Cleveland Digital Justice Campaign: A program for our city government

The Cleveland Digital Justice Campaign was first organized by CYC during the 2017 election for Cleveland Mayor and City Council, to educate voters and candidates about our community’s crippling digital divide and what the City government should be doing to close it.  The Campaign offered four specific, practical proposals for City action.

1. City funding of at least $1 million a year for neighborhood technology centers that

  • Provide basic digital literacy training for community residents, and
  • Help eligible households take advantage of existing discount Internet programs.

2. Citywide expansion of the City’s free public wifi network

to provide Internet access to residents and neighborhood businesses throughout Cleveland.

3. A City-owned, city-wide optical fiber broadband network

to provide affordable, very fast Internet services to Cleveland homes and businesses — as a City utility service, a delivery option for new competitive private Internet providers, or both.

4. A new Cabinet-level executive for digital inclusion

dedicated solely to leading City efforts to promote universal digital literacy and broadband Internet access, including the measures described in 1, 2 and 3.

The Digital Justice Campaign and the 2017 election: