Loneliness

In Charlotte, digital equity has shifted from a fringe issue to a core economic mobility priority.

The local digital divide is similar to the gaps in opportunity that exist in education, employment, and access to services. Though the region boasts strong broadband infrastructure, many residents – especially in lower-income neighborhoods – lack reliable, high-speed internet, appropriate devices, and the skills to use them well.

In 2021, Mayor Vi Lyles established the Mayor’s Racial Equity Initiative (MREI), with the goal of removing barriers and bringing equal access, opportunities, and outcomes for communities of color. This call to action led to the creation of the Center for Digital Equity to provide devices, internet access, and digital education in vulnerable communities.

Other initiatives like the city’s Access Charlotte, have expanded free and subsidized internet options – along with digital support in community centers, libraries, and faith-based organizations – connecting thousands of households.

Even with these efforts, the need for overall equity remains. Areas where the lack of digital access is the most widespread often overlap with high poverty rates and our communities of color, contributing to cycles of limited opportunity.

In addition, many career paths require advanced digital skills, so strategies to improve our region’s workforce increasingly make digital equity a priority.

This is where local governments, employers, educators, and us as community members can make a difference. In acknowledging digital literacy and access as basic necessities, we can take the needed steps to make Charlotte the most digitally equitable community in the country.