How to Ensure Community Perspectives are Represented in Digital Equity Program Evaluations

How can participatory action research be used to develop a theory of change and an evaluation framework to benefit the digital equity field? In Developing a Digital Equity Theory of Change with Tech Goes Home, our research team discovered several findings that we believe can be useful for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and state agencies as they work to create, award, and evaluate funding opportunities for digital equity organizations. In response to insights from our research participants, we offer policymakers the following recommendations to help them understand the outcomes and impacts of federally funded broadband and digital equity programs. We offer additional recommendations to digital equity organizations who will need to gather insights from the community beneficiaries of digital equity grant programs.

[Colin Rhinesmith (he/him) is the Founder and Director of the Digital Equity Research Center at the Metropolitan New York Library Council. Sangha Kang-Le (she/her/hers) is the Advocacy Research Specialist at Tech Goes Home, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit working to advance digital equity. Malana Krongelb (she/her) is a research associate with the Digital Equity Research Center at the Metropolitan New York Library Council.]