 Good morning, everybody. So I'm the worst public speaker, so I apologize for that in advance. I'm gonna do my best here But before I introduce our morning keynote speaker council implies we have a few comments My name is Deanne Cuellar and together with Amanda and Jordana We try chaired this year's convening with the Digital Inclusion Alliance of San Antonio We're so glad to have you here this morning This year's theme is connect todos digital inclusion in upward mobility This year's speakers will present new data discuss policy solutions demonstrate broadband access Gaps and talk about gathering community input If you registered online, you might have read some of the questions. We're trying to answer today How do we solve the digital divide in San Antonio? And with this overwhelming mountain of a challenge, where do we begin? Today we're here to start a conversation Before I introduce our morning keynote, I'd like to do a little housekeeping We will have 10 minute breaks in between all of our panels We'd like for you to use this time to meet with one another Stretch and visit the organization's tabling today with us We have two rooms reserved outside of the ballroom pecan and magnolia And that's for those of us that need space today to meet with one another or catch up on work We also have a drawing going on for our digital inclusion t-shirts that were made possible by Google Fiber You can get one of these shirts if you add yourself on to our page the Digital Inclusion Alliance of San Antonio on Facebook And use the hashtag connect todos Today's summit is sponsored by Hulu the city of San Antonio San Antonio Library Foundation the San Antonio Public Library and the San Antonio Housing Authority We are also being recorded by now cast SA and all of today's summit will be available out online after today This morning, you'll also hear a little bit about the city's ongoing Technology survey and our three innovation zones and if you'd like to learn more about the survey, please visit San Antonio Gov slash smart SA So joining this this morning is Councilman Manning Palaeus Councilman Palaeus was elected to represent San Antonio District 8 in June of 2017 and I've had the humble honor of Being able to sit with Councilman Palaeus who chairs the innovation and technology Council And I feel like I'm saying this often, but I really feel like Councilman Palaeus is working me out of a job He I love the way he includes people in this conversation all people whether you're a lawyer or someone working on a program like connect Home or if you're a constituent having problems with their bill. He includes everybody He brings urgency to our work and he holds people accountable. So please welcome Councilman Palaeus Hi everybody. Good morning. I I'm really excited to be with you and I'll tell you a year and a half ago if somebody told me let's get you Talking about the digital inclusion and the digital divide and closing that very very disturbing gap that exists I would have said well that sounds lame. I'm not interested in that. That's not what I'm all about I didn't run on that issue. I I Gotta tell you I knocked on doors Thousands of doors when I ran for office and I knocked on them and I said what is important to you San Antonio in my district and They said traffic Traffic traffic traffic traffic. I said, okay What else is important to you? We don't want any more apartments nearby here because traffic And I said, okay, I got it and I said what else, you know job creation. Let's create some jobs You know, I'd like to bring in companies like Hulu who is one of our sponsors and who Set up a shop in District 8 up on the north side and has created hundreds of jobs Thank you to Hulu for sponsoring and thank you for choosing San Antonio And I said, you know, we need to get more jobs high paying tech jobs You know with innovation and most of the people whose doors I knocked on were like, yeah That's that's not something we're into and I was like really why not and they would tell me well You know, that just means more people more traffic. So what about this traffic thing and And I you know and it's funny, right? I'm not trying to be funny, but like that's really what they're most worried about and that's the north side of San Antonio Okay, these are people and and when I said no, but good jobs is what San Antonio is gonna need in order to thrive And most of them would say look I already got a job. I don't need more jobs, right? I need you to figure out seriously. I would get this all along I need you to do two things if I vote for you I need you to promise me that you and the chambers of commerce and the city of San Antonio and all the different You know groups out there and advocacy groups will stop telling companies from outside of San Antonio that were open for business These are smart people homeowners taxpayers voters who are sick and tired of it and I was like, okay, and what is the other thing and they said and if they do come here I need you to move them to the south side And I was like why and why and they were like because traffic and it's killing us and traffic traffic traffic, right? And so those are the priorities on my side of town quite frankly the connection between the digital divide right and This issue of digital inclusion and how it impacts their day-to-day life is something they haven't quite Figured out yet, right and to be honest. I didn't know about it either. I'm just a lawyer I represent homeowners and I represent companies and you know insurance claims and I'm in court duking it out over quite honestly things that don't matter as much as the things that we're discussing today and I was guilty of being ignorant and I own that So I I want to tell you and I promise you I'll tell you why I'm so Concerned about this because what I've figured out Is what I'm hoping that a lot of more people on my side of town figure out and that is that there is a direct relationship To their ability to continue thriving if other people in San Antonio Also have what they have which is access to information. That's it. That's really what we're talking about is access to information So speaking of information, you know my job Is to have difficult conversations, right? And that's the one thing I promised everybody and that is sometimes I will push you to think about things that make you uncomfortable and And this morning for example, I was having a very very deep conversation. It was before you know at 8 a.m. In the morning about the topic of direct proportionality in direct proportionality and Newton's first law of motion, right? I mean seriously this was in the car and I'm driving down I-10 and I'm having this conversation And I'm really into it right and remember the Newton's first law was an object that stays You know an object at rest stays at rest, right? And I'm having this conversation with an 11-year-old With my daughter Because last night her brother her older brother is now taking physics and this is the thing that they're working on right forces weight speed velocity and Newton's first law and Newton's second law and she's in the car and she's like I don't get it What is this thing proportionality and please explain it to me like I'm 11 years old? That's her words, right? And I said okay. Well, I'll try right and here I am kind of going back and forth and back and forth and I promise you this is the this is how it like ended up And I said all right imagine if you're pushing a swing, right and Along comes a kid and you're pushing this kid and you use them a certain amount of force right and you use your the most force you can muster up Sophia her name is Sophia and You know and you push that kid how high is that kid gonna get and she goes well pretty high if I you know if I can You know push it because I push the kids at my school and there's a swing Okay, great, and I was like now imagine a big fat guy shows up right and he sits in the swing, too and You know you're pushing him with the exact same amount of force What's gonna happen and she says well? He's not gonna go as fast. He's not gonna go as high and I was like exactly and that is You know and that sort of led us into proportionality and direct relationships and all that and She stops and she goes all right, but I think it's wrong and I said really what's what's wrong with it? And she goes what if everybody were fat and I said what does that mean and she goes what if nobody knew That there was such a thing as skinny Right or little what if and she goes would we still be talking about the same thing and I said all right We're here at school get out of my car and and so but it got me to thinking right what if Nobody knew their place in the world, right? I mean isn't that at the end of the day what? Allows us to sort of be who we are and find our place and know whether or not We're performing on par whether or not we are competitive whether or not You know we've got what we need So here's some examples of things that worry me When I got to the city and I talked to Cheryl Scully by the way I don't know if you guys notice I'm riffing and so I really have no notes here. Sorry Andrew He wrote up some really great talking points for me But I got to the city my first day at City Hall There's a river barge parade where they you know You know they everybody claps for you and they give you your parking pass and they say you're a city council person Don't screw it up right and they say You know what are your agenda councilman and I you know I'd read an article and I was like, you know There's this there's this real cool buzzword called resilience that everybody's using now in in city and municipal governance And I said to Cheryl Scully and to Ron Nuremberg. I was like, what are we doing as far as? Resiliency because I keep hearing both of you talk about this equity lens, right? And the equity lens is making sure that everybody's got a fair playing field. Everybody's got equal opportunities and that everybody is You know That nobody is discriminated against on the basis of you know, there's socio-economic standing or race ethnicity religion of the gender Etc. And they said what do you mean? And I said well resilience, right? I mean resilience is something everybody's talking about. I mean I'm reading more and more about it and they said Well, what are you talking about? We've got a sustainability office where we you know do green stuff and we keep an eye on climate, you know Changes and we talk about recycling and clean air and all that. I was like no, I'm talking about something different, right? Resilience big R, right? Big R resilience is our ability to withstand an acute shock like Hurricane Harvey, right? And then you know be able to dust ourselves off and keep on thriving like a city should and making sure that we deliver basic services And then there's little R which is You know, how do you thrive in the face of very very small challenges, right? Like, I don't know traffic, right? Like the heat, you know, like clean water issues, like, you know, the The day-to-day struggles that we've all got and they said yeah, that sounds really interesting Councilman So have you heard about our sustainability office where we do all this other stuff? And I was like look that I'm serious, right? We've got this equity lens But we don't have this resilience lines. They said all right. We'll give us an example and I said, okay Here's one. How many seniors do we have in San Antonio? Who don't have access to the internet, right? Or who don't even know how to use it even if they do have access to it and in the face of Hurricane Harvey or the next hurricane Wouldn't get our digital get out of town messages or we're evacuating this neighborhood message or these are the low water crossing messages, right? Because that's how we communicate to the public now, by the way We communicate to them on by by next door and Facebook, right? And we're really proud of ourselves at the city and we're doing a good job, right? Our essay speak up issue, you know initiatives and our get our citizen engagement is all around, you know, this ability for people to access This flow of information that goes back and forth But what if these folks don't have that access and they said okay Well, what does that mean? And I said well, do you know where they live? Do we have an inventory of where these seniors live because if they don't have the information? It's time to evacuate. It's incumbent upon us to go pick them up then, right? I mean if our information is not getting to these vulnerable populations and they were like, oh, yeah No, we don't have an inventory of those people and I said, okay. Well, what about you know when it's time for inoculation season, right the flu is upon us and We are giving away free flu shots so that people don't get sick and in turn, you know That ends up being contagious Are we telling people in a way that doesn't include the digital vehicle? Where to find those shots and how to get life-saving and oftentimes it's life-saving how to access this life-saving you know vaccination and They were like well, you know, I'm in the traditional way we'll mail it to them And I said okay, that's one way of doing it, right? The other way of doing it is figuring out where those people live and then taking the information to them and you know what? I used those people those were the words I kept using those people those people and Those people are San Antonians those people are the ones that work in our restaurants Those people are the ones who are our neighbors those people are the ones who send their kids to our schools those people pay taxes and yet those people are Not even getting spoken to by their own city and not even in regards to goofy things like hey Here's our tricentennial celebration come out for the parade, but life-saving things right that's really disturbing and that made me mad and Craig Hopkins is here and he'll tell you that I do get mad Craig Hopkins is our chief technology officer at the city and So I've been making noise I've been making a lot of noise about resilience and innovation and technology and how would that needs to not just be about You know this burgeoning cybersecurity industry and attracting really really cool jobs, right? But that it needs to also be about making sure that we're taking care of vulnerable populations, right? like my dad and my mom and My in-laws right who they finally in 2018 have figured out how to program their VHS But that's about as far as they've gone and I get called every single night on how to use this app And how to use that app and my phone is ringing this way and not that way and you know I've got seniors in San Antonio Who are high earners? Who aren't able to access very important information and our seniors are living longer and longer and longer And now when somebody tells me remember back, you know 20 years ago. They're like well my grandmother passed away Oh really how old was she she was 95? Whoa? That was a long time and now somebody says to you while my grandmother passed away. She was 95 You're like, well, that's really young. How did she how did that happen? You know? And that phenomenon has some direct consequences because I'm now having this growing population of seniors Who are functionally tech illiterate and yet we're living in a world and you're about to sit through a panel You know a very smart people including Craig and Renee Dominguez who are gonna tell you that the city of San Antonio is morphing into a Smart city a digital city a city that has a relationship with you By way of your preferred digital device How do you live in a city that is smart if you yourself aren't literate? And can't understand what your city is trying to tell you that's really dangerous. And so I'll get really geeky with you in a second And then I'll I'll stop because this is a really a downer But I read recently if you all read do you guys remember in college if you had to take some literature classes You had to read these really boring and and difficult books by a fella named Kafka anybody ever read anything by Kafka that is one grouchy guy And everything he did was just so depressing But he you know, but he wrote this really interesting parable right where it's called the gatekeeper and And it's basically a guy and he walked and he wants to access Information he wants to access the law and he walks up to this gate and there's a gatekeeper standing in front of him a really imposing Kind of intimidating fellow and he heads for the gate and the gatekeeper says I'm sorry. I'm not gonna let you through here And he goes well, why not and he goes well, you know, you know You don't have the password or you don't know, you know how to get in here You don't have the key right and the guys like well, where do I get the key and he goes look? I'm just a gatekeeper. I'm not the key finder right So I'm not gonna tell you where to get the key But I'm still gonna not gonna let you in and the guy looks past the gatekeeper and he sees that beyond the gate There's a lot of light right and Kafka's trying to tell us that that's where illumination is right? And that's where sort of a better life is Information if you will And he waits and he waits and he waits and he keeps asking the gatekeeper is it time now and he goes no It's not time now I'll let you know when it's time unless of course you got the key and you know how to get in and he says Okay, I'll wait and he waits and he waits and he waits days and he waits weeks and he waits years until he turns into an Old man and every single day. He's asking the gatekeeper. Can I get in now? Well, can you at least tell me what the question is can you give me a hint right and the gatekeepers like look man I can't give you a hint. I really can't I can just sit here in front of the gate until you come up with a right set of You know in combination of words to get you in and on the very very end of his life on the last day He asks the gatekeeper like seriously like what's your problem? Why couldn't I get in here this entire time and the gatekeeper was like look, you know, it's not my problem It was really your problem all along. Sorry for your bad luck and the dude dies, right? And this is not the kind of story you want to read to cheer you up at night, right? But the lesson Kafka was teaching us way back then hundreds of years ago was that you know information is Illumination right and that we are Handicapped and that we are there's multiple gates in front of us That are put there either by ourselves or by our community or by the man and the system Right, but think the gates exist and if you can't access those Well, then you're handicapped and you will always stay where you are and an object at rest stays at rest, right? and I was reading this and I was thinking about this digital inclusion You know conference that we're at today and it occurred to me that there really are gates out there that We as a system and as a group of people have helped propagate and continue to keep closed Whether you want to or not we all have a part to play in that and so here's a question Let's say Barnes and Noble and Amazon showed up one day and said no no no no no no no no no no No more of these Libraries that are run by communities and no more of these bibliotechs, right? giving away books because Well, how are we supposed to make money if you guys are going around giving away books and giving away access to books, right? How ludicrous would that sound to I mean that