The following transcript has been edited for length and readability. Listen to the entire discussion here on The Broadband Bunch. The Broadband Bunch is sponsored by ETI Software.
Joe Coldebella:
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Broadband Bunch. I’m your host, Joe Coldebella, and we are in historic downtown Wilson, North Carolina at the 2023 Gig East Event. The Gig East Summit is an annual event that exists to bring together local entrepreneurs, business owners, community partners, and industry thought leaders. Joining us is Ashley Harris, the Community Education Coordinator for Gig East. Ashley, welcome to the Broadband Bunch.
Ashley Harris:
Thanks for having me.
Joe Coldebella:
Hey, thank you for having us. It’s been a phenomenal event, but before we dig into that, I would love it if you could share your story.
Ashley Harris:
Awesome. Well, I am what we like to call a Wilson Implant. Um, I had no plans of being here for what is going on 15 years at this point. I was coming here for Barton. I was going to be here for a semester, and I was leaving as fast as I could. And 15 years later I’ve been in the city of Wilson working with Greenlight and here at the Exchange going on seven years at this point. And it’s just been an adventure. Wilson feels like home. Wilson is home for me now and being a part of everything that’s going on here in historic downtown Wilson and with Greenlight and the Exchange, it’s just exciting to be a part of all the things that are taking place here.
Joe Coldebella:
Phenomenal. So let’s talk briefly about the Gig East event. It was yesterday. It must be gratifying for you and everyone else in terms of just pulling the event together. You had a great keynote speaker and Stefan Youngblood. I did an interview with him. You had the folks from Riot and then panel discussions.
Ashley Harris:
Yesterday was amazing. We were excited to have everything that we’ve worked so hard to orchestrate and make sure we had a little bit of something for everybody there. So we are always excited when everything comes together, and it works out the way that we planned it to. Even if you had to replan it once you’ve already gotten started. It. We were excited that things came together the way they did. And we had a great turnout yesterday, so we were excited about that.
Joe Coldebella:
Yeah, you know what everyone was super engaged, which is always awesome. Sometimes you come to events and there isn’t energy. There was energy in the room yesterday. It was phenomenal.
Ashley Harris:
Yeah. We were really excited about how excited everybody was about the speakers and the breakout groups and the things they got to plug into and be a part of yesterday. And so, yeah, we were super excited with how engaged everybody was yesterday.
Joe Coldebella:
Well, I know I’m going to sound like a broken record, but what the city of Wilson and Greenlight and Gig East are doing is what every small to medium-sized city should be doing. It’s so critically important to make sure that one, everyone is connected to high-speed internet, and two, that everyone sort of gets to go along in this journey. Without that, I think that’s a disservice.
Ashley Harris:
Absolutely. I feel that broadband should be considered a utility at this point where we are in the world.
Joe Coldebella:
Especially for smaller cities.
Ashley Harris:
Absolutely. The quality of life that it can bring to you, the things that can help you within just your everyday life, you know, even down to employment, right? So if you’re someone who may not have the means to get to a job, you can work at home. There are so many different options that broadband provides for the individual.
Joe Coldebella:
You know that’s a great segue. Yesterday you were part of a panel. I would love it if we could just sort of touch briefly on that. So the panel itself was “Empowering Our Community with Digital Skills”. I thought you guys did an awesome job of bringing together the right people to have on stage. You had someone from the Wilson County Public Library. Libraries are so fundamental, so important. You had someone from the Rural Innovation Network. And also you had someone from Google as well, correct?
Ashley Harris:
Yes. Our Google representative for North Carolina. Yes.
Joe Coldebella:
It seems like when you assemble this group that the whole city of Wilson is behind making sure that the opportunity to learn those digital skills is there.
Ashley Harris:
Yes. So when we started even talking about digital literacy and what it looked like for us here as a whole, we noticed that we had the very advanced stuff and some of the very intermediate stuff, but we had big gaps that needed to be filled. And I hate going back to pandemic times, but during the pandemic, we really saw that there were a lot of people who were just completely disconnected. We didn’t even know where to start.
And so we were like, we really must figure out a way to kind of plug these gaps, fill these holes. Is it people; do we need to do things? Do we need to reach out? Like where do we need to go? What do we need to do to help fill some of these gaps? And we were like, well first, since we have all the higher-level stuff, like with our partnership with Riot, how do we even segue people into the beginning phase of that, right?
Because some people get it and some people don’t and some people have ambitions and things that they can bring to fruition if they can get there, but don’t know where to start. And so we really took like a major step back and just looked at the big picture of things and were like, “This is where we need to start.”
Joe Coldebella:
I think that’s a really important point to make. When you’re talking to folks that maybe are a little hesitant to get involved with the internet, I think the important thing that was emphasized is that we as a collective group need to communicate with them to share with them to see that there are actual benefits for them getting online. It’s so important.
Ashley Harris:
Absolutely. Yesterday on the panel, we were talking about it. How do you get people to even understand what is going on? I think making what appears to be the monster, not the monster anymore, right? Let me introduce you to this thing and show that it can provide quality of life. Not everybody’s going to use the internet to code. Not everybody’s going to use the internet to work from home, but you may need to be able to fill your prescriptions online or have a grocery order delivered. Right? So there are so many different levels to utilizing it and a lot of people don’t even realize how simple it can be.
Joe Coldebella:
I think the two key takeaways are that you can tell these folks that, “Hey, listen, when you get online, it’s going to make your life easier.” And then the second thing that’s important is it’s going to bring value to your life.
Ashley Harris:
Absolutely. And I think a way of making people comfortable with those things is also when you give them these tools to utilize it, you also give them the tools to be safe with it. So just because you can order your groceries online and you can communicate with people and you can do all these things, here are the safe ways to do it. You are putting your credit card information here; you are putting information about yourself on the internet. And we tell people once it’s on the internet if it’s been assigned to an IP address, it’s there forever. It doesn’t go away, but here are the safe ways to go about it.
Joe Coldebella:
Yeah, it’s intimidating. I’m sure that’s what the hesitancy is in terms of just getting people to take that first step.
Ashley Harris:
Absolutely. And I think once you teach them some ground rules for starting, I think it makes it a lot easier to attempt.
Joe Coldebella:
Awesome. So you organize the digital skills program, correct? I’m sorry, what is the name of that?
Ashley Harris:
It’s Navigation East.
Joe Coldebella:
So if you could unpack that for us in terms of what exactly it is, you know, who you target and all those good things.
Ashley Harris:
Absolutely. So Navigation East was a partnership between Greenlight and the Wilson and Community Improvement Association, Ms. Barbara Blackston. And we received some funding to help us get into areas that may have been underserved or people who may not have been exposed to certain types of things, technology, devices, and all of the above. And to really get in there and show people that there are affordable ways to utilize the internet. We found some communities that we wanted to reach out to and be a part of and introduce them to Navigation East, which is what we call our little group that is going into the communities and trying to make an impact.
Joe Coldebella:
And so is it one-on-one? Is it classroom teaching? How does it all work? I think what you are doing is critically important. So how do you go about that?
Ashley Harris:
So with the funding we receive, we’re able to give people tangible resources. So we were able to provide Chromebooks to individuals who participated. And so we wanted it to be something that was not necessarily given to you, but you earned it, so it felt better. So you felt more engaged. You really wanted to use it because you earned it.
And so we put together four weeks of training courses. We met on a biweekly basis for four different meeting times. We met for about two and a half hours, and we did basic internet safety. Ane we talked about local resources in the community that could sign up for and utilize via the internet, like our city’s ride-share program which is affordable transportation around the city. It’s our micro-transit system here.
We talked about things like tele docs health visits, right? Not every doctor’s appointment that you go to, you actually have to be present. Some of them you don’t even see the doctor, right? You go in and you fill out information and you have the small chats and then they send you on your way. Most of those can be done from home now, and people don’t know that that’s an option for them or don’t have the resources to do it. And then we built email addresses with people and showed them how to use them to communicate and for resources like putting in grocery orders and things of that nature. And once you completed all four of the training sessions, you were given your Chromebook at the end of the training sessions.
Joe Coldebella:
Oh, that’s great. So I hear that you should never give anything away for free because then people don’t associate value with it. It’s like, listen, you need to do A, B, and C, and then there’s a sort of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Ashley Harris:
Right? And then once you’ve used it for those four sessions at two hours and some change a piece, you’re more likely to be like, oh, I remember how I checked X, Y, and Z. Or I remember when we set up our profiles to schedule a ride to come and pick us up. I think working through those things when you see the device, you’re more likely to be like, okay, I can do this because you’ve done it.
Joe Coldebella:
Yeah, that’s great. And that’s another great thing about Wilson. Doesn’t every single home have access to the internet?
Ashley Harris:
We’re almost there. If you’re in the city limits, you are serviceable. We’re working on the county right now, as hard as we can. So I actually live out in the county, and we’re not quite where I live yet. And I’m waiting for it. So yeah. But for the most part, if you’re within the Wilson City limits, you are serviceable.
Joe Coldebella:
That’s great. Do you know, in terms of the folks that did the program first, were they older, or younger, or was this everybody? I think that the internet, especially if you weren’t part of that first wave or your first introduction when you’re young, can be exceptionally intimidating. You miss a dot, or you miss a slash and you’re like, “Oh, how did I get here?”
Ashley Harris:
The infamous gray screen with the little dinosaur on it. It’s just like, what is this? Absolutely. We were excited because we had a very diverse group. We had a lot of younger individuals; we had some children. Our first four-week training was at the Gee Corbett Senior Center which is located here in Wilson. We had older individuals there, and they were all just like, “I don’t even know why we’re here. I’ve never even turned a computer on, we’re just going to be sitting here.” You know, it was like, this was something to do today. And so by the end of the four-week class, everybody had email addresses and was playing some of their favorite music on YouTube before we left this class, these training sessions at the end of the four weeks.
Joe Coldebella:
That’s great. You know what, it’s funny, I never thought about that. YouTube is just such a phenomenal place. If you’re older and you want to find something, anything, you can go there. If you listen to a song from the 1960s and read some of the comments. They’re like, “Oh, I remember listening to this as a kid that brings back so many great memories. It’s crazy. You know, I didn’t even think about that.
