The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority Leans Into Collaboration
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Digital Beat
The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority Leans Into Collaboration
Following up on the release of The Human Infrastructure of Broadband: Looking Back, Looking Around, and Looking Ahead, we are providing examples of core, complementary, and coalition models for digital equity work. This series of organizational profiles delves deeply into how these programs work, the problems they are best suited to solve, the populations they are best suited to reach, and the support they need to succeed. Learn more about the Human Infrastructure of Broadband Project.
“I’m a product of CMHA, so it has been rewarding to be in the areas where my aunts and uncles and cousins were. So that’s one thing I’m proud to see, ’cause my mom was, I think, 2 when my grandmother and her five siblings with a niece moved into CMHA in 1933.
You build a rapport with someone, and they come and ask, ‘Well, what's going on?’ And then they told you no several times [regarding attending a digital skills class], and then they’re like, ‘Well, all right, I’ll come and do it.’ And then they absolutely love it. They’re like, ‘At first I didn’t understand anything about this computer, but now I actually can use it.’ So those are the ones that I really like, because at the end of the class they’re just excited.”
—Lurleen McNair, CMHA Digital Inclusion Coordinator
The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) owns and operates affordable housing locations for qualifying low-income families and individuals in the Cleveland, Ohio, metro area. CMHA was the first chartered public housing authority in the United States, and it has a mission “to create safe, quality, affordable housing opportunities and improve the quality of life for the communities [we] serve.” The organization houses more than 55,000 low-income residents living in Cuyahoga County. One part of fulfilling that mission happens through the CMHA digital inclusion programs, which provides digital navigation services to residents in several key areas: affordable internet connection options, computing devices, tech support, and digital literacy classes. CMHA is a ConnectHomeUSA (CHUSA) community, receiving funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to support digital inclusion programs and services.
The information technology (IT) division at CMHA runs its digital inclusion programs and services, which start with ensuring that residents in every location have options for free or affordable internet access. CMHA makes bulk service agreements with ISPs like Spectrum and assists residents interested in subscribing. By making bulk agreements with ISPs, CMHA caps the monthly cost for any service at $20 and requires ISPs to provide a minimum download speed of 200 Mbps and a minimum upload speed of 20 Mbps. CMHA recognizes that internet service and the ability to use it to complete regular life tasks are not luxuries but necessities. For example, each year, residents are required to recertify their income to maintain their eligibility for affordable housing—a process that will soon be 100 percent online, so CMHA digital navigators assist residents who need help recertifying.
CMHA currently has physical, dedicated computer labs at 13 of its properties and mobile labs at five additional locations, and it is working with its property managers and executive leadership to eventually place labs at all properties. At each computer lab, regular weekly technical support is provided by digital navigators, who are hired whenever possible from the local community of residents. Most of CMHA’s digital navigators have been part-time, and though there has been a desire for full-time employment, the income restrictions for CHMA eligibility have limited some residents’ ability to work full-time. Digital navigators are hired more for their compassion, patience, and people skills than their technology expertise. Having experience and interest in learning to use technology is important as well, but all navigators go through an extensive training program that covers all the different curricula that CMHA teaches, cybersecurity training, skills building in Google applications, typing, and workforce development concepts. Navigators also have access to the Northstar digital literacy curriculum to learn or brush up on their knowledge. Navigators must score at least 80 percent on Northstar’s evaluation to show that their skills are up to par. In addition to providing technology support to residents, digital navigators maintain the physical computer labs and mobile labs and support community partners and CMHA staff who lead digital literacy classes.
Partnerships with other organizations in the community are paramount to the CMHA Digital Inclusion Program’s success. For example, the Olivet Housing and Community Development Corporation leads many digital literacy courses at CMHA locations. By partnering with community organizations like Olivet, CMHA is able to simultaneously support more residents and support partners with overlapping missions to close the digital divide. Most courses take place over an eight-week period, and residents who successfully complete a course receive a device. Additional partner organizations provide training to digital navigators and staff, and others are internet service providers serving residents with low-cost home internet plans. The CMHA Digital Inclusion Program is also periodically able to distribute refurbished desktop and laptop computers that would otherwise be recycled to residents.
History and Context
CMHA began its digital inclusion program in 2015 when it was selected as one of the first CHUSA communities by HUD. This federal grant program encourages recipients to contract with ISPs to supply residents with low-cost internet service plans that are subsidized by the grant and facilitated by CMHA. Through CHUSA funding, CMHA made free, 100 Mbps internet service available to interested residents at 19 of its 64 properties through bulk agreements with Spectrum. The CHUSA grant also enabled CMHA to begin placing physical computer labs at its locations and mobile labs where building space was limited, provide refurbished computers to residents, and offer digital literacy classes and tech support.