sounds ludicrous on its face that sounds kind of obscene, right? Don't give people access to libraries Because we can't make a buck that is literally what a very powerful group of ISPs and Tech companies in Washington and Austin have done They have said please whatever you do do not let municipalities give access To the public to information because if you do give it away, then we don't make any money That's perverse. That's obscene. That's not the way it works and yet we sit by and We're comfortable in this room, right because our biggest problem is traffic So I got to tell you the mayor my city council Cheryl Scully They finally were as alarmed as I am and we put together a committee For digital inclusion cyber security innovation technology Resilience and here's something really cool for the first time in the history of San Antonio one of those city council committees Has Non-elected officials on it dn. Queer sits on that committee with us dirk Elmendorf one of the founders of rack space sits on that committee with us We'll Garrett another you know brilliant mind big thinker in the world of tech and innovation and cyber security sits on that committee And you know what we talk about all day long is are we doing enough to make sure that the little bit of Information that is available to people right now for free it continue to stay available Are we doing enough to knock down those gates that I talked about earlier? Are we doing enough to raise awareness? Right of the problem and the relationship the direct proportional relationship that it has between job creation health Access to life-saving services right and the answer is no we're not doing enough and we can always do more and so I'm here to tell you that the city of San Antonio The seventh largest city in the United States the fastest growing municipality in the country Did I get that right? the fastest growing municipality in the country is Really doubling down and dedicated to closing this divide because if Washington's not gonna do it and if Austin's not gonna do it Then somebody's got to be leading right and we're doing that and so I'm happy to report San Antonio Housing Authority now has Invented on its own and innovated on its own a new way to To provide Information and close that gap By way of these little solar panels and mesh networks that are gonna be installed at the Casiano homes That's really a big deal. That's a very important deal because for the first time those people Who live in these homes who never ever dreamt that they'd have access to this screaming fast Broadband flow of information Finally do and you know what information they can finally get to that they've never been able to get to before job boards Information about health Information about their own kids homeworks and grades. They're able to email their teachers In from ways to access. I don't know information on the battered women's shelter Ways to find out where it is their closest police substation is That's basic basic stuff that all of us take for granted and we're finally in 2018 making that available to those people on the south side It's too late. We should have been doing this a long time ago, but I'm happy. We're doing it today and we're doing it today because You are here and you're helping and you're the wind in the sails. So thank you to everybody who's here If all of you want to get briefed a little bit more on Kafka, I'm gonna be in that corner over there And I wish all of you to have a very very Successful conference, and I hope that this conversation that you guys have today Leads you to Tougher conversations, but really powerful solutions. So thank you. Deanne. I appreciate you inviting me And I'm gonna hand the mic off to whoever's next because I'll keep talking. I swear This is the part where I hand the mic off to whoever's next Or I draw I can drop the mic I can drop the mic. All right. Thanks guys. I appreciate you guys Let me be here today. Bye Hello All right, really quickly. We're gonna move on to our next panel. They're gonna set up this Something really quickly the next session is setting the stage Why should San Antonio be a smart city and our moderator for this panel? It's Christina Baseldua from Univision Can y'all help me welcome Christina with some applause? I feel like we need to wake up this morning Drink all the coffee Good morning, and I I believe Jordana is gonna speak, but I just Wanted to say good morning. Well, I'm excited to be here and I Don't know about you, but I went to the wrong Center earlier, but I'm glad that I made it in with early enough time to be here on time But I was over on Fred Exberg in 410. Did anybody of you do that? Okay, I don't feel silly. Thank you But now I know there's two centers that we could use for other events, right? That's what I learned well, I'm honored to be here and I really appreciate the invitation as I spoke to Jordana last night I actually learned a lot and I I'm Hopefully that When we see own could be a part of this somehow I know that we do radio and TV, but we are also getting into the digital era as well and so I'm going to I know Jordana you wanted to start with a presentation before we began or Or do you just want us to yet that could just be that we're using today, okay? But before we begin do you want to talk? Well, let's let me introduce to Jordana first Senior advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and Antonio branch supports the Federal Reserve Systems Economic Growth objectives About promoting community and economic development and fair and impartial access to credit her focus area includes the Community Reinvestment Act Community Development Finance digital inclusion financial education affordable housing Workforce development and small business development Jordana is a lead author of Las Colonias in the 21st century progress along the Texas Mexico border and the author of Closing and digital divide a framework for meeting CRA obligations A to a telehealth a tool for addressing persistence health challenges of Texas Mexico border in 2018 she received the federal policy Champion Award from the coalition of local internet choice and the community broadband hero of the year by the National Association of Telecommunication Officers and advisors she grew up in rural, South, Texas Community of Benavidez and she holds an MPA from Harvard and John F. Kennedy of a school of government Amazing Renato Mingus has served as the director of economic development department for the city San Antonio since June 2010 his primary Responsibility is to provide strategic administrative and pragmatic Direction and oversight of the economic development department, which includes industry development small business workforce development international relations and business development Renee previously served as assistant international economic development director Prior to coming to the city in 2009 He was a president of the community development loan fund and a certified CDFI whose mission is to provide economic development and small business growth He's from El Paso, and he attended St. Mary's University But next to Jordan that sounds like nothing compared to she came with a PowerPoint and went to Harvard Making us look bad Jordan Craig Hopkins comes from the Information Technology Department team from the more with more than 20 years of experience at USA a leading efforts in customer service digital transformation corporate strategy information technology procurement and innovation Prior to his time to USA from with USA a Craig served four years in the US Coast Guard and later became a military spouse while his wife Trish served 11 years in the US Navy in Japan He has a master's in business administration and Bachelor's degree in business administration as well. So amazing work. I just I'm here to say hello again. I'm gonna let you all Jordanna. You want to start? Thank you? Okay, thank you so much Christina. It's awesome to be with you today on the stage and they asked me to kind of lay the foundation for today and and for our panel about why San Antonio Should be a smart city and and what digital inclusion has to has to do with that so This is just a quote that I'd like to use to get you into the way We're trying to think today, and I'm getting a sign Okay So the dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate for the stormy present as our case is new So we must think anew and act anew The way we've approached things in the past Is not gonna solve the challenges we have today in the 21st century The tools of the 20th century that we're used to that we hark back to are not gonna be the answer That is part of the reason why we have to come together as a community as technology advances We need to become more human. What are we good at as humans? It's coming together partnering to solve problems rational thinking analytical thinking in the face of algorithms that may seem to be controlling our Opportunities and the lives of low-income people. How do we become more analytical in and have a deeper understanding of what is happening? And and how do we guide that technology? so Just to give you a sense of of the what we're experiencing in our country right now And certainly in the city of San Antonio the seventh largest city in the country we're in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution and People have been replaced by machines and technology Has has advanced through the centuries, right? Machines have taken over labor and things have changed and caused disruption But what we have never seen is the the pace of change that we're seeing today And there are many things that we're seeing happening. I'm gonna go just quickly go over them automation in manufacturing changing manufacturing jobs and Manufacturing jobs shrinking where a lot of people had access to the middle class through those jobs e-commerce Changing retail those were some other jobs that people could go into we had many entrances into the middle class if you will artificial intelligence augmenting labor and now replacing labor Remote models for the provision of services like in banking where everything is changing the way you receive banking services And we have a lot of innovations. They call it fintech Banks partnering with fintech companies awesome innovations in banking. However We're not innovating and reaching low and moderate income people with those innovations And there's a great opportunity missed if we if we don't take that on that's part of digital inclusion The gig economy what that means to people's relationship to work Algorithms limiting opportunities by that I mean, you know deciding whether you can get insurance or buy a home And all of that is based on cognitive computing. It's right. It's a massive mass data big data That that spits out a Historical perspective. So if it's based on something that's biased or prejudiced You're gonna get that kind of outcome and people are gonna be limited So we see a massive shift in work machines are impacting low and medium skills jobs and Replacing human labor 47% of total US employment is at a high risk of significant automation Across blue collar and white collar professions and the question is and this is one of the the biggest we're dealing right now Councilman Pellice Illustrated that well, we're dealing with one of the biggest ethical decisions and Challenges of of the the technological age and that is are we gonna include People in in the digital revolution. Are we gonna do everything we can we had a Conference the Federal Reserve on a workforce development and all the futurists were predicting greater and greater wealth and income inequality and what we're saying in the San Antonio Digital Inclusion Alliance is We don't accept that we want to intervene because we we know how we've studied the best practices Of what we can do and how we can come together with the city With all of us on the panel and the Digital Inclusion Alliance And and we can change that we can intervene effectively and so Just to give you a few definitions The digital divide is the gap between people who have access to broadband services and know how to use the internet and those who do not have such access or knowledge and who is on the wrong side of the digital divide as Councilman Pellice said low-income people rural populations those with less formal education and elderly and minorities and From the new 2016 census households making 25,000 or less have a broadband adoption rate of 58% while those making more than 150,000 have an adoption rate of 96% That includes if you only have a cell phone So the number for a person that has a cell phone and a computer or other laptop To to do all the the range of things you have to do like homework and applying for jobs where you need more than a mobile phone Those numbers are not quite as good our households with a broadband subscription across at least two devices 150,000 per year have a rate of 80% and Under 25,000 a year the rate is is 20% So that's just a couple of the definitions and then I just wanted you to see where San Antonio falls and I normally wouldn't show us live like this with tiny little numbers, but it's very important for San Antonio and Everything that we're talking about about the ecosystem for entrepreneurship Everything that we want for the economic development of our city. It really matters What what I show here is the the 2016 American Community Survey data that shows again the direct correlation between income area median income of a city and The the access that households have to the internet so the least connected Detroit, Michigan is at the top when I do 50,000 or more households Unfortunately Brownsville is at the top so we're talking and we have some friends from Brownsville here of the worst connected cities So it's very directly correlated to income the lower the median area median income of a city the the least access and San Antonio falls now number 15 on the bottom third of Cities so you can see if we want to attract Entrepreneurship if we want to attract business in industry and the tech industry This is how our fates are intertwined low-income people on the wrong side of the digital divide Their fate is intertwined with how effective San Antonio is going to be in being a tech hub Where an HEB will not go and put their innovation center in Austin They will have it here Right here downtown and and they will be confident that we have a digital inclusion alliance We have UTSA downtown. We have St. Mary's all these incredible universities We have the people we have the digital inclusion alliance training people in digital skills a code up The open cloud Academy all of that so we need to move to the you see Austin is there on the top third We need to move over and that's the goal of this of this group So I'm gonna turn it over now to our other panelists and we can have a great discussion Well, that was amazing information and with everything that you just gave us Are we ready? Are we ready? Are we a smart city? Can we be a smart city? Yes, okay, so Well then Craig How do you define a smart city? It's not being a dumb city So I always start with that because The smart city tagline is a huge misnomer and We did a little research and come to find out that Smart city was created the term smart city was created by a vendor who was trying to sell technology No different than when the private industry if you want to be in a digital transformation or whatever other Buzzword you want to use so I personally would have been on the record for a while So I'd like to abolish the term smart city because every city already is smart in some way and Smart city being a smart city is not a destination. It's not a final point where you can achieve it Although the industry has used it that way from a public relations standpoint So cities like New York Barcelona others can declare themselves a smart city with a lot of public relations money and And it's a way to create I think some of the things we're talking about an opportunity for a workforce development and bring Companies in when you declare yourself that so here in San Antonio. We're already a smart city We already do a lot of smart things But we constantly have to grow and the purpose here today is to bring everybody with us And I think we're resetting a lot of things we're doing in our smart city program to be focused on inclusivity for everyone Everyone should be part of the digital economy not just those who have access everyone should be part of Gathering information to the councilman's gatekeeper analogy not just those who have the digital skills Everyone should be able to start a small business if they choose to not just those with means So what we're really focusing on our smart city program is three components that are very special to San Antonio Which may not be special to other cities, but they are to us one is transportation as We talked about but it depends on who you are and where you live Those civic problems are very different throughout our city if you're on the north side Your commute on 281 is a bear if you're on the south side. You're spending two and a half hours on a bus Why? So we start to really break down those problems based on personas We're back to who are the citizens and what are their civic issues? The second theme is around sustainability clean air clean water Public safety those types of things a smart city will use Solutions to make it safer and cleaner as we go forward and our third component is around access to services And that's really where this conversation this morning leads us to but it's across everything. We're doing access to services Do you trust government? Do you use government services? Are you engaged in government? Do you participate? Do you have feedback? Do you have voice and can you access the things that all citizens should have access to? So I want to make sure you understand a smart city in San Antonio is going to be very different than other cities because it's about who we are our Bicultural environment our economic situations and our geographic layout and We are not just a suburban Center that everybody drives downtown every day, right? We are actually 13 regional nodes that interact with each other in very different communities So we have to apply that to us my last point about being smart is it started as smart city was technology solutions Vendor selling solutions Everybody wants a smart street light. Everybody wants a smart strap stop light. Everybody wants an autonomous vehicle And it emerged to the government city government stepping in and saying okay We're going to then say we're going to do these things in these areas But it's really emerging to we call it smart 3.0 is co-creation with our citizens doing it with our citizens Understanding the civic challenges to be solved and including the community in our solution work not for technology and design but people being involved in solving problems and Back to here is how do we get 1.9 million people in our regional area? Involved in that process not just those who have access to the internet. So that's a bigger problem that we're trying to work through Thank you, Renee. Do you share that or do you have a different perspective? I mean all the points they're making is are right on and I'm not an expert in this field And as I was preparing for this last night, you know I spent a lot of time trying to unpack exactly what you as an audience would like to hear What's what's relevant