Defeat the Digital Divide Helps Bring Reliable Internet Connections to Schools Nationwide
A new website launched by a collaboration of leading technology experts, STEP CG and Cradlepoint, is providing information and educational resources to help K-12 schools ensure their students have access to the technology they need to succeed. Defeat the Digital Divide offers school districts engaging learning tools to build solutions that will enable them to close the gap between those who have access to reliable internet service and those who don’t.
Several helpful tools within the site are designed to help districts gain knowledge and make decisions about implementing their own network, including:
- Digital Divide Readiness Assessment
- Defeat the Digital Divide Checklist
- Success stories from other school districts
The internet has become an integral tool in education that enables students to access school online while opening up new worlds of learning. But with 42 million Americans unable to purchase internet access no matter their incomes, roughly 16 million K-12 students lack reliable digital connections to their schools. This Digital Divide affects school districts in all types of communities, from rural to urban, and encompasses all income levels.
Defeat the Digital Divide’s mission is to bridge this gap by providing education resources that can lead to bringing connectivity to the communities that need it. It’s led by a group of industry experts in the technology and education space who are combining their expertise and passion for helping kids learn to connect school districts to the resources and funding available to bring reliable internet service to their students.
The website provides comprehensive education regarding solutions for improving a district’s dedicated connectivity, from direct carrier agreements to partnering with a technology provider to construct their own Long Term Evolution (LTE) tower. Each scenario can be tailored to the area’s specific needs, challenges, and local requirements.
While it’s geared toward school officials, Defeat the Digital Divide is a valuable education resource and tool for various members of the community — from superintendents, teachers, and community members to local government officials — to gauge their community needs and explore connectivity options.
The site also allows users to access information about the millions of dollars of funding that’s available to make these solutions a reality in their own districts — including who to contact, how to file for it, and how to use it.
Understanding the daunting nature of private network implementation, the site is designed to be clear, concise and user friendly. District officials can visit the site on their own time to inform themselves with foundational knowledge before diving deeper to see what kinds of resources and funding might be available to them.
The site also provides background on the technology partners working together to support Defeat the Digital Divide, and more information about their solutions. Together, they’ll continue to work to close the gap between those who have access to technology and those who don’t, to create an even playing field that begins in K-12 schools and will carry on throughout higher education, the workplace, our communities, and beyond.
About Cradlepoint
Cradlepoint is a global leader in cloud-delivered 4G and 5G wireless network edge solutions. Cradlepoint’s NetCloud™ platform and cellular routers deliver a pervasive, secure, and software-defined Wireless WAN edge to connect people, places, and things — anywhere. More than 28,500 businesses and government agencies worldwide, including many Global 2000 organizations and top public sector agencies, rely on Cradlepoint to keep mission-critical sites, points of commerce, field forces, vehicles, and IoT devices always connected. Cradlepoint was founded in 2006, acquired by Ericsson in 2020, and operates today as a standalone subsidiary within Ericsson’s Business Area Technologies and New Businesses. Cradlepoint is headquartered in Boise, Idaho, with development centers in Silicon Valley and India with international offices in Asia Pacific, Canada, Europe, and Latin America. www.cradlepoint.com.
About STEP CG
STEP CG is a highly innovative, award winning, nationwide IT services engineering firm headquartered in Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati. STEP CG solutions are powered by strategic experts and best of breed technologies solving our customers’ most complex IT challenges. Our expert engineers provide customers with solutions for cloud, security, collaboration, core infrastructure, and managed services.
STEP CG is where innovation meets execution.