PRESS RELEASE

Long Beach, CA – The National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) has declared Oct. 3 through 7, 2022 as National Digital Inclusion Week (DIW), an annual week of awareness, recognition and celebration where digital inclusion practitioners across the country promote their digital equity and inclusion efforts. To celebrate DIW, the City of Long Beach will be showcasing on the City’s social pages its community-centered solutions that promote digital equity and inclusion in Long Beach.

“Long Beach has worked hard to make digital equity and inclusion a priority,” said Mayor Robert Garcia. “Over the past year, we have provided our community with free and low-cost internet services, computer resources and digital literacy training thanks to funding from the Long Beach Recovery Act.”

Throughout the week, residents are encouraged to visit the Department of Economic Development and City’s social pages @LBEconDev and @LongBeachCity to learn more about the City’s free and low-cost digital inclusion resources and services. The City will highlight the various Long Beach Recovery Act (LB Recovery Act) digital inclusion community partners by spotlighting their programs and initiatives. Residents can join the conversation online by using the DIW-related hashtags below:

• #DIW2022
• #LBdigitalinclusion
• #digitalequityNOW
• #LBrecovers

Additionally, as part of the City’s recovery efforts, the City is contracting with nine community partners who have been implementing the digital inclusion programming activities:

• Purchasing and distributing free hotspots and Chromebooks to residents, businesses, and non-profits.
• Conducting equitable and inclusive community outreach.
• Administering multilingual in-person and virtual computer literacy training.
• Deploying bilingual technical support services.

These efforts are part of the City’s Digital Inclusion Initiative. Through this initiative, the City is striving to ensure that every individual in Long Beach, regardless of background, neighborhood or identity has high-quality, accessible, technology resources and services to be civically engaged and socially and economically empowered.

Earlier this year, the City was recognized as a 2022 Digital Inclusion Trailblazer by NDIA for its outstanding achievement in advancing digital equity and inclusion efforts in Long Beach. The City is one of 32 local governments and regions in the country and one of four cities in the state to receive this national distinction, achieving a six-star score and meeting 100% of the evaluation criteria.

In June 2021, the Long Beach City Council approved the City’s first  Digital Inclusion Roadmap (Roadmap) to address the digital divide and advance digital equity and inclusion in Long Beach. The foundation of the Roadmap includes a vision statement, goals, objectives and strategies through a Collective Impact Approach and equity lens in three focus areas: capacity, connectivity and technology. The Roadmap was co-developed in partnership with the Digital Inclusion Stakeholder Committee and residents who are impacted by the digital divide. Implementation efforts for the Roadmap will kick off this fall.

More information about the City’s Digital Inclusion Initiative and Roadmap is available at longbeach.gov/ti/digital-inclusion.