in terms of what is our city doing and so I'll kind of break it down in two buckets And it's also really ironic that I'm the one speaking on this I am the less the most least technological person in our office which drives my staff crazy But the importance of this topic and this issue is certainly number one In our office. It's critical to our whole strategy. So that's where I'll start But before I start I see a couple people in the audience Alex Lopez from the city of San Antonio or chief equity officer and Also the assistant director of industry. So a lot of the stuff. I'm talking about directly. She oversees and impacts So it's nice to have her and then I see Isaac Bernal over here on our industry team as well So I want to thank them for being here for my team So from a strategy standpoint, let me just give you a little bit of background in that not only is this a major Issue for us in San Antonio and the critical issue for us to solve but we're actually creating strategies to widen that gap so Solving this issue becomes even more critical and what I mean by that is For the last 10 years or so we've we've refocused our whole economic development strategy to focus on Emerging industries and emerging technologies Jordana kind of hit my main points when she talked about automation and and middle skills jobs Those are the industries that Have a significant amount of middle skills jobs within them and those middle skills jobs are those jobs don't require for your degree But more than a high school diploma. So a certificate for example or whole economic development strategy He's focused on those industries So it and cybersecurity are examples of that health care and biosciences advanced manufacturing a narrow space So while this gap is is there in terms of the digital divide We're also, you know advancing ourselves as a community in terms of these industries And there's a real specific reason why we're doing that one is we have a competitive advantage in those industries So that's our best shot. We want to double down on those industries Primarily because they pay higher than average wages when Jordana was kind of talking about the medium income This is a key strategy just key strategy to drive our middle income And our wages here in San Antonio So as we're actively pursuing these industries and growing these industries these industries themselves are changing and creating jobs that are more advanced and Required different skill sets digital skill sets. So that's what I'm alluding to in terms of it's imperative that we not only grow the economy And and in essence widen the gap, but really double down on solving this problem Because we're making significant headway those key industries are growing at a faster rate those key industries pay better than average as I mentioned and So the majority of the jobs and occupations within those industries I want to say I saw us that Jordan. Maybe you can correct me 87% of the jobs in those industries Require some form of digital literacy So it's it's critical and imperative that we um, we we solve for that and we do both things at once At a real tactical level, you know, I think it's great that we as a city are pursuing those industries We as a city are creating strategies to raise our income and be Hubs for these 21st century industries, but at the same time, we're also doing some very tactical transactional things That helps solve the problem. I think as citizens, that's what you want to hear Well, what are you doing about it now? What are some things that you can do as a department to help solve this issue? So oftentimes when we're meeting with companies to recruit them here They ask about or digital capabilities. They ask about our workforce And so it's a it's a constant conversation what we're having that we're having with these industries Something that we do do often is as we recruit these companies we incorporate them and include them as part of the conversation So the digital alliance was a beneficiary of one of those projects in that when we recruited Hulu, for example to San Antonio Part of the agreement we had with them if we were going to provide them incentives to come to the city Is that they were going to be at the table? They were going to be thought leaders in the discussion They were going to help us not only financially solve this problem, but also intellectually solve this problem So from a transactional standpoint, I want to assure you that it's front of mind We want to not only recruit these companies here, but incorporate them into those discussions and make them part of the solution I'll hand off the mic now But I know one missing element of what I'm talking about is How do we go back and then? Train those citizens that are being left behind and so later in the conversation I'm happy to talk to you all about what we're doing specifically. It's kind of what Craig is it was mentioning And that is inclusivity. How do we ensure that as our economy grows and thrives? That we are reaching back and ensuring that all our citizens and residents can access that economic growth We are putting forth some economic development strategies that are based on inclusivity very specifically Related to workforce. So absolutely. We have to you know fix the car while we're driving it And that's what we're doing in the economic development department Wonderful. Thank you Renee And I want to go back later on because you said about strategies, but are we implementing also policies for? There's a city implementing policies for this as well. Is that something? Yeah, I mean I'll just open it up because I work with the Federal Reserve and on behalf of the Digital Inclusion Alliance the city as we sought to meet with the city has been very open to Understanding what this asset is that the Digital Inclusion Alliance represents. It's people from many sectors education industry banking the Federal Reserve Saha the San Antonio housing authority the libraries It's people that are working to close the digital divide people that are working and that understand that workforce Development digital inclusion is workforce development because of the economy that we're facing now so the Senate the city of San Antonio sees that asset informed or a very Formal relationship with the Digital Inclusion Alliance to mobilize Effectively and one of the things that we have asked for is one of the best practices is make a digital inclusion plan Let's make a digital inclusion plan as part of our economic development plan of the city It won't happen unless we're very deliberate and then you see Action by the city moving toward that goal. We it was a meeting of the minds and people Seem to understand we have it. We had a lot of evidence a lot of data to support and Experiences to support and we're going to together We're going to be able to create great policies that are equity based policies that Bring the resources into the the people that need it the most Because we know that if you solve You know 20 to 30 percent of the problem you'll solve everything if you if you you're very deliberate and direct so I think it's part of that that Value system of the city to engage its active, you know and and to engage citizens Into solutions and incorporating them as as Greg said in their their strategy Awesome, can I just give a couple of facts? Absolutely. Yes and I'm still learning this and There's a lot more to learn but for those of you who are thinking well Craig and by the way my IT management team sitting in that back table with everybody wave just wave All right, so when you say Craig you're really saying those guys All right Why don't you just do what other cities have done and lay fiber to these neighborhoods and light up their houses? That's the easy answer The city owns hundreds of miles of fiber CPS energy owns hundreds of miles of fiber We're all partners in this and if the answer is we need fiber and broadband to the home and neighborhoods Then just go lay it in there and in the state of Texas. We're not allowed by law to do that Okay, now there's a whole conversation we could have about the details of that But in the state of Texas the city municipal agencies are not allowed by law to provide broadband services for resale in the home Now we are allowed to provide free Wi-Fi services But as Jordana and other people tell you the difference between Wi-Fi and broadband are very different things When it comes to digital skills access to speed all those types of things So I don't want you to think either that free Wi-Fi solves this all over the city It's a different constraint. So at a starting point We have certain rules that as municipal agencies we have to live by Until someone smarter than me can help change some of those rules But there are still ways to solve this problem as a group the city's responsibility economic development using smart technologies Leveraging assets that we can leverage in this conversation But also our partnerships with telecom providers and many other folks in there That's probably gonna be the primary area of policy and relationship building where we're gonna spend our time together because we're gonna solve This as a community Not just one agency can lay the infrastructure even if we could afford to do so As we go forward. So I just want to set that as some context for the audience I just want You're gonna nail that when she said the city in the last few years have moved to in a direction That looks at its policies and how to make them more equitable equitable when you do that You cannot hide from the fact that a lot of these policies are not impacting the most distressed communities In our community and so when as a department and that's been the mandate from from council is Look at your departments and find ways that they're more equitable Alex's is responsible for providing equity assessments in each of the departments and when you do that and you look at it through a completely different lens You start Determining what are those? Interventions that are gonna be a lot more impactful and inclusive and therefore drive a whole new Level of policy and that's where the city's at just two years ago for the first time It wasn't necessarily about dividing the budget equally It was about determining what budget would be more equitable and so there's been a really big shift In terms of city policy in that regard and I just want to to say that In closing the digital divide local governments are critical. That's what we've learned from studying Cities around the country. They may they may not be a provider of broadband like CPS provides energy but they can invest in fiber optic infrastructure assets and Make create a win-win situation basically they will have the capacity to Do public safety and and provide for their citizens in many ways But they make the last mile a lot cheaper and why have low-income people not been included We haven't had a plan and we haven't made it enticing for Companies ISPs small ones and large ones to serve those communities by saying hey, we'll meet you halfway We are gonna invest in our infrastructure so that it's close enough and and don't forget that wireless is not fiberless It depends on proximity to the the fiber optic infrastructure so that you know, I just want to say that even though cities have a lot of challenges because of the predominance of of the companies in wanting to to provide broadband services And and maybe it's not even the best thing for a city to do so But they can't they do have a lot of leverage in Advocating for their citizens and creating the infrastructure and there are many things the the most exciting thing I think when the Digital Inclusion Alliance meets with a city or or Gabriel Garcia and I have met with cities along the border what happens in the room when you get with city officials mayors and and IT people and and school districts and so forth you see you find out all the value that's left on the table that you could be mobilizing to serve low and Modern-income people that's the the power of kind of coming together because We can bring together. What are the laws and regulations and what are the opportunities and best practices? And I think that's what's most exciting is that cities learn? Wow, we can actually solve this So if I may just interrupt real quick who would be the best players at that table to have the most effective plan or You're talking being in the same so in any city it would be rena domingas the economic development director It would be Craig who's in charge of innovation and and IT Policy for the city it would be the mayor it would be The the superintendent and maybe his key IT people they in some cases the county The economic development director of the county the county commissioner That's how what matters is is what these People in decision-making power policy-making power want It's it's not even about the money because what we're like the Digital Inclusion Alliance does and the Federal Reserve is Say hey, we can help you create public-private partnerships to pay for this We mobilized around the Community Reinvestment Act There's been millions of dollars just in one year going into Digital Inclusion programs We want to do much more, but then there's foundations everybody in our social networks that we can mobilize To be partners in this so what matters is that they want it But those are the decision-makers that can can make a policy for the city and that's who you need at the table So we have that to take advantage of today Jose de la Cruz who is the chief innovation officer for the city of San Antonio under this smart cities program We've actually built a collaborative group of municipal agencies and as far as I know We're the only city in the US who is going at smart cities this way the city CPS I'm gonna forget somebody my apologize if I do this on the fly city CPS saws via River authority housing authority Bear County Bear County appraisal district and I know there's one more and it's not coming to my head right now But we have built this collaborative group to do smart cities together not as individual organizations That's a basis for what what you're talking about and we need to take advantage of that group as we go forward with the changes We want to put in place the only thing I would add is I mean obviously What what we're not Highlighting is the need for the residents themselves to be at the table for our community-based organizations to be at the table I mean, I think I think we'd all agree that that's implied, but it's it's also extremely critical So let me take a step back and talk a little bit about sort of the inclusivity issue and in terms of economic development You know specifically around workforce What that means and it's really that thought process that makes me want to highlight the fact that Organizations and our nonprofits are critical to help us solve these problems In addition to median income and our wages being sort of one of our Achilles here in San Antonio our educational attainment rates are also sort of another pain point for us as a community and So it's the city invest millions of dollars in workforce development and We work primarily with our community-based organizations or nonprofit organizations and right now You know, we've got such a need and not enough resources to really move the needle in terms of just getting people Basic literacy numeracy skills getting them basic workforce experience Getting them their GED or their high school equivalency and and trust me these nonprofit agencies The furthest thing from their mind is you know Digital literacy. Yeah, it is part of their business plan and it is part of their thought process But there's such a great need and just sitting down and teaching someone how to read and teaching them how to do math And bringing their skill level up Teaching them soft skills and how to interact with employers They're my impression is they attempt to be overwhelmed by that But the reason I mentioned that they need to be at the table is because we need to infuse digital literacy in those Activities it needs to go hand-in-hand with with all that and a lot of the nonprofits do that but there's certainly a whole you know body of work around Increasing the effectiveness of of us as a community in terms of providing resources to To these distressed communities to these targeted populations One thing that we have been doing in terms of strategy and tactics and how can we really move the needle is? We really want to leverage the resources we have In terms of economic development and workforce development. We want to we want to maximize the resources We already have dedicated to those efforts so What we've been working with What we've been working on behind the scenes for the last couple of years is Working with all our delegate agencies that provide workforce Getting on one client management system to to get all of our participants to 4,000 Participants we have in these delegate agencies that are learning how to read getting work Experiencing work experience getting their GED getting them on the one system So that when someone gets the literacy and numeracy training from one agency They can get handed off to another agency and that agency would then provide their GED or high school equivalency And then from that hand them off to get some work experience and we've got some great partners doing that So that is a technical technical solution. It requires the participants to have some sort of digital capabilities, so again, I'm always amazed at the dynamics that we create in terms of Providing a solution creating the solution and trying to move the needle and at the same time Not fully addressing The other issues with when you do that we're trying to be smart and we're trying to solve for that and kind of as I said Fix the car while it's running so it's not that it's out of sight out of mind It's that you know, they both go hand-in-hand and so That's my comment about it really requires these community-based organizations It's not profit agencies to be at the table because they're the ones that are gonna say why provide this training But I need additional resources to provide digital literacy I need to teach my participants, you know word and Excel and and PowerPoint at the very least I need to teach them how to turn on their computer and learn about hardware all those things go hand-in-hand And actually what Rene's describing is what San Antonio has and has an advantage over many cities Is and that is that many of us came together? It's basically nonprofits working at the grassroots girls, Inc. Youth Code Jam Saha with with connect home Munir a jester People came together and formed the Digital Inclusion Alliance and they Working directly on digital skills training all the three legs of the stool right of broadband Adoption and closing the digital divide there. We're working on the technology part But the training and technical assistance so the Federal Reserve I have a Proposal up to my department that I want to do a Survey of all the organizations in San Antonio so that the city Can can see its assets right there and say okay, we're mobilizing in this community. These are the best Organizations to work with who have expertise in this area So we'll know what is the expertise for training? Is it elderly? Is it youth? Is it you know what age group and then what is it and and so forth? So we're gonna understand our assets very clearly and that's part of the role of