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Taskforce
Person County's Digital Inclusion Taskforce is a group of county and community representatives committed to developing and implementing a plan to achieve digital equity in Person County.
Our Mission
The Digital Inclusion Taskforce is committed to engaging with community stakeholders to identify and address digital disparities, create opportunities for digital skill-building, and advocate for policies that promote digital equity and inclusion. By developing a countywide digital inclusion plan, we aim to empower our community members with the resources they need to succeed in the digital age and create a more inclusive and prosperous community for all.
Our Vision
For everyone in Person County to have the access and skills to participate in a digital world.
Our Goals
The primary goals of the taskforce are to:
- Assess the digital needs that exist in the community
- Identify resources that can be used to address those needs
- Develop strategies that describe how resources are used to address needs
- Consolidate all of this information into a public facing plan
- Implement the plan
- Involve the community
Person County Digital Inclusion Brochure
Context
Now more than ever before, our local, national, and global economies rely upon the Internet and other digital resources and skills. However, in rural communities across the country, Internet access and digital skills are still luxuries for many. Person County is one of those communities. The information below highlights the digital disparities that exist in Person County.
Progress
The GREAT Grant is a grant administered by the North Carolina Department of Information Technology's (NCDIT) Broadband Infrastructure Office. The grant provides funding to Internet Service Providers (ISP) to "facilitate the deployment of broadband service to areas of the state unserved with broadband." Read more here.
The grant is awarded annually, and Person County's two most recent awardees are Zitel and Brightspeed. The locations that will be directly served by Zitel and Brightspeed through the grant are pictured below. It should be noted that, even if a specific address is not shown as "served" by either ISP through this grant, it is now likelier that each provider will build out further infrastructure from these locations to other nearby locations.
The Digital Inclusion Taskforce held its first public meeting on September 26th, 2023. This meeting was the public's first opportunity to directly interact with members of the taskforce and ask questions related to digital inclusion.
Coming Soon...
The Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) Grant is another NCDIT grant that allows counties greater flexibility in choosing which areas they would like ISPs to build infrastructure in. This information will be updated as more details about the grant are announced.