Current events have driven our economy to be
much more reliant on digital connectivity…

BRIDGE THE DIVIDE

…and has illuminated the digital divide between
those that HAVE access to technology and
those that DON’T.

OUR DIGITAL DIVIDE IS TREMENDOUS

Pittsburgh’s growing status as an innovation center has not closed the digital divide locally.

In the city of Pittsburgh, 13% of households do not have computers. Nearly one in five households in Allegheny County lack at-home internet. This varies dramatically between neighborhoods– in some areas, up to 70% of the households are without broadband.

With the onset of COVID-19 and the lockdown of Allegheny County in spring 2020, this divide was thrown into sharp relief. Families and workers were expected to complete school and jobs remotely. Yet tens of thousands of students in our community didn’t have access to the devices or the connectivity required to successfully participate in the education of the 21st century.

That’s where we came in, going far beyond our first efforts to activate 1000 laptops for Pittsburgh’s most vulnerable communities.

The digital divide needs to be addressed as a three-legged stool: devices, connectivity, and wrap-around education support.

To tackle Pittsburgh’s divide at breakneck speed, Neighborhood Allies joined with a coalition of nonprofits, universities, government, foundations, and companies across the entire fabric of the City of Pittsburgh to refurbish and distribute 1,200 laptops and provide connectivity to every disconnected Pittsburgh Public School family.

In the coming months we continue our commitment to digital equity through advocacy, access to devices and connectivity solutions, and perhaps most critically — activating these as tools of empowerment and economic transformation through education.

Join us as we add one more bridge to the Pittsburgh landscape — over the digital divide.