the Digital Inclusion Alliance is to make What can seem amorphous or invisible to make it visible and very known so that we can mobilize more effectively? Thank You Jordanna and something that you mentioned Renee as a former educator. We're always needing resources to teach always so Well, we're going to stop for a bit and take some questions because we have about eight minutes left So I'm going to pass this mic on to Amanda and we'll take some questions from the floor My name is Renee Gonzalez, and I'm with a foresight group We're an engineering company that does a lot of fiber optic planning and feasibility and design and construction and I Come from a traditional infrastructure world water wastewater electric roads bridges That's a very planning based approach. It includes the community. It includes feedback includes putting CIP money resources allocated to a long-range plan Kind of echoing off of what miss Barton was saying how critical do you guys think that? treating Broadband as the next utility in a planning Mindset and framework. How do you think that would kind of solve a lot of the problems that you're talking about? engage with the community putting the money there and Also exploring the the legalities kind of like was also mentioned between mr. Hopkins and miss Barton where You know like city of Salina had an attorney general opinion that basically allowed them to invest in dark fiber That could be leased out through an open access network. I mean are these We do these seem like good potential? I'll just start it, but I know Definitely Craig will have something to say about that so cities have a lot of Responsibility and a lot of rights to expand broadband networks There's no doubt about it cities also can through interlocal agreement or through public agencies like CPS and Sahaa and and you know form agreements That's legal to expand broadband to those citizens right so there are many ways that you can do it And then you can invest in like in the valley. We have a demonstration project on the border The city is it decided not to be a broadband provider. It was actually Could be possible from from state law, but it wasn't the best economically for them, but they are gonna invest in the inter the Middle mile network and intergovernmental network and it's placed so strategically Near the colonias near communities that are on the wrong side of the digital divide and don't have access and Now smart com and frotena communications and others are coming and saying we want to do the last mile So just investing in that created that so that and then it meets the family household balance sheet So that's the test right is how can a city play a strategic role to create a win-win situation where you make the last Mile affordable or you you make agreements with companies to say this is what the area median income is there this is what they could sustain monthly in their ballot in their family household balance sheet and And and really be targeted in your approach, but cities can do a lot to unleash To understand their own assets and to unleash the value of those assets and to expand expand the assets and then the city can understand the three legs of the stool as well and René Dominguez in economic development is fully aware of how he fits into the bigger picture of providing the Infrastructure access with the training and technical assistance and working with the digital inclusion Alliance smart cities likewise Understand it's gonna have to understand the assets so well that they can then work with and we can create this the A city project and a city approach that takes into account the three legs of the stool where you're gonna be successful What she said so I'll grab that because that's a point I wanted to make too so three legs is connectivity The second is affordability and the third is skills digital skills I get that right so inside of there It becomes devices are part of that as well, right? But I think that really in the affordability good because you you need to have the infrastructure to the neighborhood Then you need to be able to pay for it and have the device to connect to it And then you need to have the skills to use it so everything she said was great what I'll I'll be a little bit more blunt My door is open to any Telecom provider or whatever that wants to come in and talk just don't try to sell me junk Right because I think most of the conversations are not real conversations They're about hey, I want to help your community, but I really want to make money and I understand that right? I've been in private business myself the answer is how do you do both and so at the end of the day? If you want to use city assets to do Jordan's point We are open to that conversation for the good of our citizens But at the end of the day you have to go the whole way through the stool with us right you have to be willing to Be part of the connectivity part of the device part of the affordability and part of the skills You have to go the whole way you can't just get your last mile infrastructure for the city And then start making a bunch of money off the people who can afford it So I think there are rules that I have to follow and constraints that we're under but the door is always open But let's always start that conversation from the for the good of all. How are we going to solve this problem? quote the junk part, please The only other person I'd like to ignore Dale is here from the central library system And I know I'm sure while we're talking up here Dale You're thinking about all the interventions in the role that the or library system plays in terms of access and affordability and connectivity So I'm giving you a flavor of that and really not really touching from an economic development standpoint or a whole strategy around why High-speed internet is critical in terms of recruiting companies here and growing growing our economy I kind of parked that a little bit to the side, but Dale and his team at the library are doing some incredible incredible work around this issue also and Probably speak on this topic for hours as well. So Dale, thanks for being here Hello, I want to thank you all for sharing your knowledge up here I grew up on the inner west side of San Antonio around Arlia the Lake University And I currently work on the south side of Palo Alto College and as you mentioned middle and low income There's a huge digital divide. We have a lot of amazing partners a lot of amazing nonprofits Organizations corporations to work with but but often what we struggle with is how do we work together? How can we leverage all of the unique talents and skill sets that we can provide if we work together to address? These pockets these this digital divide So I appreciate what you mentioned or Jordan about the city council group on digital inclusion How can we work together in these pockets of areas of the south side so that we can work quicker to address? The long-term needs of our community so we can collaborate where how can we what can we do the the folks in the middle of Things in the south side the inner west side. What what would you recommend? We do to leverage these partnerships Guys start she's gonna give you a much better answer, but I'm gonna be tactical Where I think the first questioner is right is is where pick a spot We need to be really clear about the places to go first and then weave it into this Conversation as we go forward in the smart city program We're we're ready in the spring to start a whole series of prototypes around civic solving civic problems with technology and data I want you to quote this we don't solve problems with technology and data We solve problems with people people solve problems So when we have people can advocate for other people in this neighborhood at this place This is where the problem needs to be solved then we can use this structure to say let's go in and solve for that group You're gonna hear about innovation zones throughout the city Brook City base is one of those innovation zones It just so happens that the neighborhoods around Brook City base are exactly the neighborhoods We're talking about right here. So Leo Gomez has been awesome saying I will use we can use Brook City base as a place to Experiment with technology and data as we do these smart city solutions But I will not be an island of prosperity You will solve for the digital divide around my community at the same time So things like that get me fired up because they get me focus in an area to all the things that journal was Talking about we can go solve and change some lives There's 1.9 people 9 million people in our area to solve for all kinds of problems Which ones in which areas which personas I think this group can do that be advocates for people who need this And thank you for your question one a person from Alamo colleges Palo Alto College. I'm not seeing his name right now one of your deans It's in charge of technical education will be on a panel this afternoon and Community colleges are key so we would like the community college first I'm going to just say to be part of the digital inclusion alliance. You have Chancellor Mike Flores now and we're all very excited because he totally gets it He was one of the first people I presented when I was presenting on preparing workers for the expanding digital economy Community colleges are so key to what's happening in our economy the shrinking middle class and the closing off of opportunities to enter the middle class So your your involvement as a community college We need to need to be part of this group and then we can work together as we try to mobilize resources, right? foundations financial institutions and others that are supporting programs like this We can share that information and kind of be part of the conversation But we thought the digital inclusion alliance thought today was a good way to just kind of start and and we have Alamo Colleges represented. We have you here. Thank goodness But community colleges are key to creating the new entryways into the middle class in the in the publication I talked about the new collar workers, right that we want to we're not saying that you don't need a four-year degree That's great, but what we need in our society is flexibility that we've had in the past Where you can have various ways to enter the middle class It doesn't mean that that's the end of your life if you have an associate's degree or a certification and you end up at the Open Cloud Academy With rack space or it code up and then you go into a great job You can still go and get a computer science degree But you have a great middle skills job that has Opportunities for advancement and if that's what you choose to keep going and you have benefits and everything else, right? So that's what we're trying to create many opportunities. I know this very intimately my my Community colleges have had the biggest impact on my family's trajectory, right going from very poor South Texas community with low expectations for the children my brother dropped out of high school He got his he worked some middle skills jobs like surveying and on the the oil rigs And then he he got his GED then went to community college went to pharmacy school Then went to medical school became a surgeon a doctor He's been paying millions of dollars in taxes serving his community every day he even served as a surgeon for Iraq and Afghanistan during the wars and Has served his country so that's the kind of flexibility We need not somebody to be defined by being a high school dropout or only going to community college We need those entry points into the middle class to create new entry points And that's why when I said we need to look at things in you It's because other the past is is closing off. We're losing those those other middle skills jobs But there's an opportunity with new New collar workers to prepare them well for for all the opportunities. Thank you Thank You Jordana and with that we're already passed about seven minutes, and we're gonna need a little bit of break So I apologize. We're not gonna have any closing remarks, but you have said so much and it's amazing So thank you for your time. Thank you for your knowledge and experience, and we're gonna give you a three-minute break So Thank you so much I don't know. Yeah, that's good. Thanks Check one two, it'll be quieter than but check one two And I have a that's good Great, thanks They're giving me the go symbol so if we can we can sit down make our way to our seats We'll start in about two minutes two minutes two-minute warning. Thanks All right, we're gonna get started so we're gonna ask that everybody Make their way to their seats, please. I apologize for my microphone if it If it explodes with Reverb, thank you. I like it So I apologize if my if my microphone is Gets a little ringy I brought my own because that's what radio people do. They bring their own their own microphones That was that was effective Hi, I'm Paul Flav. I'm the technology and entrepreneurship reporter for Texas Public Radio And this panel is called discovering San Antonio. What can we do with data? I thank you so much to the Digital Inclusion Alliance for having me and For letting me host such wonderful panelists for this intriguing discussion I'm not a data scientist and as a reporter. I actually don't work with a large number or Regular with large data sets, but I'm fascinated with data-driven decision-making. It's not new, but it's certainly in vogue right now It's something that is I think You know, it's good that it's in vogue, but there are also some drawbacks We're gonna get into a little later and right now There's never been a greater time to analyze the world around us with data And in fact, I was speaking with a professor at Georgia the Georgia Institute of Technology Stephen French And he was I asked him, you know, where are we in terms of communities and data and their abilities to to look at this and analyze their own Universes and he said Cities and communities are being hit by a data tsunami There are there a wash in data with too few resources to navigate it analyze it or draw conclusions so That is why we're having this conversation today Hopefully you'll be illuminated as to how you can find resources how you can find data that will help you in your own work To tell the stories of San Antonio and some of the things going on in it So joining me on stage this morning three experts in the arena finding data making it readable telling stories with it and making Sure the community makes decisions based on it Emily Royal former data director at the Revard report now a smart city coordinator for the City of San Antonio. Thank you Yes, thank you. I'm insisting on clapping by the way And she's also started a company called overt. Is that my saying that correctly? So it's the French word for open Okay, excellent. Excellent. Also, Laura McCurran executive director of community information Now a nonprofit staff to the UT Health School of Public Health in San Antonio Helps local people access understand and use data to improve community conditions. Thank you Laura for being here And last but not least because she's also in the center Crystal Alexander an economist of p16 plus counsel of greater Bayer County p16s A collective impact partnership that leverages data and coordinates leaders to drive youth outcomes across San Antonio all of their titles Two of the three titles had data in them. So that's good. That's a good sign for what we're talking about So we have about 40 minutes to talk and I was told we need to answer just a few questions here today What are data sets where can you find them? How can you use data to tell stories? And how are people using it to help leaders take action? So actually there's four how do you guys build strong relationships and lead that lead to partnership? So I believe even with me as moderator we can accomplish this mission in just 40 minutes But before we even get to that I want to ask just a really basic question was which is why do any of this? Why tell stories with data? What is the potential there for impacting the conversation around social ills and today since we're talking about digital inclusion? Specifically digital inclusion and who would like to start I'm gonna go with Emily because she she's smarter than me Well, they're all smarter than me. I should have said that we're all smarter. Yeah, sorry Yeah, so why is it important? Well in my own work In my own work at the Ravart report formally And It's important because like Craig and Jordana were alluding to you have to bring the community up with you Towards these realizations of what the problems are where they are and include their voice and I think that When we map out or talk about the digital divide We need to make sure that we are making that data available Accessible and that we're being transparent about how to find it and where it's located so I think it's important primarily because People are the data points that we are describing and when we tell stories We're able to access more people's hearts and minds So at the Ravart report part of my work was to find all these data sets whether they're trapped in PDFs or you know Excel files or whatever and really transform them into a map or into an interactive graphic which sounds so kind of lame in a way like but seeing the the effect that that had on how the public understands issues was transformative for me And and it's so much more than keeping data locked in silos where Organizations that have the power to analyze it make decisions based off of it It's about storytelling and really Transforming those data assets as we say into Understandable images graphics and interactive pieces Crystal I'll go next What I think is really important about stories is how we use data to illuminate the things that we care about and How we use them to help frame the reality around us I do think that sometimes as data analysts and people who work with data We use the data to Confirm some of the things that we already believe or sometimes we use the data as a weapon to hurt others And so I think that it is also important to Use data and data analytics to tell stories of hope and success to help reframe the conversation I'll give you one example that I ran across in my work recently I'm dealing with K through 12 education data sometimes higher at data, but primarily K through 12 and In those data sets one thing that we look about look at is student discipline for black males in Bear County and We often talk about the fact that black males have higher percentage of them get involved in Disciplined incidents at school and of black males who do get involved in discipline incidents There are twice as many discipline incidents per student as white males So we look at those disparities and we see a problem Often what we don't talk about though is that 75% of black males experience no discipline incident whatsoever Three fourths of black males do not get in trouble at school And I think that if we want to serve black males in our community One thing that we have to realize is that we have to go beyond Discipline incidents to do so and I think data can help us help guide us towards different types of social interventions Innovative interventions that are different from what we're used to and the answer I give to this question generally depends on how tired I am and what kind of mood I'm in that day Today's not a good day apologies in advance You