In 2024, CHMA was named a ConnectHomeUSA Tier 2 community, which will allow CMHA to build on its successful digital inclusion services and partnerships within the Cleveland metro area. The Tier 2 designation will expand reach and impact by providing more projects and programs and by enabling partnerships with health care systems, the City of Cleveland, and Cuyahoga County. In addition to serving residents, CMHA will be able to serve Section 8 and other voucher program participants.
Services
CMHA maintains physical computer labs at many locations and mobile labs in others. Residents can reserve time at a computer, take a digital literacy class, or get tech help from a digital navigator. Navigators staff hours at each computer lab weekly and assist instructors leading digital literacy classes. CMHA digital navigators can lead classes as their confidence grows and if they express interest. Day-to-day, digital navigators assist in a wide range of activities such as helping residents use a cell phone, send an email, sign up for an email address, apply for jobs, pay rent, or apply for food assistance as well as providing in-home technical assistance for residents, including setting up a new computer or other device.
Residents can call a CMHA hotline to get assistance, and digital navigators try to respond to hotline inquiries within five to 10 hours. In addition, CMHA maintains a phone notification system to send voice messages to residents of a specific building. Digital navigators use this system to remind residents when they are staffing hours in the labs and to promote upcoming Digital Inclusion Program events. Navigators also have regular days in the office, where they might catch up on tracking visits with residents and log data needed for grant reporting, such as the number of devices distributed or how many people they helped with digital navigation services. Navigators might also work on a team project with colleagues, such as preparing computers for distribution to residents or for installation in a new computer lab.
Though CMHA staff present some classes, the organization relies on partner organizations from the community to lead most classes with residents. For example, the Olivet Housing and Community Development Corporation presents an eight-week digital literacy course using the Grow With Google curriculum, and residents who complete the course receive a free laptop. Digital literacy courses cover social media use, email basics, Google applications, the MyChart electronic health platform, online rent payment, online banking, internet searching, and internet security.
Outcomes for residents taking classes and receiving tech support from digital navigators include:
- improving opportunities for social connection;
- increasing awareness of social service agencies;
- increasing access to health care and health information;
- leveraging digital resources for educational purposes;
- improving awareness on how to apply for jobs, college, and scholarships; and
- improving awareness on how to apply to and maintain participation in financial assistance programs.
CMHA staff regularly hold internet service sign-up events, technical support sessions, digital literacy classes, and device distributions. The staff serve about 1,500 residents a year in classes and tech support sessions and have distributed more than 400 refurbished computers to residents and local resident advisory council members in the past calendar year.
CMHA relies heavily on partnerships with other organizations to get all this work done. Sometimes partners will bring their own funding. Others may be contracted by CMHA. The Olivet Housing and Community Development Corporation initially had a grant from Google to support its programming at CMHA and elsewhere, and when that funding ended, CMHA found the dollars in its budget to continue support. Now CMHA and Olivet are co-writing grant applications together to continue the valuable work.
As CHMA Deputy Director of IT and Director of Digital Inclusion Marykate Hammer explains, “They promote their particular programs within our classes, and a lot of the CMHA residents will be like, ‘Oh, that’s so interesting. I’d really love to be a part of that.’ Plus, Olivet is also part of the community college close by. So a lot of its programs will give [residents] college credit.” Both Olivet and training partners at the Cuyahoga County Public Library and Cleveland Public Library teach classes at CMHA and in other locations. Speaking of the two library systems, Hammer shares, “They teach our classes all the way from East Cleveland to West Cleveland … and they’re doing so great with actually giving us libraries that are close to the properties. They might start out teaching in the community rooms, and then they’ll be like, ‘Hey, just across the street, we’re just right there.’ It's a very mutual relationship when it comes to that.”
CMHA maintains partnerships with organizations including:
- the Ashbury Senior Computer Community Center, ASC3, which provides training to CMHA digital navigators;
- Cleveland’s city recreation centers, to promote digital inclusion programs and services; and
- ISP partners DigitalC (the City of Cleveland’s municipal ISP), PCs for People (a nonprofit ISP), and commercial ISP Spectrum.
The Digital Inclusion Program at CMHA is funded through federal support from HUD, local philanthropy, and some corporate grant support. As mentioned, the ConnectHomeUSA program from HUD enabled CMHA digital inclusion programs and services to get started, and it continues to sustain CMHA’s work and impact. The Cleveland Foundation has been an ongoing supporter of the digital navigator program, and the Saint Luke’s Foundation gives money each year to CMHA for general or specific programs. Recently, that foundation began directing funds to digital inclusion. Other Cleveland Foundation programs support resident-led initiatives like the local resident advisory councils through the “Neighbor Up” small-grants program. Finally, CMHA regularly receives money from Spectrum’s digital equity grant competitive program, to support either digital inclusion or resident services.
