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🗣️What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone starting a digital navigator program?

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🗣️What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone starting a digital navigator program?

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From Rachel - In Maine, her community has submitted digital equity plan to state. However she is concerned about longterm financial sustainability

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🔎How did you find out about the position?

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🔎How did you find out about the position?

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🔮Brainstorm: what’s one thing you wish you knew at the start of this project?

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🔮Brainstorm: what’s one thing you wish you knew at the start of this project?

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📄Toolkit Outline for Review: Click to view and add comments directly to outline.

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📄Toolkit Outline for Review: Click to view and add comments directly to outline.

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Are there things missing? Are there things that could be removed? Are there high priority items to emphasize?

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📋What have you learned from instituting a change or pivoting your program?

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📋What have you learned from instituting a change or pivoting your program?

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🔀What events, circumstances, barriers led you to consider changing your program?

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🔀What events, circumstances, barriers led you to consider changing your program?

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💡 How have you supported increased awareness of digital inclusion across your community partners, local government, etc.?

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💡 How have you supported increased awareness of digital inclusion across your community partners, local government, etc.?

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Notes from Dave Sevick -- worked with county commissioners office for instance. Digital Inclusion Coalition members: immigrant groups, housing authorities, disability services, aging population services...

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From Ashley - Advocacy and outreach are different. Outreach = finding clients. Adovcacy = economic development boards and local gov'ts and informing about their work.

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From Marci - NDEC has a set presentation they bring to different community spaces. Over time, community understanding of their work has increased and they get more people reaching back out. Also tabling at community fairs and events. They plan 3 weeks in advance to increase event attendance.

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From Danielle - leadership changes in tribal entity partners have made it so that relationship needs to be rebuilt, but last 8 - 9 months has been strong. Community Saftey Day and Night Out have increased client intake -- last two examples are summer tabling events. Summer is best because winter hinders foot traffic in northern Wisconsin.

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From Walter - Veteran service officers, contacts at VA, referrals from early child interventions... lots of connections through existing Easterseals services and relationships

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🔄️ What changes have you seen in your community’s “digital inclusion ecosystem” since the start of your program?

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🔄️ What changes have you seen in your community’s “digital inclusion ecosystem” since the start of your program?

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From Walter - the work they have done with the VA has lead them to engage with DI more seriously. VA is considering a DN program across VA hospitals across the US

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From Shannon - increasing awareness has increased people and organizations reaching out to Shannon -- can be overwhelming for one person however !

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From Ashley - ACP end pushed the conversation around not only connection affordability but device affordability, and folks doing speed tests to recognize the disparity in service they receive in eastern Kentucky.

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From Kendall - Community actions and co-ops. These organizations help with the first step -- turning on and connecting the device, but for further help and skill building they refer to Kendall. Ecosystem results in more referrals essentially

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Notes from Tyler - has seen change while working with individuals seeing connections between different services and digital skills

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🏛️ Is your local or Tribal government more aware of digital inclusion and/or planning for more digital inclusion in the community?

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🏛️ Is your local or Tribal government more aware of digital inclusion and/or planning for more digital inclusion in the community?

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🤝How did the PM, DM, DN roles work? Would you structure it differently with different staff

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🤝How did the PM, DM, DN roles work? Would you structure it differently with different staff

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🏗️What other ways did your organization support the DN program?

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🏗️What other ways did your organization support the DN program?

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✅What should an organization consider to help them decide if they are a good fit for a digital navigator program?

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✅What should an organization consider to help them decide if they are a good fit for a digital navigator program?

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🔧 What tools or resources that could help in the hiring process for digital navigators?

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🔧 What tools or resources that could help in the hiring process for digital navigators?

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From Tyler - Digital Connect was able to do upskilling with tribal government departments, worked with healthcare and legal services. They have also been able to work reach out to urban community

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From Shannon - County departments, parents as teachers, local tribal gov'ts, local community colleges

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🗣️What advice about preparing for change would you give to other DN programs who are currently planning their program?

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🗣️What advice about preparing for change would you give to other DN programs who are currently planning their program?

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You can write a thought in a new post. Please identify yourself unless you want to be anonymous. - Abi

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so hot, so so so so hot. - Gina

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Type

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hot kentucky summer, include KFC, water park

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Trying to work, but the Olympics is on. I anticipate being more productive from now until the Paralympics start. 

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Hot! Hot! Hot!

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Lets go swimming

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cartoon of two people climbing a cold precarious mountain

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What was the interview process like for you? Did you feel it informed you about the job while also vetting you for the position?  

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What was the interview process like for you? Did you feel it informed you about the job while also vetting you for the position?  

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Comment

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Not AI generated! Taken from my beach chair :)

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Marita: The program manager position made sense because we had a larger organization.

The data manager role (M's role) is pretty important, and she's glad to have it.

Kristi: Do you feel like the financial support helped offset the cost?

M: yes. The work that the PM does with Washington County is important, and they have different partners. The outreach component is important to move it forward. They don't use AirTable for data management, and the funding for the DM position was vital so they could get the information back to NDIA.

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Notes from Mikhail - there are district service center community meetings, Digital Connect has joined and informed folks how their services are different than library or computer center for instance. Also - attending community events hosted by different departments in tribal government, such as offering their services to WIOA department. Worked with community service department to bring wifi services to homes.

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Should there be a different role added if we do this again? 

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Should there be a different role added if we do this again? 

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Steve: it would be nice to have someone who is just focused on social media and program awareness. We started from scratch, so we struggled with it, especially being in a county that is a news desert.

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Notes from Spencer -- Managed to get new stations out to the computer labs to increase awareness. They have leaned heavily on existing partnerships and relationships.

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Matthew D: From the rural side of it - also being the ISP building a network means that the PM doesn't have the ability to do outreach. It would be a good idea to compensate the DN's for the outreach responsibilities. He has to figure out that himself. The split & pay rate was low for what the DN had to do. We don't have a large enough community to justify DNs with specialized roles.

Shannon: also in a rural community. As a DN, she also does data. The PM makes connections and program development. But she is self-guided, and sometimes that feels like a lot.

Rachel: also rural, and there is outreach through the state of Maine, but practically outreach needs to be local and through rural libraries that might have a FTE of 1 person. It's the only practical way to do it.

Tyler: I'm in the community every day, and the first face they see is me. It's good to be included in meetings because what I do is in line with what the PM and the DM do.

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Orange rotation: Are there other things you are contributing to the organization that is not accounted for? 

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Orange rotation: Are there other things you are contributing to the organization that is not accounted for? 

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Jamie: The finance people are not being paid from the grant, so that includes dealing with payments and processing buying devices. They had to rate the job and then put it on the level with other jobs in the area. It takes some time to get the levels up there. 10% of a grant usually goes towards admin, and you could take the PM or payroll person out of that portion.

Kristi: sometimes you also need to account for mileage.

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Yellow Rotation: How are the roles working? Would you structure it differently? 

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Yellow Rotation: How are the roles working? Would you structure it differently? 

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Kendall: I wouldn't structure it totally differently, it's simple to follow. The one thing would be on the DN roles change intakes so that when we upload the stories, remember to do that on a separate database so that they don't get lost. Make sure there is a connection to the PM or the DM so they can see it as well.

Kristi: Some programs have the DN or the PM doing the DM roles. For those of you who have combo roles, do you wish it was different?

Abby: it was 3 different people, and it's working really well. We meet once a week to go over everything.

Kristi: Do you feel like it would be better to have a 4th position? For finance or communication?

Abby: I don't think so, it works with our organization since we already have a PR person. They have a style guide. There is also an accounting department who oversees the financial requests.

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Yellow rotation: If we came to you tomorrow and you know what you know now, what would you change? 

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Yellow rotation: If we came to you tomorrow and you know what you know now, what would you change? 