know, you can give a really earnest speech with a lot of good cases As Emily and Crystal have for what data can bring to the table to the conversation and moving you past stuck points Illuminating places where there's inequity Helping you figure out how to target resources in a in scarce budgets and Get ahead of the curve and plan for the future. All those things are true On days when I'm in a bad mood, I kind of turn it around and say make me a case for using something else to make a decision and Backroom politics and special interests funder whims Somebody's passionate cause and they're the loudest voice in the room like if these things worked I'm just thinking they would have by now, right? So there is a lot to think about and how we use data and how we make sure that we do good with it and not harm But to me, it's the only sane way to Approach decision-making resource allocation Planning for present the future Before we move on it just as a personal note, you know data was really what I think has led to the digital inclusion alliance It's what has led to today. It's what led to last year And I think it's what's led to kind of a culmination of a lot of reporting around Specifically in my world a lot of reporting around Digital inclusion, I think if Jordana hadn't come to the summit last year and said, you know Here's a ranking and here are the percentages one in four San Antonio homes does not have internet access I think a lot of this conversation may not have taken place at least in the media environment because that's such a massive Datapoint that is unavoidable that is impossible to ignore for any reporters that were in the room that day So I know that I was there I know that that was a big reason why I decided to you know start those conversations with Jordana and Find out about products going on on the border going on in San Antonio and and write about it myself So data obviously just not to not to you know disparage her comments, but data can be good Laura and so we'll talk more about that but first what are data sets? Where do you find these data? We'll go back this direction Laura What are the data you're looking at? Is it public and how how can it be used? Community information now looks across all issue areas all geographic levels Barren surrounding counties and to some degree Texas So we look at a lot of the things that are upstream of whether you have access and a lot of things that are downstream And by access again, I'm talking about whether you have a connection Whether you have a device and whether you have the skills and knowledge and comfort to to use it to get on board So certainly we rely a lot on American community survey data for those kinds of things And that does include information about what's in the household. Those are questions asked of people So do you have a device? Do you have a connection? That kind of thing and the FCC is another source In TIA, I think probably the easiest portal to send them to is if you just search for BCAT BCAT That's where you'll find probably the best distilled collection of stuff So that's the big picture Since I work primarily with education data, I'll point you to a couple of education data sets that you might find useful One is the Texas Education Agency has a wealth of knowledge about K through 12 Data down at the campus level so you can look at your particular community and what's going on With campuses in your community The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is also a really great source of information on Texas schools Where students are coming from what's happening to them while they're at school and who's graduating with what types of degrees Nationally, there's a data set called the integrated post-secondary education Data system or iPads as we affectionately refer to it And that is a national data set on colleges and universities technical schools And the programs that they provide I also think that the BLS can be a great source of information that stands for Bureau of Labor statistics For things like average weekly wage and some income statistics that you might be interested in So when I joined the digital inclusion alliance a little over a year ago The first thing that struck me as a data professional was, you know, how much discussion there was about The digital divide in san Antonio and my first thought was Well, where is it and I have people saying well, it's here. It's there. It's everywhere It's the digital divide right and Working with data that was a challenge for me because I was kind of like well I need I want to be able to point out where in our community is this problem Actually happening. So I did a little bit of work Looking at a data set that Is mapped here And this is showing you Residential fixed internet Access subscriptions and what that basically means is where is broadband being Provided and who is signing up for it in our community So this is the number of connections per every 1000 households So that gives you a little bit of a percentage darker red is least connected the fewer number of connections per 1000 households bluer areas have more connections per 1000 households And this data set comes from the FCC Which requires through form 77 This is like super technical but it requires that internet service providers report to the federal government Where they offer subscription access And then it's important to make the distinguishing factor between Where internet's being provided and where people are signing up for it So this map is showing you where people sign up where people actually pay for internet actually have it in their homes So we're seeing oh a digital divide and you know, actually a lot of people's intuition was correct It is kind of here and there and everywhere And it also shows How much this issue maps on to income which we know intuitively in san Antonio Lower incomes on the east south and west sides But also, uh, you know, how much of an inner urban issue this is as well So, um, I think, you know, I hope to answer your question and how that ties a little bit into storytelling as also is Once we created this map And you know, we're able to go to communities and present it and show it Then the issue became so much more tangible and people had a reference and they could say well You know, I can use this map. I can share this map I can replicate it and I can access the data which is publicly accessible So in theory any of you could go create the same map Um, and that's really important and that empowers people to Kind of get a handle on these challenges that sometimes feel so ephemeral to us And so that's really I think an important role that data can play especially in san Antonio, um at this time Yeah, of course I really appreciate you bringing up this data set because it's one of the publicly available data sets that we can use As a community to help illuminate some of the problems that we're having or some of the successes that we want to illuminate And there are a lot of publicly available data sets out there. There are a lot of organizations that are On the mission of making more data publicly available that we can use What comes to mind too is Raj Chetty and his work with the Opportunity Atlas They have made tons of data publicly available and easily usable So if you have not googled Opportunity Atlas and looked at their data sets, please put that on your to-do list for after the conference I'm interested just before we kind of wrap up on this question You know, you guys have listed a number of Of pretty accessible, uh and pretty usable databases, but for a lot of people I think they are very intimidating. I mean even the american community survey It seems like it should be very easy to use But when you're trying when you're trying to really answer a very specific question It becomes all of a sudden an impossible device Is there anything that you can recommend for things like that or for bureau labor statistics? I just call them and I say please walk me through this because you're smarter than me But for the american community survey and things like that or or these education ones that I have not had to had to Work through what are the what are the opportunities for people to learn how to get those answers? Um, I'll go first on that one. That is all the community information now does we're a non-profit local data intermediary We don't do any direct interventions on anything except to help people Access understand and use data to improve neighborhood and community conditions So that means that we work to open up access to data and in some cases that might mean um Helping people navigate something like american fact finder to get american community survey data and others It's trying to get access to what we call administrative data, which is data generated in the course of everyday business so think Absence attendance records for kids in school or the billing data from when you've been to the hospital and the doctor Bills you or your insurance company Those data sets are generally locked away and hidden and they're incredibly powerful But trying to pull those together and process them in a way that they can actually bring information to the table instead of just raw data And then training technical assistance We sit with people a lot as they're walking through decision making and help them understand What the data can be understood to be saying or not? So one easy answer is get in touch with us If you just search community information now in san Antonio, you'll find us that might be easier Actually than giving you our url. Um, and we'll see how what we can do to to get you oriented to get you going um What I heard laura say was um contact a specialist Or get training. I think I think that these are important things because There are a lot of technical bits to dealing with data sets There are also software programs that Are available that you can learn how to use that will help you to visualize your data So if you want to become more powerful in doing your own Analytics learning how to use some software programs may be a good investment of your time Because you can not only visualize the data, but make it available to other people Which is also what p16 plus does We are also as a collective impact backbone one of our primary services is Taking publicly available data sets and making them accessible to partners and to people who are interested in it Putting it out on our website and helping people to make decisions with that data We also help to Make data available that is sensitive Like administrative data where you're personally identifiable information may be attached to that data set. We are Trained in HIPAA We're certified and FERPA is very similar to HIPAA In how to protect personally identifiable information. So we're able to take that data Connect it to other data sources and aggregate it and then provide aggregated information back to the community for use And so getting a specialist contacting an expert and learning how to use some of the the new digital software tools are all good ways of Of answering specific questions with publicly available data and practice practice So I don't think I could have answered that question much better than either of you So I'll I'll just take a minute to make a socioeconomic point. Um, one of the great ironies. I feel like I've seen recently Is that data analysis skills are being democratized in the sense that you can go online and For free download a software like tableau Download a software like tableau and easily manipulate data. You can get on youtube. You can learn coursework from Coursera There's so many free resources, which is is really empowering a lot of people to analyze data the flip side of that is that Data itself. I don't think is so Democratically accessible, right? So people are learning how to Analyze it but the availability of data. I think is still a challenge So, you know, that was my full-time job at the revard report It really took somebody paying me an annual salary to to spend my time finding data building relationships in our community with people creating Agreements data sharing agreements so that we could obtain data sets that we could then use in our stories So I I think that's an interesting irony that I've observed and I just wanted to make that that point No, I think it's a good one. I think, um, you know, there are speaking as a reporter Just obstacles to public information in general put up for very specific reasons I mean, I just as a personal point yesterday. I got a public information request I got that I put in in February. I was very excited, but that story ran a long time ago. So You know, so data sets in particular something that not only are Behind a wall, but also maybe a little opaque to someone like me It's it's adding it's adding barriers to really being able to decipher it. So but it sounds like, you know There are experts in the community that can help you with that their software But I'm I'm interested in this idea of good data versus bad data or or maybe more specifically Maybe data that's incomplete. Um, you know, I I use this we talked a couple days ago and I use this example Last summer text app bought bought a bunch of data from the App Strava, which is a fitness app. It's for cyclists. It's for runners And it was it was like the first time that some of these transportation folks Had ever seen something so comprehensive, you know, it's it's all these data points They had never been able to really see Exactly where cyclists were going it was very exciting for people who got to plan this stuff But there's, you know, they also know and and people like me may May not have known if they had not brought it up that that is only part of the picture because People that use Strava are overwhelmingly wider and they're overwhelmingly of a of a higher education level and of a higher income level So how do you guys know When you're looking at data that it is the complete picture? Um, and how do you know How do you determine what it's actually telling you? How do you know data is data? I think that's um, that's at the core of any data scientist job Right is to be able to verify the integrity of the data but also create the The right kinds of structures and mechanisms to collect it in the first place in a way that is equitable Um, I think that's that's an interesting point that you're making about Strava for those of you who aren't familiar It's basically an app where when you go jogging or running It literally tracks on a gps where you're going and how fast you are. It's a fitness app Turns out that data that they're collecting is super important for planning for safe pedestrians Access for sidewalks and complete streets. That has a real value. I think to city governments or urban planners So they are interested in buying that data from a company like Strava and the challenge there Of course is to verify that well not everybody uses Strava in our community Not everybody has a smartphone in our community So, um, you know, let's get real about what these data sets represent and a lot of times I think organizations are aware of that and so they use it as supplemental to their decision making Um, but that question is I think something that's on every data scientist's mind Today is you know, how do we create inclusive? Data, how do we create structures that can collect inclusive data? I I really don't have the answer and I don't maybe you guys do That's a really difficult question ethical data And um, and I think that's something that is is a hot research topic right now People are trying to wrap their minds around and create innovation around I would say that the only data that I've ever seen that was perfect Was the ones from the textbooks at school Those were the only perfect data sets that were beautiful clean mistake-free They were they were amazing So so we learned on those data sets right But then as soon as you step out of that environment all the data sets are messy They all have missing data. They all have implicit biases. They have biases that go back generations I mean even in the Strava data set even if everyone were using Strava and everyone did have a smartphone Would we be able to capture the fact that in some poor communities? There are no sidewalks That's why they're not riding bikes because it's not safe because they don't have money for bikes So so maybe they would have taken a route that city planners need to know about had they had those bikes um, so so I think that Um, I forgot the question Oh, yeah, yeah, okay. I'm back. I'm back Right all data has problems and I think that the the best Use for the data that we're analyzing Is to shine a light on where to look for more information Once you see the data develop a potential problem in your community. That's when it's time to investigate That's when it's time to dig deeper and try to find out what's behind this. Do you have the complete story? You probably don't so what's the rest of it and and what are you missing? So I think that's the best use for for how to understand missing or incomplete data sets Yeah, in our in our world, there's a shiny, um, magical unicorn called metadata Um That doesn't exist most of the time but theoretically that's the user guide for any data set it says where did this data come from? How was it collected? What are all these different fields mean? What are some of the quirks in how it's been? Collected or coded I mean like in healthcare if an insurer pays for one diagnosis But not another anybody with this diagnosis is going to get this one so the healthcare provider is going to get paid It's important to know all those kinds of things about a data set um In terms of like hashtag pro tips, I would say there's um too Too big things to be thinking about when you're evaluating data and it doesn't have to be that big of a deal. It's sort of like Evaluating news articles online, right? And sort of you're doing that all the time if you're being responsible figuring out is this a Is this a um Trustworthy source trustworthy reporting that kind of thing Administrative data. Who does that get who what kinds of people are at administrative data sets? It's people who are already engaged in the system somehow people who are getting services people who have been arrested people who are Um Enrolled in schools so think about all the kinds of people we miss Out of those data sets if we're if you're trying to go and find out about What the characteristics are of people with severe mental illness And you go and look in a severe mental Health provider data set you're going to find the people who are being treated and you won't find out about all the people who have That issue, especially given what a shortage of services there is in that area The other one is is certainty Or representativeness uncertainty Certainties when you can't ask everybody the way we do in the census for example And you have to do a sample or a survey The smaller your sample the more uncertainty there is about your estimate that comes from that How many people here are familiar with the notion of margin of error or confidence intervals? Katie gets tortured by me all the time about that. So she knows proof of concept that you hear about polls voting polls coming on saying, you know, they're 45 plus or minus three percent support this candidate. Well, you have that margin of error on any survey We tend not to report them. We pretend they don't exist at all But sometimes truly the