various

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Speaker 2: sites around the city. We have a navigator who's stationed

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Speaker 2: at CCTV one of the Cambridge Public libraries, and the

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Speaker 2: other navigator is stationed between the Community Learning Center and

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Speaker 2: the Peabody School in North Cambridge.

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Speaker 1: Okay, all right, yeah, wonderful. So again, CCTV Cambridge dot

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Speaker 1: and you can find all the information about the Digital

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Speaker 1: Navigator program. Samorrow. This is really great work that you're doing.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for helping to connect the city of Cambridge

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Speaker 1: and all the best as you keep pushing forward. Thank

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Speaker 1: you so much, Nicole, Thank you for having me have

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Speaker 1: a saving, healthy weekend. Please join me again next week

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Speaker 1: for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole Davis from

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Speaker 1: WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio