Dear Alexis,

Today is the deadline for comments to the NYS Digital Equity Plan!

If you or your organization have sent in comments, thank you!

If you have not, today is the last chance to do it.

All comments are helpful. As Annmarie Lanesey reported last month, critical comments are helpful. Positive feedback, that let's the ConnectAll Office know where they are getting things right, is also helpful.

If you have been hestitant to submit your comments because you had a hard time using their online form (which asks for all comments to be matched with a section of the Digital Equity plan), you may also send in your comments via email today. More info on that below.

best wishes and Happy Holidays!

Sincerely,

Lex Bhagat

Project Manager, Keep Albany Connected

ps: If you are in Albany, please stop by the Washington Ave branch at lunchtime on 12/19 for the FFAPL Annual Holiday Concert with Albany High! Read more

Submit your Comments today

Access the Version 2 Draft of the New York State Digital Equity Plan at:

bit.ly/nys-sdep

Then submit comments on the portal

Or submit your comments via email!

Use the form and include your name and contact information, then submit long form comments as an attached Word Document via email to:

ConnectALL@esd.ny.gov

CC: Nazeer.jeffries@esd.ny.gov

More info below.

Need inspiration? Reply to this email and let me know if you would like to see the comments from the NYS Digital Equity Network or Capital Region Digital Equity Coalition.

You can pick and choose from those comments to find one or more to emphasize.

Here are instructions on email comments from Nazeer Jeffries, Digital Equity Manager at ConnectAll

"We have received a number of requests for alternative modes of public comment submission from stakeholders across the city and State. To honor this... we have been advising those who wish, to submit their comment to the ConnectALL email (CC me) as an attachment in addition to submitting with a summary of their comment into the portal, under the Executive Summary section. This way we will receive the full long form comment without interrupting our reporting processes to our federal partners."

Thank you, NYSDEN, for opening up the comment process to Email Submissions!

Primer on Digital Discrimination

"For the better part of a generation, low-income and minority US communities have struggled to gain access to affordable broadband. It’s not an accident."

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Get up to date on Digital Equity with NYSL

The NYS Library Digital Equity LibGuide provides an overview of digital equity initiatives at the state level, as well as resources and materials to support digital equity practitioners across New York.

Read More

Register for the next NYSL Digital Equity Roundtable

Friday, December 8 at 10-11:30AM EST.

Christopher White of the NYS Department of Labor, Christine Carr-Barmasse of MISSION: IGNITE, and Jeff Bostic of Central Library. 

Register here