estimate from american community survey is going to be 37 plus or minus 38 percent I'm not kidding. They do go negative. So knowing that, you know How you're going to treat that estimate as a pair to compared to 37 plus or minus 1 percent It's very different, especially when you're using that data to trend performance over time So those are the two of the big things that i'd say to watch out for The I guess the point I missed here The analog to people not being in the data set for administrative data on the survey data side is people who don't answer surveys So if it's household People going door to door that's the kind of people who don't want to answer the door and talk to a stranger And now that more and more things are being administered online You can imagine that it's a completely different set Not completely a largely different set of things that influence whether they are not going to participate in that survey I think that's a good time to bring up the next census Census 2020 is going to Pivot to a digital format They've cut and they they're doing it they say to save you know billions of dollars and actually did have a A graph that showed about you know, they showed a cost reduction of five billion or so from pu I believe But i'm just wondering you guys are talking about how Um, those folks are are potentially going to be left out and the implications for that I know crystal you were you were touching on how data can reinforce Uh can reinforce some of the status quo and some of the the lack of Resources going to different communities like those safe streets Those kids didn't need those safe streets because there's obviously the Strava didn't show that they were riding there So they don't need you know, obviously that's not uh, our planners are not using it for that But but i'm just wondering you know talk about census 2020 and what the implications are um for the future anybody Where I can I can talk about I can't I was going to defer because I just talked for a month straight Um, so yes, the first pass is online and they're hoping to get you know Most folks online and then there will be follow-ups through other methods like telephone and then finally You know on the ground enumerators Different things that we need to be thinking about you know Literally the lack of access to an internet connection or a device that will allow you to to respond And when I first heard it was going online, I was like well no big deal It's 10 questions like people can do that through their phone, right? What i'm hearing is that the folks who were really interested in plowing a lot of resources into user centered design and having it be A mobile friendly Application did not win that budget fight. So it's not actually something you can easily take on your phone Which is absurd. I mean it's 10 questions, but We are looking I think at needing to to go to um a desktop device to to respond So that's a huge deal and lack of skills if you think about The older population especially that hasn't been doing computers all their lives and they won't um have the same comfort level Doing an online survey that younger folks might and of course the distrust which is an issue Whether you're talking about an online administration or in person So we're really going to have to do a very good job in the next year and a bit um of Grass roots outreach and connecting to people educating them that this is coming Making sure that they do have access through a library through a community center a nonprofit that they work with something like that their kids school We're going to have to figure out all those things For for education and and access When I think about the census 2020 I also often think about how We use census data and what we are and are not able to measure even with census data So I think about the Informal economy and the amount of activity that goes on that is not captured and when you ask people How much money are you making for example? They may be inclined to be less honest on a census Then what is really happening in their day-to-day lives? So I often look at the census numbers and then I think okay I know where this comes from. What could I be missing? When i'm looking at these numbers and trying to make decisions about where to invest in the community or how to invest in the community I just want to add as a professional working with the census data how Wide spread its uses which I I don't think I quite realized as Previously somebody who just filled out the census and then later somebody who actually relied on it for my day-to-day work How often it's used? I mean I'd say like 80 percent of the time when you look at a report When you're looking at an article it's census data American community survey is census data It's unbelievable how many decisions in our country are being made on a day-to-day basis based on that one data set So I think in a way it's critical for people to participate and and For governments It's critical to lower those barriers to participation and really do the legwork on understanding what those barriers are Because they're different for different communities in different parts of town That is so important because that data is just It's so critical It's not just data people. I mean just for folks who may not know the decennial census determines our Proportional representation that too and our represented in our representative democracy So truly actually the headcount that is the decennial census not the wealth of detail that we rely on so much from American community survey Drives the representation and often resource allocation And the American community survey then is based on census a lot of it So any error that's introduced every 10 years is going to carry forward through the whole decade So lots and lots of different implications to not getting a complete count And I just want to add if there's any people who work with data out there that The census office is actually really accessible like you can get somebody on the phone within a few minutes I don't think people call the census that often So there's like five people over there in like michigan or something and like you know You can get to a first name basis with them pretty quickly. So For this massive organization, it's it's they're very accessible. I think we're running out Yeah, we've got about 10 minutes. So we'll get into the last portion, which is just how do we create Oh, we have a question. Hello. Yes I can take this one first and then you guys can jump in But if you overlay Maps of many of the things that we care about like income like education or graduation rates If you start overlaying maps, you see a very similar picture to the digital divide map It keeps coming up the same people who are doing well Economically or doing well in school also have internet access So the I'm not saying that there's a connection here, but I think You said there's and I I agree What I'm what I'm suggesting though is that we need to go down to the root causes That there are underlining issues here that the data is not picking up on And and that the root cause analysis is that deeper level analysis is super important, especially for our community Before we go, I want to make sure to have laura talk about the alama regional data alliance and talk about that and what it can be used for How it is kind of firming up So I I can't talk about this. I can also say that we have an incoming data alliance steering committee member in crystal and an Outgoing in in emily. We hope to get her back. We have a representation tied to Organizations or employers so when she left revard report she would she came out of her category her seat And the alama regional data alliance is a network of all kinds of folks who share a vision to improve the lives of people in our region By establishing and maintaining a culture of data driven action or data informed if if you're in that camp Um The the intent is to bring people together across silos and I don't just mean analysts, but all kinds of people data users data generators data analysts to Try to increase access to data locally to try to improve our capacity to understand and use data to make decisions to try to build a Culture in every different organization And resources in every different organization to use data appropriately to inform decisions So that websites alamo data.org if anybody wants more information or wants to join get on a mailing list Before we wrap up I want to because I want to make sure we have time for questions I will try and repeat them so my now cast friends don't pull their hair out So who has any questions? Can I add something real quick? Yeah, please So as laura mentioned, I am an outgoing arda committee member and I've transitioned to the city of san Antonio Yesterday was my first day and my mind is like Blown, but I wanted to point out my colleague Thomas in the back and he is taking a survey for the city of san Antonio about our innovation zones This is brooks the medical center And downtown and there will be some projects to prototype different types of smart city technologies in those areas And we want to get your thoughts and feedback And ideas so that survey is about that you can visit him And contribute your thoughts All right, so giordana go ahead You had your whole other panel, but you have questions so So What it's showing and it helps us to make an agency like the FCC can be eligible and say Hey, why aren't you showing the reality of Your innovation story that we can tell when I put up the map the first map of san Antonio at randy He's it showed the same thing, right? We've had some progress around referrals Of worth it. It was the same story So you don't want to diminish that Paul put in a story and told the story of it, right? It was important for getting this issue to the agenda But just know that you have to be able to help stay what you're looking at and it's very critical in digital inclusion Then the other part is one of the things I consider the Federal Reserve is mixed method research So I study low-income communities that are not often very Well-captured by the census and some of the data sets. So for example, I was studying the texas mix for water and I had to report, you know that limited English proficiency limits people's participation in the labor market but from my qualitative research in talking to educators and community members and and doing the The interviews in Spanish and English and every every way to get a more balanced view, right? If I just showed the data He would tell a very fleek and I'm not a police story, right? But I can tell because of my interviews, right in focus groups. I can say hey Yeah, there is because of limited English proficiency. It has an impact on the labor market. But guess what? Bilingualism there's there's it's an asset Plus I want to just jump in really quick because you are completely 100 correct Especially on north side north side school district is where there's a lot of internet access But there are 61 different languages spoken by students in the ELL program in north side So when you talk about people with various languages not having internet access or access to broadband services But then we look at a map of the area where they live and we say, okay, those people do have access. They're okay Not all people in that blue area also have the same type of broadband access Just to reinforce your point This map is showing 10 megabits per second, which is a speed of broadband internet access What's considered normal is 25 Normal internet use is checking email surfing maybe playing some video games Okay, so this is already below the threshold of what normal use is which suggests that Maybe the the picture is a little bit darker than we would so know what you're looking at and do do your do your homework On what you're actually sorry data people talk a lot. That's All right Good no, I think we're done now So I apologize for anyone else who had questions But we really appreciate the opportunity to talk today. So thank you. Thank let's thank our panel, please I'm going to go ahead and call y'all's attention back up here I'm going to have to be a little tight on the schedule because we have a couple of people that can only be here for their Panel and their keynote later. So we only have two mics, but we probably needed three Can you all if you have questions? As the panelists are going through use a folder or maybe the hard stock Palm card that's on your table to let us know when he gets towards the end of the panel that you might have a question And we'll come borrow a microphone that way now cast who's streaming and recording the sessions They can hear you all Okay, great It's it's on now. Okay Hi everyone and welcome to our next panel We're going to be talking about schools libraries and community access My name is JJ Velazquez. I cover technology for the rebar report As you heard earlier During emily's panel. It's a nonprofit journalism organization And while I was steeping in this topic this week I the concept of the great equalizer kept coming up And if education is a great equalizer internet access has become one of the most important tools for unlocking that potential But the democratization of knowledge has not always been Democratic I don't think it's been, you know, the way that You know the creators of the web for saw it And so as job applications textbooks and other forms of schooling have moved online now There's a segment of the population that's left in the lurch by the more comprehensive adoption of The internet that's taken place, especially in recent years And just last week a Pew research center study found that one in five teens Sometimes cannot complete all their homework because They lack Internet access at home And as you've heard today San Antonio In san Antonio that problem is more acute A fourth of households Here are not online So before I introduce our panel quick show of hands How many people have had to go to a friend's house of family members or maybe a wi-fi enabled place of business To use the internet because there was no connection at home How many have done so in the last year? Yeah So this is this is often the reality the the daily reality for The unconnected households of san Antonio and that feeling of of being incessantly out of pocket For a service that you know is so tied to one's economic well-being I think perfectly encapsulates The challenge that we're facing in bridging this digital divide Now do schools libraries and community Gathering places have a role to play in delivering that access our panelists are here to answer that question With me. I have gander larry amendoza She's a former library services administrator with the san Antonio public library And now newly appointed a smart city coordinator for the city of san Antonio Congratulations on your new role Moonery jester is the san Antonio housing authorities connect home program manager And yes And scott lullaman is the director of technology for south san isd Thanks for joining us today So i want to start off with You know the topic of the homework gap this idea that you know students are not You know able to to complete their homework because of They they lack internet access which has become you know pretty much the hub of Where students complete their assignments So scott. I want to start with you South san estimates about a fifth Of students in the district lack internet access at home. Tell us about the impact that it has within the district So I think I think one of the things that it really impacts with us And I was I was just thinking about your your question about having to go to a friend's house or a place with Wi-Fi access and I didn't raise my hand because I thought well only only if my You know network goes out at home, but then I thought no even if my network goes out at home I have a hot spot enabled Smartphone and I also have a hot spot Cellular hot spot for that's on a completely different cellular network that I use from work So I actually have three different ways to access the internet at my house and our kids don't have that Um, you know what south san is in that big red spot that you saw on the last In the last presentation And so, you know a lot of our kids don't have that access at home And so that that means that they've got to do that work at school That means that our teachers have to adapt and make sure that the kids are getting their work done at school And and you know, it's it's come to a point where we see teachers Not really even assigning homework that much because they know it's not going to get done at home You know and that I mean that's that's been the case for a long time even before internet access in High-poverty areas because those kids are having to go home and take care of brothers and sisters And in cook and do those kind of things that their parents would You know are not able to do because they're out working two or three jobs But one of the things that you said was We estimated that about a fifth of our students about 20% did not have internet access at home We actually found out something different. Can can we move that to that one? We um, we surveyed our students last year and we actually found out that Almost 90 percent go to the next one Okay, so that's what I get for editing my slides first thing in the morning, right? Well, we we found about 89 percent of our kids have some kind of internet access at home But what we don't know is what that internet access looks like. Is it just access on a smartphone is you know Do they do they truly have wired home internet connection or wireless available to them? And even if they do a lot of times they still don't have access to Um a desktop device or something of that nature And so what we've done in south san Is we've got a one-to-one program at our high school Where all of the students freshmen through seniors now have a device that they're able to take home Our juniors and seniors have iPads our freshmen and sophomores have chromebooks And then we've we've trickled that down sort of to the middle school level where at our our three middle schools They have a chromebook cart in every single core classroom So they have all math science eLA and social studies classrooms have a cart of 30 chromebooks for their students to use And we also just this year started New middle school academy programs and all of the students in those middle school academies have chromebooks that they are able to Take home with them Then another way that we're addressing that homework gap is We were awarded The sprint one million program grant Where sprint has has provided hot spots to our students to our high school students To to take home and use to have internet access at home and they had to qualify for that We had them fill out a survey asking them what kind of internet access they had at home What access to devices they had at home Last year we handed out 350 of those devices This year because there was such a demand for that program We were only granted another hundred devices So we were able to recover some of those from graduating seniors But but we're still we have a waiting list at the high school of those devices You know, we've got students that are clamoring to get them They're they're used quite a bit. I know our early college students I was just I was just talking with our high school instructional coach this morning And she said our early college students really wish they had more data on