Nashville's digital inclusion work has always existed within a framework of collaboration between government, nonprofits, and private organizations working to expand opportunities and resources for Metro residents.
One of the foundations for the larger work was the Nashville Digital Inclusion Fund, established in 2015 through public-private partnerships and donations, and housed at the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. In 2015, Pew Internet Research reported that more than 53,000 Davidson County families needed assistance to enter the digital age. To respond to the need, Nashville established the fund to provide free or low-cost Internet access, computers, devices, training, and support to Nashville residents. Metro Government invested $100,000 in the fund in the 2015 fiscal year budget. Google, the James Stephen Turner Family Foundation and Comcast each matched Metro's donation, expanding the fund to more than $400,000. As described by the founders of the fund:
"This is the next logical extension of Economic Development: creating a workforce trained and equipped for today's jobs and tomorrow's rather than importing talent."
The fund supported multiple initiatives and pilot programs, particularly through Nashville's Anytime Access for All, a collaborative effort serving Metro Nashville Public School students and families who lacked access to devices or the internet at home. The program, modeled after Boston's TechGoesHome, provided devices gifted by Vanderbilt University, device refurbishment through a partnership with ER2, technical support through ReviveIT, and relevant training provided by Nashville Public Library.
The same year the fund was established, Nashville pursued and was selected to participate in the pilot program for ConnectHome, an initiative of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) aimed at expanding access to digital resources for underserved communities.
In January of 2016, using the Anytime Access for All model, the Metro Development and Housing Agency (MDHA) piloted a program to offer low-cost devices, low-cost connectivity, free training and free technical support to residents of targeted MDHA communities, particularly those with high populations of K-12 students.
The collaborative efforts that spurred these intersecting programs built a model for Nashville's future work around digital inclusion.
Connected Nashville
In May 2016, a committee of 75 community members with diverse backgrounds in Nashville business, academia, non-profit sectors, and all levels of government set about to build a sustainable multi-year plan to make Nashville a smarter, more connected city. The Connected Nashville smart city working group first examined Metro's stated priorities and then looked globally at ways to address local priorities in new ways using technology and data, with an unwavering eye on equity.
Even then, there was agreement around the need for data to guide successful planning. In August of 2016, CIO Durbin, in a presentation to a state committee about Nashville's long-term digital inclusion goals, recommended a 'Metro Nashville digital inclusion assessment/survey,' referencing Austin's Digital Assessment model, as one of the two most important recommendations for future work. This recommendation was carried through as a strategic action submitted by the Connected Nashville Education and Advancement committee, which Dr. Wilson led. The Nashville Digital Inclusion Needs Assessment in strategy 12.3 of the Connected Nashville report.
In August of 2017, Dr. Wilson and her organization, Black in Tech Nashville, brought Nashville's first Tech Inclusion Forum, hosted at Belmont University. Among the contributors to the event were key Connected Nashville thought partners like the Nashville Technology Council, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, where Dr. Perez (taskforce co-founder) is the Vice President of Educational Initiatives, and Vanderbilt University, where Dr. Hasina Mohyuddin (Principal Investigator for the Nashville Digital Inclusion Needs Assessment) is the Assistant Dean of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion for Peabody College.
Nearly two years of work went into the resulting document, Connected Nashville: A Vision for a Smarter City, published in October 2017. This initiative laid a foundation for the collaborative relationships that exist within the Digital Inclusion and Access Taskforce today.