Washington County (ME) will help launch National Digital Navigators Corps

Susan Corbett, the founder of Maine’s National Digital Equity Center (NDEC), lives in one of America’s most remote rural regions. The population density is under 10 people per square mile. She knows first-hand how fast her community can tumble without a safety net. When the pandemic’s shelter-in-place order went into effect in 2020, Corbett and her team witnessed the severe isolation and loneliness of many elderly people in her community. The Digital Equity Center responded quickly. Working with a philanthropy, they sent out fully loaded tablets with cell connectivity and a Zoom link to people over 70. Since the pandemic, Corbett, and others have been working with the region’s Passamaquoddy tribal leaders, broadband consultants, state agencies, and regional boards to assess the region’s needs and develop a broadband coalition strategy providing access to all citizens of Maine, regardless of their Zip code. In October 2022, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) named Maine’s National Digital Equity Center as one of 18 grant recipients from across the country to become part of the nation’s first National Digital Navigator Corps. NDIA stated the grants will go toward hiring community-based digital navigators alongside programmatic and technical support to help thousands of residents gain much-needed access to the internet, devices, and digital skills training. Corbett sees this as an opportunity to train “boots on the ground” navigators to help her own region while creating a navigator model for the state of Maine, and then raise funds for digital navigators statewide. As the navigator’s training gets underway, Corbett is partnering with others, building coalitions across the state to make broadband accessible and affordable.