those devices because they they go through it so much But that's that's one of the ways that we're trying to address that homework up To your point about the level of digital access in homes You know, I have a really good friend who's a teacher at a title one school And you would think that you know with the students proficiency with smartphones that they'd You know have no problem using the desktop computers in their in their classroom in their labs But you know, it's a totally foreign concept to a lot of them So I think that's you know, an interesting point to make and not one that you know, many people realize Candelaria, how have public libraries helped Accommodate students who need internet to do their homework? So yeah, I think I'm going to share a few points Because I think We do at the library kind of look at digital inclusion It kind of felt very nicely With an alignment with the three legs of the stool So connectivity and infrastructure training and devices although we can't provide the the connection at students homes We definitely can be a buffer zone The san Antonio public library has 30 locations throughout the city of san antonio as craig mentioned earlier We do have free wi-fi access, but we also have public computers at every single location We of course also include printing And in a little bit, I'll talk about some services that are coming up But yeah, we definitely want to Be a place for students to be able to go after school On the weekends and be able to get that access. We provide opportunities for training We have several programs and this kind of goes from you know, zero to Um, I guess 100 or plus We have on demand technology assistance so people can come in our students our community members Get one-on-one assistance with whatever it might be the device that they just received We know we have a lot of people especially senior citizens that come into our libraries that their nephew or niece or Daughter or uncle have just given them a new device and they have no idea how to use this tablet And they're looking for assistance and the library is there to help Get them to navigate And use these devices we have learned at sapple. We actually have our table over there If you want to learn some more about that that is a partnership with dhs Which we do a very intense Training for adults And they could be pretty much in the whole scheme of things from Wanting to just learn some digital literacy skills to get in their gd to working on getting a master's Or beyond so it covers a huge range And they're very great about being community centric and we have that at four Library locations and we're hoping to continue to expand just again because of the Demand and so as we get additional resources or opportunities We want to continue to do more of that We've done some special projects digital inclusion month digital literacy passport that i'm sure Moni will touch on as well But again providing that opportunity for classes at the libraries Trying to have it be a little bit convenient since we do cover a lot of ground Within that map that was shown earlier and then again using the research that both That a lot of the members especially giordana has led to find To get grants so capital one well as far go We submitted some proposals for them and they've granted us Resources to be able to support things at the digital literacy passport so that we can get devices Into the hands of community members Devices there's some interesting things that we've been doing obviously we do have Public computers throughout the libraries these the ones that are pictured here are laptop dispensers So if you have a library card You can come check out a laptop use it within the library using the free wi-fi Again, we're hoping to add some additional services to where we can in the future add wireless printing So you can do everything from your laptop so in locations where maybe we don't have enough infrastructure for more computers or where wi-fi is just a little bit easier to handle We have these dispensers and again, it's something that we're looking at expanding to other locations And it's a new service that we've been providing at the libraries Again printing faxing and scanning it's something that we're working on adding So there will be an opportunity for community members to continue to add to the amount of services available to them from the library And connect spaces the bottom left picture there is some teens at the Encino branch library We've added these touchscreen mando pads so technology that maybe they can't get access to at home because of the expense And the uniqueness of what it is they can go to the library experiment get to learn how to use them Their touch screens that have microsoft excel powerpoint everything on them So people can either use them to explore and to do homework or if they are looking to do an interview all of that piece They can use that for additional learning opportunities Add to road map is something that we worked on last year And I think i'll let muni touch base on Homework gap pieces before I get into this piece. I'll save it for later. I guess It's hard to talk about a homework gap Without this, you know introducing the scope of connect home, but you know, so connect home It's the hud program that was launched three years ago And initially the focus, you know, you know our former mayor and and secretary Julian Castro. He was He was really the the forefront in making sure that connect home Happened and then the main goal of connect home initially was to bridge the homework gap Was all about kids and making sure that kids have the resources to connect and do homework So in our communities, you know kids you go to any asaha properties you see kids Running and playing everywhere. So it was it's definitely a major focus and and And then when connect home was launched was essentially More about connectivity and making sure the kids had you know connectivity at home to do the homework But then as we you know, we're gonna talk more about it. Is that, you know, we need all three So connect home right now. We obviously we expend it beyond just focus on kids and homework and really Empowering the parents and our and our seniors on the senior sites But it's interesting to see that you talked about the sprint and the hot spot and the bandwidth It's just like when we talk about connectivity Is not just about oh if they got a hot spot, they're good If they watch one tutorial on how to do, you know algebra It's all all of their data So when we talk about connectivity I guess I you know, especially in terms of the homework gap is like keep in mind that just it was like five Up and three and one down something like that, you know in terms of the the fluctuation of The speeds of the connectivity That's also a big issue when we talk about homework gap because kids need to access the full, you know Power and the full source of of of broadband to really use the internet effectively to do their the homework And then I can talk more about the program and what we're doing to bridge the homework gap and then all the stuff in a minute Sure By the way, gander laria has the unenviable unenviable task of wearing two hats today So she'll be talking about the public library as well the city as of the city of san Antonio I'm gonna Move forward to workforce, uh development, uh Mooney, uh saha's jobs plus program helps, uh public housing residents find work How has job hunting changed in the internet age and what resources does this program provide? Yeah, I actually I'm gonna jump to this because I think that will help. Um Wait So as I mentioned, um Is that where you're looking for? Okay, so So this is connect home and with the san Antonio housing authority. Um, we Were you know designated as a connect home site? So one of 28 Sites around the country So we're one of the first pilot communities to become connect home And I have to give a shout out to we have a friend here from the housing authority or chapter nation from oklahoma They're over there. They're just coming and learning more What are we doing san antonio and what you know, we can help in sharing our Help them and their community and the reality. Can you so um for connect home again? It's going the livers mentioned with the library. We provide all three of Aspects of the due to inclusion connectivity Devices and training The difference is that we really want to impact people on their homes And and provide the connectivity At the house Well the format is all messed up, but this is a quick look Of of what we do into so connect home We had to divide the program Into tracks and I really want to focus on the in the middle portion Is that when we talk about connectivity and training we made sure that To think about what are the different implications of training? So we talked about we have different partners to help with education and vision the homework gap and applying for college You know kaffa college is a huge partner of us And stem we have cogem girls ink Systemic, you know, they're all helping us Help Provide that training on site But for workforce development, we have the program called jobs plus in sahas is all the program Family self-sufficiency and there are many other programs and when connect home came in We started asking like what role does digital inclusion play in workforce development? So one of the strategies that we have deployed is really looking at providing Creating this track that's called entrepreneurship and workforce development And essentially what that is is providing more training and resources for people that are engaged in those programs So what in jobs plus are or program participants? Jobs plus program refer them to connect home and we provide them with 16 hours of computer literacy Which includes email basic a spreadsheet stakes online safety Your digital footprint, but also things like Online job search how you do in online job search effectively how you form create a resume Creating your you know your profile and what if your employer is going to google you or find out who you are What what's going to come up? So, you know, so we embedded that those kind of trainees as part of connect home And then and i'm just gonna jump in and then once they Connect the once they finish the 16 hours of training connect home we give them a free device So goodwill is our amazing partner and they are a fervor sure So they collect our you know used computers and i'm gonna urge everybody here If you have any used computers or your organizations go through your computers um May not be in you know In our organization you may need better computers and update every three years I think the life cycle computers at three to five years Those computers may not be good for you as an organization But they still perfectly fine to help bridge the digital divide So that's one simple thing that anybody and everybody in this room can do It's really donate your devices to to to organizations to refurbish them so they can help You know programs like connect home and many others to bridge the digital divide So since connect home launched we have been Working in different fronts and we have different strategies and different partners for all three areas But for the training we have I updated the number actually last night. It was 1,874 people that received computer literacy training and that is a major A major fact through the support that we have with the library through the passport program and bibliotech So if you guys want to visit I have my team there on the connect home table We have a schedule of the classes that we We offer every month as part of the digital literacy passport program And I again I invited anybody that if you have If your organization have trainees and computer literacy trainees that that would be helpful to our residents and people in the community You know come and talk to me because we really want to expand the The resources that we can be for our residents to receive training And and then so the passport program was with the library, but then goodwill. We have provided 863 computer devices and then for Connectivity we also have several different strategies that include the sprint hotspot, but also the the wi-fi mesh network that rit Department does a great job in expanding and there's so many all the different strategies So I'm gonna stop here so we can carry on them. Sure I remember as a teen You know, I begged my parents for some allowance money, and they were like nope Open the class fides find a job That's probably the last time I looked at the class fides to be honest with you. It's probably like 15 years ago Gondolati, can you speak to how the library sort of empowering residents to find work? Sure Um, I mean, I think I would need a panel about myself to kind of list the amount of things that the library's doing But yeah, just a few things like I mentioned with learn that one-on-one assistance is really really important Because I think everybody comes into the library at a different stage and everybody wants assistance then and there Um, so although classes are a great way for us to talk about a similar topic Whether somebody's learning to use a computer for the first time Or if it's if it's excel or word that they're trying to just add and improve their skills on Um, the one-on-one assistant piece is very very important because they come um at a stage of their digital literacy Life cycle and they they have made it their way to come to the library And they want you to help them then and there if you tell somebody Oh, you know, if you come back in two days for this class at six o'clock You know, it's not really going to work for their schedule So a lot of what we do at the library is try to accommodate And help and assist Those kinds of pieces, especially when it comes to workforce If somebody's looking to improve that resume Create an email for the first time so that they can actually set that up I mean it the the full gamut of it all of whether it's from the beginning stages Or for a little bit more advanced of just updating something and being able to email it Or just having that internet access to be able to do some job searching At central we do have a jobs and small business center that people can go to and get a little bit more assistance from staff And developing those skill sets and having somebody review their resumes. We also have a resource Online so once they're at the library or if they do have access We just we have a tutoring service that includes pretty much everything And there's live professionals on the other side so people could submit their Resumes and have somebody look at them. They can look at, you know, practicing their job interview skills And there's live people helping them from three to Or 12 to 9 p.m. Sorry for those job help now resources So check out our the library's website. There's a lot of different resources And please refer people to our website. We have a lot of Different places for people to start or just have them go to one of their local Libraries and they can start their journey there and we can make sure that they get Started at the rat at the right place for where they're at and their job seeking cycle Scott I want to get back to kick it back to you. It's been a while since we uh, we heard from you, but So you talked earlier about sort of the disparities and in how the levels of Of, you know, whether Students have access at home to desktop computers Tablets or or just smartphones How does that sort of disparity? Affect the instruction and how do you sort of like target like hey like we need to introduce students to You know iPads or or desktop computers Honestly, I mean, I don't know that it affects the instruction so much as the way we teach affects the devices I I think that One of the things I was thinking about before before we came up here was, you know, our our like I said earlier Our our juniors and seniors have iPads at the high school because when they started the one-to-one program before I got to south sand Um, that was what everyone was buying was iPads After a couple of years we reevaluated and we actually handed students You know a new ipad and a new chromebook and asked them which which device you prefer and the students overwhelmingly preferred The chromebook um at the high school level, especially because we have you know early college students We have students that are doing dual credit. We have students that are Going to st. Phillips and Palo Alto to take classes and and they need that device that has a keyboard attached It's more, you know, kind of business geared, but I think um back to the point of what device it doesn't matter What device kids are it's it's interesting hearing about the adult education side of things because the things that we're teaching adults about You know how to use word and power point and sign up for an email account and things like that are things that I was teaching My tech apps kids 15 years ago um What we're teaching kids at at the elementary and middle school high school level today is more How to think how to use these devices? To to really wonder outside the box kids aren't afraid of a device They're they're gonna you know, they're gonna pick up the mouse and figure it out. They're gonna Their kids aren't afraid to break stuff. That's that's the great thing You know you hand a kid a device and within five minutes they're gonna figure out how to use it. They may not know um The best way to use that to get the job done they want to get done But they're gonna figure out the interface pretty quickly because because they're just gonna start messing with it And and figure that piece out. But the education side that we have to do is is really about You know education about what you put online. What what are you able to do online discerning between fact and fiction discerning between fact and opinion You know, especially in in the the news climate I say news In quotes a climate today You really have to teach kids how to discern between What's true factual information and and what somebody just threw out there because they could you know sign up for a wordpress page Um, I might be dating myself by using wordpress Um, you know that I mean, I think that's that's really what it gets to you We any device we throw at a kid they're going to be able to use they they do have some preferences And we do try to listen to those preferences Um We we still feel like I still feel like at the elementary level the kinder for second grade level that tactile that touch Screen is really something that kids are used to But when they get to the older levels, they don't really have that much problem Picking up a mouse. I just as a quick aside. I have a 12 year old and a nine year old My 12 year old when she first started using a computer Using, you know, I again in quotes when she was probably three years old She knew how to manipulate a trackpad on a laptop my Now nine year old the first time I set a laptop in her lap. She poked at the screen It didn't have a touch screen, but that's how she knew how to interface with it And and so that just that three year gap is a make you know makes a big difference in in the way kids interact with devices You know, I have a touch screen laptop. Ask me how many times I actually touch the screen on my touchscreen I almost never do unless the trackpad stops working. So, you know, it's like I said the device doesn't really matter Kids are going to use what