The City of Philadelphia’s Office of Innovation and Technology and the Digital Literacy Alliance (DLA) announced this week that they would be partnering with the national nonprofit PCs for People to provide low-cost or free devices and tech services to Philadelphians.
Philly’s 2022-launched digital equity plan outlined the need for better access to devices for low-income residents. The plan also discusses about the need for a better “device ecosystem,” as Juliet Fink-Yates, digital inclusion manager at OIT, told Technical.ly. Such an ecosystem would allow residents to donate devices to be refurbished, then those refurbished devices — and information on how to use them — would be distributed to Philadelphians in need.
Independence Public Media Foundation gave a $500,000 grant to the Digital Literacy Alliance, which was used along with other funds from DLA to support a partner organization that will take on the challenge of developing an improved system for distributing devices. After putting out a request for proposals last summer, Fink said the DLA selected PCs for People because device equity is its primary focus, and they’ve been successful in multiple cities around the country.
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