Cleveland Foundation and Cuyahoga County Work To Close Digital Divide

Digital equity and bridging the so-called digital divide is the focus of a fund and coalition spear-headed by the Cleveland Foundation and Cuyahoga County.  The gap between those with digital access and those without has never been more stark. As the coronavirus continues to sideline students, seniors and workers at home, the ability to function in daily life is for many is being decided by where they live and how much they make.

Digital equity is an issues here locally as well as state and nationwide.  It impacts urban areas such as Cleveland but also rural areas as well.

According to a release announcing the creation of the Greater Cleveland Digital Equity Fund, more than one in five households in Cuyahoga County have no internet access and more than half of low-income Cleveland households are disconnected entirely from the digital world.

The Greater Cleveland Digital Equity Coalition has a number of organizations under its umbrella.  There is also work in this area by a number of other community and grassroots organizations.  We will continue to follow the work of the coalition and other community groups and bring you additional conversations on this topic.

But first, lawmakers in the Ohio House will hold a vote on removing Larry Householder as speaker.

The move comes a week after Householder was arrested and charged in connection with a $60 million federal bribery investigation connected to the passage of House Bill 6  last year.  The bill is also known as the nuclear bailout bill.  Investigators say Householder and four others accepted money in exchange for passage of the bill.  The bill will provide more than a billion dollars in taxpayer subsidies to rescue nuclear facilities in Ohio. 

And, finally on today's program, Ilya Kaminsky knows what it's like to be an outcast.

Family members were branded "enemies of the people" in his native Ukraine. He lost his hearing at the age of four.

When he was 16, his family fled to America where the accent of this immigrant, Jewish kid led to further communication problems. Such experiences inform Kaminsky's 2019 collection of poems, called "Deaf Republic," one of this year's Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards winners.

This Cleveland-based literary prize honors work that examines issues of discrimination and diversity.
ideastream's David C. Barnett has a profile of Kaminsky.

The annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Award ceremony at Playhouse Square had to be cancelled this year due to the pandemic.  In lieu of the event, Ideastream will be putting together a television special to air October first hosted by Jury Chair Henry Louis Gates Jr.
 

Karen Kasler, Statehouse News Bureau Chief, Ohio Public Radio/TV 

Leon Wilson, Chief of Digital Innovation & Chief Information Officer, The Cleveland Foundation 
Catherine Tkachyk, Chief Innovation & Performance Officer, Cuyahoga County 
Tracy Strobel, Executive Director, Cuyahoga County Public Library

Ilya Kaminsky, 2020 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award Recipient for Poetry
David C. Barnett, Arts Reporter, Ideastream