The Digital Equity Coalition (DEC) is a group of elected officials and educators working to bridge the digital divide for our community. 

Despite California’s leadership role in the technology industry, 26% of the state’s K-12 students and almost 40% of low income students do not have reliable Internet access. (Gao and Hayes, 2021)

We are focused on two major areas of work to provide universal internet access for high-needs families state-wide:

• short-term emergency solutions

• long-term infrastructure development. 

The COVID-19 pandemic exposes the need for online access to critical government services like medicine, housing, food, and distance learning. On April 2nd, 2020, our founding school board members wrote a letter to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and San Jose City Council advocating to close the digital divide for our students and families. Today we continue to work with elected officials, government agencies, nonprofits and corporate partners at the local, state, and federal levels dedicated to expanding digital inclusion throughout the state of California and across the country.

• Niu Gao and Joseph Hayes, “Just the Facts, California’s Digital Divide,” Public Policy Institute of California, February 2021, https://www.ppic.org/publication/californias-digital-divide/