Digital Navigator Grant

On May 31, 2023, we awarded $4 million in awards for the state’s first digital navigator initiative to be used to help connect North Carolinians to services that aid with home connectivity issues, digital device use, digital skills acquisition, and enrollment in the now ended Affordable Connectivity Program. Read the press release.

• State Library of North Carolina: Awarded $1.3 million to provide digital navigation services at libraries by hiring regional digital inclusion facilitators and a digital inclusion coordinator to assist participating public and tribal libraries statewide.
   
• N.C. Community College System: Awarded $1.3 million to deploy trained digital navigators at 20 community colleges serving Tier 1 and 2 counties, create a Spanish and English version of the Digital Navigator Certificate, and recruit adults from communities most impacted by the digital divide to serve as digital navigators.    
   
• N.C. Cooperative Extension: Awarded $1.3 million to hire digital literacy and skills extension agents in participating counties and train existing extension agents to host digital literacy and skills educational opportunities in their communities.