Help is being made available for those with limited internet skills. Shaping Our Appalachian Region has been awarded funding to form the Eastern Kentucky Office of Digital Equity & Literacy. The organization received $372,000 from the National Digital Inclusion Alliance to install Digital Navigators in six eastern Kentucky counties.
Colby Hall is Executive Director of SOAR. He said this initiative is about improving people’s lives.
“It is exactly about helping people that aren’t currently connected or don’t currently have a computing device, get those two things and then once they have those trying to help them tame this incredible tool that is just this huge equalizer of opportunity, but is overwhelming if you don’t know how to use it,” said Hall.
A Digital Navigator will be based out of Elliott, Jackson, Magoffin, Morgan, Owsley, and Wolfe counties. Hall said Digital Navigators will focus on economic development and employment.
“We’re really going to be zoning in and helping folks, specifically those that are aged 25 years and higher with a high school degree or less, leverage the internet to find training and education resources that connects them with a job that keeps them in the region,” said Hall.
Hall said there will be one Digital Navigator serving each county with one-on-one instruction and help. Hall said the first navigator should be in place by the end of the month.
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