Digital Equity IT

Collaborators 

Lead Organization: Rochester Area Nonprofit Consortium

Contact: Brooke Carlson ; Email: TBD ; Phone: TBD

Known/Likely Collaborators: County of Olmsted, MN ; Diversity Council ; Families First (Fomerly: Child Care Resource and Referral) ; IMAA ; OpenBeam ; Rochester Area Foundation ; Rochester Area Nonprofit Consortium ; Rochester Public Library ; Rochester's Adult Literacy Program (Hawthorne Education Center)

Potential Collaborators: Ability Building Center ; Collider Foundation ; ROCHESTER AREA YOUTH TECH FOUNDATION ; Rochester Community & Technical College ; Winona State Rochester

Related Projects

Collider Inclusion Open Entrepreneur Ecosystem Navigator ; Commitment to Action for Racial Justice project ; Developing and Executing on Cradle to Career Plan ; Diversity Council Education Equity Plan ; Non-profit Consortium Buildout ; Partcipation in DEED's Digital Opportunity Plan

Impacts 

Major Impact:  Technology Enablement

PlanScape Impacts :

Level 1: Children & Youth, Computer Literacy, Diversity and Inclusion, Education, OpenBeam, Technology Enablement

Level 2: Education, Education, C2C: Prenatal-K Development, C2C: Kindergarten Readiness, C2C: 3rd Grade Reading, C2C: 8th Grade Math

DMC Impacts:

Community Health Impacts:

Type of Project

Planning  

BACKGROUND

Key Program Components:
■ Initial Participants: Immigrant and refugee families or other families receiving public benefits with young children. Quickly expand to older adults as funding is secured through FSR.
■ Centralized Help Desk and Training: To streamline the delivery of tech support as residents build their computer literacy, RPL will be the centralized “help desk” for program participants. RPL will also work with RAFL staff as well as IMAA’s cultural consultants to provide training to partner organization staff to support consistent program delivery.
■ Community ”Hubs”: The hubs, which include RAFL, IMAA, Families First, FSR and 125 Live, will initially be virtual and become physical locations throughout the community. Each will: leverage their trusted relationships to reach people experiencing barriers, manage and loan out devices, ensure recipients are connected to appropriate educational opportunities, and be the first line of tech support for inquiring participants before directing to RPL for additional support.
■ Multiple Internet Solutions: There is an immediate need for creative solutions to increase internet access, such as connecting to existing hotspots or
deploying new ones throughout the community (e.g. County, City, Rochester Public School, and hub buildings). Discussions are already underway regarding longer-term solutions which will require partnerships with internet service or wireless providers, the City, and Rochester Public Utilities

Theory of Change

Beam Assessment

CMRC pausing public activities and investment potential white paper availability announcement.

Sept. 16^th: Workshop: Finding your First Customers and sell without being salesy; Sept 21^st: Workshop: Financial Literacy; Sept. 28^th: Workshop: How to Start a Business from Scratch (Part 1); Oct. 5^th: Workshop: How to Start a Business from Scratch (Part 2);

2024-08-12 PB Reporting GRAUC leads project to build prototype sim center The Southeast Minnesota Community Healthcare Simulation Center is set to open in downtown

Rochester by mid-October

Racism, Anti-Semitism and the Fight Against Hate

"Abolishing racism, hate crimes, and white supremacy isn’t a problem for one group to face alone; it’s a shared burden that requires a strong and unified response."

August 2024 Report : Age-Friendly Olmsted County (AFOC) activities implementing the Age

Friendly Olmsted County 2022-2025 Action Plan since our annual report in February 2024.

3Q2024: July 2024 Admin Message and Reports

Newsletter Highlights:

Systems Change Designation; Data Updates; Network Updates; Contributors

Home Ownership Creation Program - Prairie Ridge: "NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Common Council of the City of Rochester, MN hereby approves the contribution of $4,000,000 to the Prairie Ridge development to support the creation of 201 for-sale homes via the Home Ownership Creation Program.

The framework defines structural racism as the “totality of ways in which societies foster racial discrimination through mutually reinforcing systems of housing, education, employment, earnings, benefits, credit, media, health care and criminal justice.”

2Q 2024: June 2024; May 2024 - Admin Message, TBE Report; April 2024 - Admin Message, TBE Report

1Q 2024: Feb 2024 - Admin Message, TBE Report; Jan 2024: Admin Message, TBE Report

Special callouts: Women in Construction; City of Rochester Equity in Development 

June 24, 2024 City Council Study Session: Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Audit per Goodenough 

Departmental Audit reports of: Human Resources; Rochester Public Library; Parks & Rec 

SASSA to receive $1M from MN to train workers for high-demand employment. 

The funding is awarded under the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) Targeted Populations Workforce Competitive Grant Program.

"Example of careers they are interested in include radiology, artificial Intelligence, surgery, aeronautical engineering, psychology, sports, business administration and many more!"