About Us

Who We Are & What We Do

The Division of Broadband and Digital Equity was created within the N.C. Department of Information Technology in 2021 to elevate Gov. Cooper's priority to close the digital divide in North Carolina. The Broadband Infrastructure Office (established in 2015) partners with the new Office of Digital Equity and Literacy, established in 2021 as the first office of its kind in the nation, to serve as a statewide resource for broadband access and digital inclusion and digital literacy initiatives that the state leads.

The division's mission includes:

• Building a sustainable team to deliver digital equity to North Carolina
• Enabling more North Carolinians to afford high-speed internet
• Increasing digital literacy among all North Carolinians
• Expanding broadband access across the state
• Leveraging data to identify and understand community needs

Leadership

Nate Denny was named as the deputy secretary of the Broadband and Digital Equity Division by NCDIT Secretary Jim Weaver in May 2021. Denny previously served as NCDIT's chief of staff and legislative director. Before joining NCDIT in 2017, Denny was a presidential appointee at the U.S. General Services Administration in Washington, D.C., where he served as deputy chief of staff, director of intergovernmental affairs and senior advisor for congressional affairs.

Angie Bailey was appointed director of the Broadband Infrastructure Office in December 2021. She served as interim director since August 2021 and was previously director of NC Broadband within the N.C. Department of Commerce. She has more than 20 years of experience in broadband planning and development in North Carolina, primarily at the state level. Angie was named N.C. Tech Association’s 2022 Tech Woman of the Year as part of the N.C. Tech Awards.

Annette Taylor joined NCDIT as the new director of the Office of Digital Equity and Literacy in May 2022. She is helping expand our initiatives to ensure all North Carolinians have equitable access to high-speed internet and digital literacy resources. Annette has more than 25 years of community service and civic engagement in both public and private sector roles and in the philanthropic arena directing resources to organizations across North Carolina. 

Supporting Community Connectivity

We specialize in helping communities build a 21st Century technology infrastructure that supports students, educators, first responders and businesses.

Digital Inclusion and Literacy

The Office of Digital Equity and Literacy actively pursues funding and collaborations to develop programs, policies, and tools to increase digital equity throughout the state. We also support digital inclusion and literacy organizations, programs and groups across the state in their efforts to close the digital divide.

Technical Assistance

The technical assistance program consists of an on-the-ground technical support team that can work with counties and communities across the state to provide broadband expertise. The team works closely with internet service providers to find creative solutions for serving areas where market forces aren’t working. Finally, it helps internet providers and communities seek out funding, including through North Carolina’s rural broadband grant program administered by our office.

FirstTech

The First Responder Emerging Tech (FirstTech) team collaborates directly with subject matter experts in fields such as networking, hardware, software, applications, and operating systems to identify challenges and risks that new technologies might pose, such as cybersecurity issues, connectivity needs, and interoperability within existing systems and emerging systems. The program will also identify other topics that can challenge or threaten an effective implementation of a new technology.

Policy Guidance

To help leadership develop local governance that promotes broadband expansion, we can advise broadband planning committees on policy changes to implement to eliminate barriers and obstacles to growth.

Mapping & Data Analysis

The Broadband Infrastructure Office works with communities to better understand their broadband infrastructure landscape so that they can plan for strategic growth. To do that, the office assists local communities to understand the data that they are gathering. That data can then be useful in identifying where infrastructure exists and where it doesn’t.