Ashley Harris:
Yes. There were so many good like oldies jams playing in the room before we left on that last training night. We kind of made that more of a celebration. We had some goodie bags put together for them, and we asked them to do something random. You know, something that you thought about, but you might not have been able to do. Tonight’s the night that we’re going to experiment with that. And there was music playing and recipes being looked up and all types of things.
Joe Coldebella:
And so just out of curiosity at the beginning, was everybody super intimidated? But because you were with a group by the end, it was more of a collaborative thing and people were so kind of excited to see you.
Ashley Harris:
Yes. And what was great to watch as a facilitator of these courses was watching people engage and help each other. The ones who may have been a little bit more receptive at the beginning were able to help some of those that were a little bit shy and more reserved by the end of the four weeks. So people together and watching them collaborate and help each other was what was really fulfilling about it.
Joe Coldebella:
Right. Sometimes the internet sort of gets a bad rap for separating people, but in this case, you’re bringing folks together.
Ashley Harris:
Absolutely. And showing each other that we need each other and helping each other is the way to go.
Joe Coldebella:
That’s great. What are some of the unique challenges that rural communities face in terms of building digital skills, you know, the training, you know, creating these job opportunities? What are some of the barriers?
Ashley Harris:
I think sometimes it’s just having tangible resources, right? And so you can go to a free training class. You can go learn all these things, but when you go home, if you don’t have the means to practice or to utilize what you’ve learned, it’s kind of just, okay, I went to a training class, right? But if you take a training course with the equipment that you’re going to be using, you have a tangible resource there. It just kind of brings it all into a full circle.
Joe Coldebella:
That’s great. And one of the things that I’ve noticed about the city of Wilson is just how collaborative it is. It seems like everyone wants to help. Is that sort of just the way the city works?
Ashley Harris:
Think we here in the city of Wilson take pride in our partnerships and being able to help each other. We are like that little place that people come to for just about everything. But we’ve realized that there’s no need to reinvent the wheel, right? We can’t host a class for everything. There can’t be training for everything here, but there’s somebody else that’s doing it, right? So we like to consider ourselves like a conduit. We can funnel you to the right place. We can connect you with the right people because most of the time the things that people are looking for are already being done. So let’s just make those connections with you.
Joe Coldebella:
That’s great. It’s providing the opportunity, and it’s up to the individual to take this and run with it or it’s not going to work out.
Ashley Harris:
Right. And active partnerships are a big part of that too. So if we have a lot of requests for different things, it might not just be sending people to those places. It may be hosting something with the people we need to connect people to here at the building. If you showed up here, there’s something that was attractive about the space that made you want to come in. So if we bring the people that you need to make connections with into the space, then it’s helping everybody.
Joe Coldebella:
So I would love it if we could just briefly talk about the space. So I’ve spent most of my adult life in the tri-state area of New York City. I was in advertising. And early on had facilities similar to this. I absolutely love what you guys have done here. It really feels tech-forward. It also feels like a very collaborative space. You guys must be over the moon about it.
Ashley Harris:
We are very much so. We’re excited because one of the things we like to see is when we have members within the building talk about the collaborations they’ve had with other members and how it has panned out. We have a small business here in the building that does interior design, and we have someone who writes grants. And she just so happens to be building a new home, and she made a connection with the interior designer here in the building. She has helped her get all her dreams for her new home up and running and off the ground exactly the way she wanted them to go. So seeing just those little small things, even if it helps someone in a personal aspect and not necessarily the business aspect, the building is doing what it’s designed to do.
Joe Coldebella:
And so this is in the downtown area. Is this considered sort of like an anchor building in terms of you guys trying to revitalize the downtown area? Because it seems like this is a great first step.
Ashley Harris:
We like to think that we’re a big part of that revitalization that’s taking place. We’re not doing all the work. We’re just the place here that people show up at. And if they need a space to work temporarily while their building is being revitalized, then if we have the space for it, we accommodate it. We have co-working. Even if you just need a space to pop into, to have a meeting for the day, you know, we can accommodate you in most ways. So I’d like to think we are aiding in the revitalization process. Absolutely.
Joe Coldebella:
Awesome. Ashley, this has been a phenomenal visit. If folks want to either learn more about Gig East or learn more about what you do, where can they go for more information?
Ashley Harris:
We do have a Facebook page, and we’re Gig East on Facebook. There’s the website; we’re gigeast.com. You can Google us; we pop right up. If you’re here in Wilson, we’re at 127 Goldsboro Street South. We’re the white building with the little green logo in the top corner. Stop by and see us. We’re about a block away from Whirligig Park.
Joe Coldebella:
Awesome. You know, if you are a small to midtown-sized city, and you’re looking to be tech-forward, Wilson is a great pilot fish to you as a guide. Ashley, thank you so very much for your time, and for all that you and Gig East do. So thank you so very much.
Ashley Harris:
Absolutely. Anytime y’all come see us.
Joe Coldebella:
That’s going to wrap up this episode of The Broadband Bunch. Until next time, we’ll see you guys later.
