Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • As Prisons Cancel Visitation, The Phone Line Becomes A Life Line

    To alleviate the isolating effects of COVID-19 restrictions in prisons barring outside visitors, some prisons have encouraged phone and video contact with family by waiving the fees normally charged for such services. In Utah, the first 10 calls per week are free. Federal prisons have waived the charges entirely. Maintaining healthy family relationships has been shown to relieve prisoners' loneliness and anxiety, which equates to better behavior. And it reduces future lawbreaking by strengthening bonds that help in finding housing and jobs once the prisoners are released.

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  • The coronavirus effect on Pakistan's digital divide

    The Pakistani government uses technology, like a state-owned TV channel that broadcasts content for grades 1-12 and apps sourced for free by ed-tech companies, to help the over 50 million school children without broadband internet or digital device access. The TV channel has over 54 million subscribers and there is a text-messaging service that allows its 250,000 subscribers to talk to professional teachers. Despite the digital divide, the use of educational apps has also skyrocketed since the Covid-19 pandemic. However, technology is not a silver bullet to solve the country’s deep education inequalities.

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  • In Migrant Worker Camps, Wifi Is a Basic Utility

    To expand wifi access during the coronavirus pandemic for those who work in the agricultural community and in migrant farmworker camps, the City of The Dalles partnered and collaborated with Google and other community businesses to purchase hot spots and Chromebooks for farmworkers to use. The hot spots don't work in all areas of the county, but in the orchards with cell service where they have been installed, they have been helping to provide access to telemedicine and educational services.

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  • The remote British village that built one of the fastest internet networks in the UK

    A village in the UK didn't have access to internet, so the community joined together to build the infrastructure for broadband in their area. Although "building resilient, fibre-fed networks in rural areas" wasn't easy or cheap, it has made a difference, especially during the pandemic, in helping the community feel less isolated.

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  • Texas's Missing Students: Weeks After Closures, Schools in San Antonio Still Couldn't Locate Thousands of Kids. How One Band Director Finally Tracked Down His Musicians

    As thousands of students across the country stopped showing up to remote classes, schools scrambled to make contact. One Texas Band Director built on his relationships to localize his students. “He had relationships with students — his own and those between bandmates — forged long before the closures. When his personal connections played out, he called in reinforcements section by section, woodwinds finding woodwinds, brass finding brass.” The effort worked so well some teachers were asking him for help to localize other students.

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  • Churches are an unlikely ally in solving the rural internet access puzzle

    With the help of a program that enables churches to assess the needs of their community and create solutions, one reverend in North Carolina was able to provide a lifeline: internet access. Rural communities like his in North Carolina struggle with internet access and are unable to schedule vital telehealth visits, complete school work or work from home. The funds paid for internet as well as several old computers and 14 hotspots.

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  • Appalachia's Front Porch Network Is a Lifeline

    Counties in Appalachia are meeting increased food assistance needs due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In some school districts, bus drivers continue their routes delivering free meals - and a familiar face - to any family who requests it. Kanawha County Schools provided more than 12,500 meals in the first week. Some school buses are also equipped with free wi-fi so that children without access to the internet can complete homework assignments. Traditional food banks in the area have also worked to meet increased demand and have had to adapt their practices for contactless distribution.

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  • Rochester district finds a solution for students with no broadband

    The Rochester School District in New Hampshire has figured out a way to connect students with limited or no internet access during the pandemic—school bus hotspots. The school district has equipped nine school buses with a mobile hotspot that delivers internet within a 300-foot range, each parked within an identified area of need, all at no cost to families.

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  • Bridging the digital divide: How NH districts are making remote learning work

    Many counties in New Hampshire are addressing the digital divide by loaning laptops to students without access to a computer at home and providing paper assignments to students who don’t have access to the internet. Though not available for every student who lacks access to a computer, school districts, business leaders, and citizens have loaned out thousands of laptops to students. The state's largest school district has bus drivers bring breakfast, lunch, and paper assignments to school children each day, which also enables the bus drivers to continue working during the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown.

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  • This rag-tag group of DIYers has an answer for rural PA's internet problem

    The Rural Broadband Cooperative took matters into its own hands after local and state politicians failed to provide high-speed internet for their rural Pennsylvania county. Telecommunications companies did not consider Huntingdon County a priority so community members who include carpenters, welders, and crane operators all came together to find a solution for a problem that affected everyone from children to business owners and realized all they needed was a radio tower on a mountaintop. The group built and installed it themselves, spending only $50,000 and providing internet for 1,000 locals.

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