0409C13087

Project Purpose:
The University of Arizona (UArizona)'s Connect Arizona Now: Digital Inclusion for Underserved Students and Communities of Southern Arizona (Project CAN) will address the need for broadband internet access, connectivity, and digital inclusion in the highly diverse, often rural, communities of Southern Arizona.

Activities:
Project CAN will create "equipment bundles" that can be checked out by students from UArizona libraries, including hotspots, laptops, headphones, and webcams. The project will also increase student access to broadband and higher education through two main strategies: expanding UArizona network and classroom technologies, and providing support personnel at education sites in rural Arizona. The Dunbar Pavilion will serve as the locus for the community-based programming portion of the project. UArizona will provide broadband internet access, equipment, and help facilitate educational opportunities and resources for the Dunbar Pavilion, the Tucson Urban League, and the surrounding community.

Outcomes:
Project CAN will increase the number of resources available to the lending program to better serve students in need and address the gap between rural and urban education by expanding access to reliable broadband and classroom technologies. It will provide flexible strategies that facilitate and expand effective rural community access to quality education, particularly in STEM fields. Additionally, the project aims to develop training and technical support to maximize the use of new and emerging technology, train faculty and students, and ensure continuous service and troubleshooting of equipment. With community partners, the project will create a family resource center, financial empowerment center/creative development space, and education resource center and museum archive.

Beneficiaries:
Students, faculty, and staff at the University of Arizona will benefit from improved broadband access and technology. Community members in the Douglas, Thatcher, Yuma, and Pascua Yaqui communities in Southern Arizona will be able to access the new community resource centers.

Subrecipient Activities (if applicable):
The subrecipients for this project are the Dunbar Pavilion and Tucson Urban League. The Dunbar Pavilion is an African American center for art and culture, and for this project, it will serve as the locus for the community-based programming and provide space for the family resource center and the education resource center and museum archive. The Tucson Urban League has been serving the community for the last 51 years through programming, education, and economic development. For this project, it is providing physical space for the financial empowerment center and assisting with planning and implementation of economic development programs.

University Of Arizona

11.028 - Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) [DOC]

Tucson, Arizona 85721-0158 United States

Single Zip Code

None

COVID-19 $3,051,875 (100%) percent of this Project Grant was funded by COVID-19 emergency acts including the CARES Act.