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Abraham: Obviously grants since money is data driven. Realistic goals for the numbers since the program on paper might have been a failure, but if we're able to help more than one person, then that is something that we have done and is a success. Don't shoot for the stars, because with grants you have to hit your goals.

Amy: Yes, quality over quantity, because an interaction is going to be time-consuming. But one hour of work with someone might save them countless hours of work on their end since they now know how to use technology to make their life more simple.

Abby: Feels the same about quality. They didn't know if they should meet a certain number, and it felt like that was not going to happen. The work is more about what you can gather from the people that you do help.

Amy: it also helps to know that whoever you are helping is probably sharing it with other people. There's a lot of trickle down that we might not see the results of in the data.

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Yellow rotation: Has your organization become THE place for digital inclusion in your region?

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Yellow rotation: Has your organization become THE place for digital inclusion in your region?

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Kendall: YES for NE OK. There's 400,000 tribal members, so at some point everyone is going to have heard of us.

Don't be afraid if other organizations start reaching out to you so that they don't have to build what you just built.

Abe: It's not just locally for our program, they've also been cited in The Nation and the Marconi Society. It's going national.

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Yes, 100 %. People approach me off hours about our program

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This is how onboarding feels according to AI 

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This is how onboarding feels according to AI 

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Green rotation: How are the roles working, would you structure it differently if you could? 

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Green rotation: How are the roles working, would you structure it differently if you could? 

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Ashley: I don't handle social media or advertising, so I just submit what I need. I like the idea of a community manager for outreach because it could help streamline the process.

Heather: while we would dprobably benefit from a community manager position, it was helpful to start with a DN who was from the community. It is important for that person to be a part of the community.

Emmanuel: The data manager position's importance depends on what kind of talent you have in staff.

Ashely: It also depends on how many DNs you have.

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Green rotation: What do you wish you knew 2 years ago? 

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Green rotation: What do you wish you knew 2 years ago? 

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Ashley: I wish I knew how to use AirTable better because it turned out I was doing things wrong from the start. (Each time I did ACP, I put it down as the same goal so different individuals got linked together in a way that they did not need to be.) Turnover in the office meant that they needed a more in-depth training. The data manager should work with the DN to train on how the drop-downs work and other intricacies of the forms work. Having regular check-ins would help.

Kristi: Should we have developed more materials?

Ashley: there is someone on our team who develops them, but some templates on Canva or a place to put things and share would be helpful. If there were materials that we could copy from others, that would help.

Emmanuel: every program is different. He is comfortable with relational databases, but not as comfortable with graphic design.

Kristi: There is still time to get that information to you.

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From Abraham - digital equity plan will include details about fiber buildout, Northstar skills training and DN services

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Blue Rotation: How is your organization supporting the program? 

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Blue Rotation: How is your organization supporting the program? 

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Doug: Some people have multiple roles, but he likes it that there is a hierarchy chart. The load wasn't too much for any one person.

Mikhail: The DM didn't work out as well, which was more of a capacity issue. The DN ended up doing most of the data stuff, with support from the PM.

Kristi: If you had more community members coming for services and had another DN, would you have used the DM more?

Mikhail: Yes, but we needed someone who had the right skillset for that work. It would be good to hire someone who specifically does that. The DN helps the other things that are done at DCI that direct people to the DN. That's the best way to steer traffic in that direction.

Megan: Takes on all three roles, and communicates to the managers what they are doing or would like to do.

Spencer: AirTable can get complex, and it's great if you have someone who already exists in that role, but having a part-time person take on that work is not the same as having someone who is a wizard (like Aaron & Katie at NDIA). It's better to have true experts who can build what you need and put it into AirTable. It would be better to have an AT consultant, and put the money towards that.

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From Heather - the jargon ("digital equity" and "digital inclusion") turned folks away at first, the better strategy was to address direct needs and then slowly introduce language

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Leo: It would be good to have a section on the end to mark if the session with a client is complete or ongoing.

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📝 If you were to hire a new digital navigator today, what would you like to see in the job description?

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📝 If you were to hire a new digital navigator today, what would you like to see in the job description?