Digital inclusion is about more than access: it’s about enabling meaningful community participation. Coalitions combine diverse strengths – advocacy, alignment, and networking benefits – to make digital equity a collective, sustainable movement. As the NDIA’s Digital Inclusion Coalition Guidebook (July 2024) emphasizes, coalitions unlock powerful scale, shared vision, and lasting impact.
Why Coalitions Matter: Key Insights from the NDIA Guidebook
The guidebook outlines three foundational “effects” that highlight coalition value:
- Advocacy Effect: Amplifying visibility among media, policymakers, and influencers.
- Alignment Effect: Uniting nonprofits, government, libraries, and communities around shared objectives.
- Network Effect: Enabling members to share data, resources, and best practices, extending reach beyond what any organization could manage alone.
These dynamics are pivotal across local, regional, and state digital equity initiatives.
The Collective Impact of Our Coalition Work
By working together, coalitions also help us:
- Elevate digital equity in policy discourse and public awareness.
- Coordinate resources and programming for more efficient service delivery.
- Build long-term capacity by sharing training, expertise, and infrastructure.
Spotlight: The Santa Barbara Foundation & digitalLIFT Partnership
In 2024, the Santa Barbara Foundation partnered with digitalLIFT to expand digital access across Santa Barbara County. Together, we trained local nonprofits to serve as digital navigators, distributed free devices, and created multilingual resources so organizations could better reach their communities.
This effort connected more residents – especially older adults and people with disabilities – while also strengthening the local Santa Barbara County Digital Equity Coalition, showing how collaboration fuels lasting impact.
Our Coalition Network
We’re proud to be part of several key coalitions, building community through collaboration:
- Bay Area Digital Inclusion Coalition (BADIC)
- Digital Equity Coalition: California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF)
- Digital Empowerment of Central Texas (DECA)
- Coalition of Agencies Serving the Elderly (CASE)
- California Alliance for Digital Equity (CADE)
- Digital Inclusion for Older Adults Workgroup: County of Santa Clara Social Services Agency
- Northern California Coalition for Social Connection
We’re stronger together: amplifying our reach, deepening our impact, and paving the way for equitable digital futures.
Stronger Together: United for Greater Impact
One organization can spark change, but coalitions ignite transformation. By joining forces, we leverage shared resources, expertise, trust, and local knowledge to deliver services that outstrip what any one of us could do alone.
Explore how coalition-driven digital inclusion can support your community. Contact us today! We’re ready to share our free resources, talk coalition strategy, and invite you or your organization to join this movement.
Comments are closed.