they're going to use and they are very adaptable They'll move from a smartphone to a tablet to a laptop and back All, you know, all in the same breath Adults, I think are the ones that have the bigger Learning curve or issue with you know, adults are afraid to break stuff. I think Can I jump in just real quick? I think you touch up on this A little bit Scott that I heard somebody saying on the National Junior Inclusion Alliance conference. They say like there is no digital native Sometimes we talk about kids. Oh, they have come phones. They know computers. They are native like no There's this concept like let's stop talking about it because they know How to manipulate the phones for I don't know snapchat facebook and all stuff, but they don't know What else they can do with it? So and that's what our job is is really to expose the kids It's like how can you use technology to do more? Right, do you know you can you know you can code and make a video game? Do you know you can't open your business? You know, my kids all really want to be a youtuber right now. It's apparently that's Makes a lot of money But you know, so what else like it's really I think the training I'm going to talk about Digital inclusion channel for kids and adults is really helping them realize that technology is not It's not about the technology. It's about what you do technology and what and how can you leverage that for your goals In education employment to have fun and whatever it is And then but then the fact that the device that you use Matters for certain things right the phone is great for you to be a consumer of information Is not good for you to be a producer You try to apply for a job on your phone or write a resume or do homework It's not gonna it's not Technology is not there yet. Maybe we'll be there eventually But so that's why at the the san antonio housing authority. We only focus On laptop desktops and sometimes we do give tablets, but we prefer we prefer laptops because the device that you provide To to to the community matters and you know and our goal is not just to give them a phone so they can Consume information but to give them a device and the training and the broadband so they can really leverage technology To help them and their overall goals and one of the things you know that you touched upon there was was the The device that the people use I I try to like when I'm in meetings with teachers when I'm At meetings at such office. I try to use my phone for a lot of that because I want to be able to see What is that kid who only has the phone? What is their experience when they're getting into this teacher's google classroom or Doing something that that the teacher has signed and this is the only device that they have at their Available to them and and bringing that to the attention of the adults in the room saying hey look You may say it's just x y z But try doing it on this and see what it what it feels like for that kid Who's at home trying to do your homework and maybe this is the only screen they have to look at I wanted to ask a follow-up question Scott mentioned one-to-one Initiatives and this is the concept that you know every student should have a device They were rolled out, you know at at districts all over the country, you know eight or nine years ago I remember being a you know cub reporter and covering that But you know other than you kind of alluded to some of the findings from that What else have we learned from one-to-one initiatives? I think I mean from from our perspective It's great if every kid has a device. I mean it certainly allows it levels the playing field as far as You know being able to have an expectation of our teachers to to provide instruction that that takes place In a 21st century classroom as opposed to sitting there with a book in their lap It's also allowed us as a district to move forward from purchasing Hardcover textbooks and and move toward more digital resources. So, you know, it's it's it's not really I mean, I don't I don't think it's a game changer as far as Direct student impact, but it's it's a game changer as far as the dollars we spend and where we spend them And and then being able for every student to have a certain level of expectation You know the expectation used to be kids come to school with pencil and a paper Now the expectation is they come to school with a device Maybe You know if if we did a bring your own device, there's a lot of districts that move to that after they saw how expensive iPads were They You don't have a level playing field there because every kid has a different device some kids have an iphone Some kids have an android some kids god forbid still have blackberry Um, so, you know, some of them have an older iphone that may not be able to be updated and run the latest Iowa latest, you know packages or I mean it just you just level the playing field when you give every kid a device, but as far as I just completely lost my train of thought So I think I think though as far as Closing a digital divide in allowing kids, you know the freedom to be able it just allows us to be able to to say every You know, here's what the expectation is you're going to bring this device Oh, this is where I was going with that at our at elementary campuses We we actually have two of our nine elementary campuses are doing a blended learning pilot this year And we decided as a department not to go one to one at those campuses We did not provide them the devices that would allow them to have a single device for each kid And the reason for that is because we want the kids to collaborate. We want them to work together and And so if we had provided every single kid with a device Then what you get is every single kid sitting in front of their device and they're not talking They're not collaborating and at the elementary level, especially there's got to be a lot of back and forth And so we provided the classrooms with enough devices to have, you know A two to one or three to one depending on the grade level And so so the teachers are kind of forced to to change that mindset of oh, no Every kid's gonna have a device too I've got to plan something where the kids can work cooperatively because that's that's the way work works these days You've got to be able to work with other people Sorry, I think we I think we had a question. Yeah, so Scott, uh, maybe if you could just Expand a little bit on part of the the challenge that took place with the one-to-one push is the the integration of an lms system where there was true Foundation around Leveraging those devices to access specific content related to Education and I think that's one thing that you know There was a big miss on when that initially came out was yeah Let's get devices out in all the kids hands But we really have no plan around how to leverage that device to really put them at a you know an advantage right and I think I mean That happened in a lot of districts They they had a they're like oh we got to give kids devices and then and then they didn't There's a lot of money spent on hardware and not a lot of money spent on training And that's that's what it comes down to you There's got to be professional development on the on the other side And even if it's it's not necessarily a learning management system But just getting everybody on the same page as far as what's expected of the teachers Um, and what's the expectation of the student use of those devices? And so um when google classroom came out it was fantastic for us because it's free We're already a google suite district And so that provided kind of a foundation level You know, I know I was in shirt cibolo before a couple of districts before south sand and we used Moodle, which was a free open source thing But we had a heck of a time getting teachers on board with it because it was complicated and a clunky and it wasn't easy to use Google classroom was really easy to use We're still facing those challenges as far as getting you know every kid Into the right systems because every textbook manufacturer has their own data system that they they you know Like pierce and has a completely different set of of data upload standards than mcgraw hill does And so we're we're still struggling through some of that Is getting better There's been a lot of push from technology directors and districts around the country for textbook manufacturers and and content providers To provide kind of a unified platform. And so we're seeing more of that happening We're we're just launching The use of clever in our district, which is a single sign on portal Where we provide data to clever and then they provide our data out to the different content providers and and so You know that allows The jumping off point it allows kind of consistency across the district too as far as getting into the different programs and things that we use We've got another question from the audience Yeah, I wanted it might be more of a comment than a question. I'm at utsa. I'm head of the downtown campus library and utsa This goes back to the question of information literacy and upward mobility We lose a lot of our first year students. We have trouble with retention We have trouble with them coming in unprepared Um, and a lot of them are trying to get through college just using their phones Uh, and that's not going to work now. Obviously the library provides computers for them to work on Our website now counts the number that are available at any one minute Because it's sometimes really hard for them to find an available computer one of the ways we're trying to Facilitate their success at utsa is we're pushing open access textbooks We're trying to get the faculty to switch to open access textbooks books are incredibly expensive And we know that that's an obstacle to staying at utsa And again, they need devices and devices That they can use that are fast enough that can access Uh, the textbooks now online But we're also discovering is you guys were saying they tell us that they are competent on the computers They're not They're not they don't understand what a database is We do the same instruction about how do you evaluate information? And, um I don't know what the answer is in terms of getting them devices at that level They can they get a break at the campus computer store But still we're talking a few hundred dollars for available devices Yeah Quick comment on that Absolutely. Yeah, so I was saying you know for the device question Um The things most people don't know or maybe just everybody knows by now is that connect home when we were launched There was no money, right? It's a federal government program And you know gray sign up to be connect home You on your own and I would say for the long term that turned out to be a good thing One is that now we're not in the jump where you're getting your budget cut because there's no budget And and then two is that really allow us to really Build partnerships and really that's what this panel is all about so You know partnerships and for training and we can see we can refer people for to go to different libraries and different sites in community room bibliotech um, but then for the device piece, you know, it was really um I felt a senator and you were really unique that we have such an embracing community So one connect home was launched. I was going out and talking to anybody and it's like, hey Do you have computers you get donate your old computers? Let's find a refurbisher so we can you know Supply that the need of a device So with the senator new housing authority in terms of college, we have the uh education investment Program that provides scholarships to our residents in public housing section eight So now me and connect home I'm looking how can I make sure that our scholarship participants Have the skills and the tools to be successful as they go to start college So, you know, so again, we provide the trainee and we talk about a little bit on fake news So our training is over there Natalie. So we always review on the curriculum, but fake news and how to, you know Format a document how to navigate online and we also, you know with the partnership with goodwill and everybody else You know frost bank and Wells Fargo USA and all the donations of devices also and funds We're able to provide those devices to our residents to make sure that they have all the tools to be successful Especially in a higher ed Think we have one more question here Yes, so I was wondering um, I've been listening today and I know Obviously this whole focus is about increasing access, which is hugely important But I think both for adults and children I'm curious what y'all are talking about with them with regards to sort of healthy tech habits Not just discerning what is real and fake, but also sort of how long you're online what that does to your mental health What that does to sort of your relationships Has that been something y'all have been exploring at all? So we we do some digital literacy Far too late Because we we start kind of in the in junior high When that really should be starting probably at the first and second grade level Talking about screen time and how often kids are are online and and really I mean If you think about it even goes back to you know pre computer times is how how much tv or kids watching when they get home That kind of thing You know my nine-year-old would prefer to go home and watch youtube videos than read a book and you know, so I've got to You know put the thing away. I turn off the wi-fi sometimes Get out your book and you're gonna read for you know 20 or 30 minutes and just in getting that that home to getting that hitting that home to parents too about how important that is and telling them at a young age that you know the tablet or the device is Is just like the tv was not a babysitter that this should not be a babysitter either In talking about those kind of healthy habits, but then at the middle school level, especially we we get into a lot of That's where we start to see a lot of the you know cyber bullying and and the Other stuff that goes on that you know that we don't really like to talk about with kids on phones and you know Taking private pictures on a public device and that kind of thing So, you know, we we do some of that we we clearly don't do enough And like I said, I think we should start at a much younger grade level than we do Yeah, I think just to add to that At the library, I think we do have a phased in approach So we obviously start from maybe even before birth if you're reading to your child while you're still pregnant So we do in our story times kind of particularly focus on just doing picture books and hands-on activities, early literacy Definitely with the focus of doing that storytelling where it's whether it's oral or with books And we very rarely bring in tablets occasionally Here and there but because research has shown us that young minds do better with physical books Then they do a digital content and I know that there's Additional research and I'll be super excited to see how that continues to expand as we move more and more digital But we do have some research that shows that you know People remember things better when they write it down or when they're reading it from a physical book And then they do with a digital book So we definitely keep that in mind as we implement different programs at the library I think just again and preparing for The future we are definitely continuing to look at our communities We just did a big survey to kind of pull in feedback about digital literacy skills. The gap is still very prominent I left a little card here. We do this every year to kind of Where we are a city department The san Antonio public library system is is a city department working for our residents Throughout all of the districts This is a community impact card that we do every budget to kind of Show the impact that we have in our communities through our different 30 locations As you can see our need for computers is still very high We have over 2.5 million hours of computer sessions a year that happened through our libraries So if you can imagine that's a lot of people visit us on a daily basis our labs are always very full Using our our broadband and our wi-fi. So the demand is still very very high Even when we researched and did a little bit of surveying of our staff As we again continue to go more digital We need to be cognizant of our digital literacy skills of our staff So as we incorporate new methods and it could be something Scott that you're experiencing at the schools too We keep pushing things to go digital and our staff are not ready We need to make sure that they're ready that they're trained so that that when people come in and want the Help or support that they can also feel comfortable in doing so as well So it's something that the library is looking at to do more of training of our staff and bringing them along With us as we continue to incorporate a little bit more digital services and programs at the library Before we close here And we open it up to potentially more questions. I wanted to clarify something earlier You know before the president Coopted the term fake news and used it to to jeer media organizations that were providing Unfavorable or what he believes is unfavorable coverage. It was perfectly legitimate To use the word fake or the term fake news Because there are literal trolls pushing false narratives to try and sway And manipulate the public So I just wanted to make that point before we move on is does anyone else have any questions And uh, let's give him a mic Okay, we are streaming so using the mic helps Can you hear me? Okay So I'm Jose de la Vega enterprise security architect for cps energy and also retired navy That said how I haven't heard anything about the military yet have Any of the branches reached out for training help, you know that interaction? I mean that's a big piece here for san Antonio Have we taken advantage of that? You know on both sides They're reaching out to you guys or you guys out to them because they do a lot of community service With the within the city. So I was just wondering if that was one small aspect of Amazingly, we we don't do a lot. I mean lackland is in our backyard We you know when when you saw on that that map earlier the the big red spot that's There was a blue spot right in the middle and that's lackland air force base And they actually border our school district and we we really don't have a lot of of contact with them as far as You know programs in the campuses other than rftc We do have a cyber patriot program at the high school. A lot of high schools have that They go through that competition And they do some cybersecurity things of that nature with with our high school students. But as far as like Um Bringing in devices from them, you know, we have some folks that come come onto our campuses and help with that piece of it with it with the cyber patriot part but as far as You know bringing devices in from the air force or whatever we don't we don't see that a whole lot of that Except you know like I said except in the rftc program And I think that's our time Okay, so I think um our next on our agenda is um Getting lunch ready and then we will have a lunch session with our um planning trichairs. So um If we want to take the opportunity to take a quick break and then get ready for lunch lunch is um sandwiches so if you guys want to Um the same place where the breakfast was served