2023 Year in Review

Thanks for being a part of the TLC community - we had a great year!

2023 Highlights

• TLC was awarded a $300k ACP Outreach Grant from the FCC, bringing together a collaborative of 9 community-based organizations.
• Our 9th annual conference during Digital Inclusion Week in October was our biggest one yet with over 150 attendees and great conversations featuring national experts. Check out our wrap-up report!
• We began advocating for the needs of Philadelphia’s digital equity community, and supported organizations in providing input on the state’s Digital Equity Plan.
• Our community has grown to include over 500 listserv members.

Digital Equity Capacity Building - Locally and Nationally

• TLC began a new partnership with the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey and the City of Philadelphia to support an expanded Digital Navigator Network in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties, including network design and onboarding training.
  
• We offered resources and trainings to Philadelphia organizations focused on public health, social services, and workforce development to support their digital equity journey. We developed training modules for Philadelphia Health Federation’s professional development series on digital health navigators.
  
• The TLC team shared insights and best practices from our work here in Philadelphia with organizations across the country as speakers at the NDIA Net Inclusion Conference, Pennsylvania’s Internet for All convening, and Berks County Community Conversation.
  
• Our Executive Director continued to co-convene the PA Statewide Digital Equity Coalition and sat on the PA Broadband Development Authority’s Digital Equity Stakeholder Engagement Working Group.
  

2023 Events

In addition to our 9th annual conference, TLC worked with partners on a number of events including:

• A return to in-person networking events with our January 2023 Broadband Breakfast co-hosted with Next Century Cities convening local practitioners and advocates to discuss and learn about FCC and NTIA initiatives.
  
• Webinars with the Office of Children and Families and the Office of Innovation and Technology about City of Philadelphia initiatives for adult education, digital skills training, and affordable internet access.
  

TLC in the News

• ​RealLIST Connectors 2023: Meet 20 (more) people bringing Philly’s tech ecosystem together 
• Through the Affordable Connectivity Program, Verizon is connecting underserved residents to the internet
• Why is Philly pushing ACP? These local advocates explain why affordable internet is important for digital equity
• These 9 groups are boosting digital equity in Philly
• From Philly to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Statewide Digital Equity Coalition is fostering collaboration across counties
• Affordable Connectivity Program funding could run out in 2024. This digital equity advocate wants to see it extended
• Philly’s Digital Navigators program is expanding to the suburbs
• The key to moving digital equity forward? Storytelling and collaboration, national advocates say

Thank you for being a part of this community!
We can’t wait to collaborate with you even more in 2024.

And a special thank you to our funders and conference sponsors who make all of this work possible, including the FCC, Independence Public Media Foundation (IPMF), Verizon, Comcast, and Dell.