CLARK COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA ITEM
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Petitioner: |
Bob Leek, Chief Information Officer |
Recommendation:
title
Approve and ratify the submission of the grant application to the US Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration Digital Equity Competitive Grant for Clark County’s Innovate Together for Better Digital Equity Program (TBDEP) which will strengthen and expand the existing ecosystem service of Clark County’s covered populations to connect them with digital equity opportunities. (For possible action)
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FISCAL IMPACT:
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Fund #: |
2031.000 |
Fund Name: |
Digital Equity Competitive Grant |
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Fund Center: |
1100761000 |
Funded PGM/Grant: |
TBD |
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Amount: |
10,722,299.83 |
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Description: |
FY2024 Digital Equity Competitive Grant |
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Additional Comments: |
N/A |
BACKGROUND:
Clark County Information Technology requests that the Board of County Commissioners ratify and approve the submission of the grant application to the US Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program (2024) and authorize the Chief Information Officer or his designee to accept any grant funds awarded.
Clark County’s innovative Together for Better Digital Equity Program (TBDEP) will strengthen and expand the existing ecosystem serving Clark County’s Covered Populations to connect them with digital equity (DE) opportunities. This catalytic program ensures availability and accessibility of Digital Equity (DE) resources to address Covered Populations’ needs by investing in and coordinating among a network of County social service departments and trusted partners to produce systems-level change. TBDEP consists of four components to Deliver, Empower, Educate, and Progress (DEEP) countywide resources for residents and DEEPen their access to digital equity. Within the County itself, TBDEP creates a Digital Equity Hub (“Hub”) composed of 4 departments: Social Services, Juvenile Justice, Family Services, and Community and Economic Development. The Hub formalizes and integrates DE work within these departments by creating a referral program of DE services by collaborating with CBOs, CAIs, and City partners; establishing data integration between County systems; and capacity building to integrate DE into departments’ ongoing services for Covered Populations. TBDEP creates a national model to realize DE at scale through social services in their communities. TBDEP addresses social service areas that would benefit from DE activities: devices and training to enable virtual visitations or telehealth visits for foster families; digital skills to support information sharing between families and case workers; and capacity-building for case workers to provide ad hoc digital navigation with online public resources. TBDEP will DEEPen integration of DE and social services through four DEEP components: (1) Deliver Countywide Capacity Building, (2) Empower through Countywide Public Programs. (3) Educate through Community-based Programming, and (4) Progress through Advanced Technical Trainings.
TBDEP is designed to align closely with Nevada’s Statewide Digital Equity Plan. It addresses each of the plan’s listed barriers in the areas of broadband access and affordability; online public resources; digital literacy; online privacy and cybersecurity; and devices and technical support. TBDEP helps to advance all 4 of Nevada’s measurable objectives to address these barriers in multiple ways. TBDEP is designed to advance Nevada and the NTIA’s program goals in areas such as economic/workforce development, education, health, and civic/social engagement by partnering with County departments, CBOs, and CAIs who work in these fields in designing innovative DE programs that integrate with their existing work. Through the integration approach, TBDEP is designed to ensure long-term sustainability, a Nevada and NTIA priority.
Baseline assessments from 2018-2022 PUMS 5-year estimates data and the Digital Equity Act Population Viewer demonstrate a need for TBDEP services in Clark County to address the lack of broadband adoption, devices, digital literacy, and cybersecurity and online privacy. Covered Populations including covered households (64%), those with language barriers (68%), and individuals with disabilities (68%) have significantly lower subscription rates to reliable broadband compared to the county average (78%). Most Covered Populations, including covered households (66%), are also less likely to have home desktops/laptops compared to county average (83%) and are more likely to rely on smartphones or have no device at all. According to the Nevada plan, a greater share of aging individuals, individuals in covered households, and those with disabilities experience challenges with basic to advanced digital skills, especially for cybersecurity or online privacy.
Through the combination of large-scale outreach and targeted programs, TBDEP will reach an estimated 324,595 Clark County residents across the 4 components and will serve all 8 Covered Populations in the county. Within each Covered Population, we expect to serve the following numbers of individuals (with the specified devoted funding):
- Covered Households: 181,931 ($6,725,256)
- Aging individuals: 40,497 ($2,177,726)
- Incarcerated individuals: 8,828 ($326,085)
- Veterans: 13,092 ($1,281,321)
- Individuals with disabilities: 42,626 ($2,097,909)
- Individuals with a language barrier: 97,255 ($3,479,625)
- Members of a racial/ethnic minority group: 208,920 ($7,817,230)
- Rural residents: 9,436 ($495,608)