What We Can Learn
Local Leadership, Ownership, Trust, and Accountability Matter
The CMHA Digital Inclusion Program has evolved over time from being primarily run by CMHA IT staff to being increasingly “resident-led” today. CMHA has built trust by hiring digital navigators from the resident community whenever possible. Coordinating with local resident advisory councils throughout its properties has improved promotion and use of the services. As Marykate Hammer observes, “Building that sort of rapport and giving ownership to the residents has been game-changing. They’re able to pass out flyers and spread the word. It’s not so much about, like, ‘Hey, you graduate and you get a laptop.’ It's like, ‘Hey, the resident leaders think this is a good idea. Maybe I should look into it.’”
Lean Into Collaboration
While moving toward a resident-led service model has helped CMHA build trust with residents and increased community ownership for helping one another, forging connections and partnerships with other community organizations has made scaling up CHMA’s Digital Inclusion Program possible. In the early days, CHMA staff taught all the digital inclusion classes and provided all tech support, which was an overwhelming amount of work for a small staff. Today, IT staff still play a supporting role, but digital navigators provide tech support hours at each location with a computer lab throughout the week, and digital literacy courses are led primarily by partner organizations in the community. CMHA staff have all talked about the value of collaborating with partner organizations and described a real ecosystem of interconnected people and projects united around the common mission of helping Cleveland residents succeed in the digital world.
It Takes Time
Asked what advice she would give to organizations interested in expanding into digital navigation or inclusion services and programs, Hammer shares, “The biggest thing people want to know is, ‘How do you get residents to be involved with you?’ And I hate this answer, but it does just take time. It takes your face to be there for them to know you. It takes a minute. It takes food. It takes community. But just keep plugging along. It will even out, and you will see people coming back. Eventually, the residents start to know that you’re there. Give it a couple of months.” This is important advice for new programs just getting started—people may not be interested in the service at first, but that will change as the program demonstrates commitment and consistency to the community first.
Looking Ahead
CMHA staff have bolstered the sustainability of its Digital Inclusion Program by moving toward resident-led services and increasing collaboration with partners. Partnerships enable CMHA to do more with less staff—and also keep work and life in a healthy balance to avoid staff burnout. Marykate Hammer’s vision for the future of CMHA’s Digital Inclusion Program doubles down on residents helping one another: “My vision for the future is for a resident to take my job. For someone to be in my position. I can be in a supporting role, but you know there’s something about placing power where it needs to be placed. And I think that would be incredible. Power to the people, you know. All these things work so well when you give power back to the people.”
CMHA staff have expressed a need for continued and increased funding as well as the critical need for funders to recognize that general operational support is essential for successful programs. Funding staff positions isn’t always valued to the same extent as the program work that connects to philanthropic priorities, but these staff positions enable the program work to be done.
In addition, there’s a sense among CMHA leaders that policymakers don’t fully grasp the need for digital navigation services and the subsidies that have helped get and keep people connected to home internet service. Hammer notes that a dated perception of the internet could be hampering policy action: “Right now, having access to the internet is not viewed as a human right. It’s labeled as a pleasure, something that we use on our off time, which is so not true. To make policymakers understand what it would be like to not have the internet for a day would be really impactful.”
The CMHA experience also underscores the need for policy action on affordable service. “DigitalC just locked in its rates that it is able to charge for the next 10 years. I’m not sure why other internet service providers aren’t able to do that, besides that we live in a capitalistic environment where, you know, money is the hunt. But being able to monitor those ISPs and to see how much their prices are affecting internet access … I think those policies should definitely be put into place. I think that’s why the Affordable Connectivity Program went away. I think the internet service providers were taking advantage of the money they were receiving from the FCC, and then it went away, and it’s affecting millions of people, and now they have to pay for internet that they don’t have the ability to pay for.”
Written by: Chris Ritzo
More in this Series:
- At the Denver Public Library, People Skills are the Most Important Quality When Choosing Digital Navigators
- The Mercedes Library Exemplifies a Vital Effort to Promote Digital Independence
- How Everyone On Navigates Change to Deliver Digital Equity
- Free Geek, Devices, and Digital Equity
- Mass General Brigham Understands that Digital Equity Supports Health Equity
- Northwest Center Engages Community, Advances Digital Skills
- The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority Leans Into Collaboration
- North Carolina Community College System Brings the Classroom to the Learners
- Digital Connect Makes Digital Navigation Approachable
- Black Churches 4 Digital Equity: Community Anchors and Committed Advocates
- Seattle's Equity-Based Approach
- The Kūpuna Collective: A Public Health Coalition Advancing Digital Equity
- What We Know About the Human Infrastructure of Broadband
- The Human Infrastructure of Broadband: Looking Back, Looking Around, and Looking Ahead
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