Friday Press Conference: Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) to Announce $13.3M Plan to Connect All Oakland Public School K-12 Students with Home Laptops and Data Enabled Hotspots.
Oakland – On Friday, August 18, Superintendent Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell will announce the $13.3M Emergency Connectivity Fund grant awarded to OUSD at the #OaklandUndivided Connected Community Celebration. The superintendent will be joined by Assemblymember Mia Bonta, City Councilmember Treva Reid, Oakland’s Chief of Education & Community Safety Brooklyn Williams, and the #OaklandUndivided (#OU) Coalition as well as community partners, additional local elected officials, and signature funding partners Amazon, Gilead, and PG&E.
Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) has been awarded $13.3M from the federal Emergency Connectivity Fund. This was one of the largest awards granted in the country and enables the purchase of thousands of home chromebooks and unlimited, data-enabled 5G hotspots to serve all students from households in need. This extends the collective commitment made by the #OaklandUndivided coalition to ensure that all Oakland public school students have access to a computer, internet, and culturally competent tech support.
Since its inception in 2020, the #OaklandUndivided Coalition including Oakland Unified School District, public charter schools, Headstart, many Bay Area colleges including Cal State East Bay, Mills College, Peralta Community College District, San Francisco State University, and UC Berkeley – has distributed more than 50,000 laptops and 20,000 hotspots for student home use to ensure all public school students – from cradle to career – have the tools of a 21st century education.
This event is also an Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) enrollment event for students and families of the co-located ACORN Woodland and EnCompass Academy elementary schools. ACP is a new federal benefit which provides eligible families with a discount of up to $30 per month on new or existing internet service.
All households with a kindergarten through 12th grade Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) student qualify for this benefit as OUSD is a U.S. Department of Agriculture Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) district. Trained volunteers from #OaklandUndivided, TechExchange, and NextGen Policy will be providing families with their CEP eligibility documents and supporting them through the enrollment process.
Additionally, El Timpano will be conducting a Community Testimonial Project in which staff will ask families to answer a number of questions regarding how they access the internet, their overall internet experience, and about connectivity barriers faced within the community. Feedback received will be incorporated into #OaklandUndivided’s Broadband Voices project aimed at informing the State Digital Equity Plan required by Assemblymember Bonta’s AB 2750.
This bill requires the California Department of Technology to work with community members to identify barriers to digital equity faced by specified populations and “measurable objectives towards achieving digital equity among those populations.” The plan will help inform the State’s once-in-a-generation $7B investment in Broadband for All.
#OaklandUndivided has been recognized as a trailblazer by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. To see the full list of partners and endorsers as well as opportunities to learn more, volunteer, donate, or join the movement to keep #OaklandUndivided – please visit www.oaklandundivided.org. For more information on our impact, please see our 2023-2024 Impact Report.
WHAT: #OaklandUndivided Connected Community Celebration
WHEN: 3:30 p.m., Friday, August 18 (Press Conference begins at 5:30 p.m.)
WHERE: Acorn Woodland & EnCompass Academy Elementary Schools Outdoor Amphitheater, 1025 81st Avenue
About The Oakland Unified School District
In California’s most diverse city, Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) is dedicated to creating a learning environment where “Every Student Thrives!” More than half of our students speak a non-English language at home. And each of our 77 schools is staffed with talented individuals uniting around a common set of values: Students First, Equity, Excellence, Integrity, Cultural Responsiveness and Joy. We are committed to preparing all students for college, career and community success. To learn more about OUSD’s Full Service Community District focused on academic achievement while serving the whole child in safe schools, please visit ousd.org and follow us @OUSDnews