Connected Nation Inc

Digital literacy and learning - the organization is committed to empowering communities and their residents with the power of broadband and related technologies. Through digital skills training, career readiness, and job placement opportunities, the organization is dedicated to providing training opportunities for disadvantaged families, new technology adopters, job seekers, veterans, and military spouses to adopt and use technology effectively. Below are some related programs:digital works: a unique and sustainable digital upskilling and job readiness program that brings high-demand technology-based jobs to local communities within vulnerable demographic and geographic populations. Digital works connects twenty-first century workforce opportunities to people who are seeking employment by addressing digital skill gaps and leveraging broadband technology for customer relationship management outsourcing and advanced remote information technology positions. Using a digital learning model, the digital works program trains, places, and mentors high-quality candidates and locates co-working centers in settings where job demand is high, few employers exist, and the cost of living is low. This includes rural and more urban settings as well.digital literacy and learning workshops: to advance digital literacy across america, the organization has teamed up with at&t's connected learning program to offer in-person and virtual digital literacy training workshops across the country in communities where digital literacy training is needed for the digital empowerment of residents. The workshops are conducted in partnership with local community organizations such as libraries, community centers, senior centers and local government facilities. In 2024, the organization exceeded 100,000 people trained via connected nation training programs.teens teach tech: the program harnesses high school students' technology expertise to help their family and other community members gain new computer/internet skills. The program empowers students to perform community service while learning real-world problem solving, collaboration, and project development. Teachers, community leaders, guidance counselors, and parent volunteers passionate about supporting teens are recruited to mentor the students to develop and implement custom local digital inclusion projects in their communities. Since 2023, the program has resulted in over 22,000 people trained across the country.digital opportunity planning: the organization partners with states and local communities to advance digital inclusion through strategic planning, capacity building, and implementation support. This includes assisting with developing comprehensive digital opportunity strategies that address broadband access, affordability, digital literacy, device access, and workforce readiness. These efforts help ensure that all individuals can fully participate in today's digital society. In 2023 and 2024, the organization supported efforts in kentucky, oklahoma, puerto rico, michigan, iowa, and texas to build and operationalize digital inclusion plans that respond to local needs and align with federal and state priorities.digital device distribution program and community engagement: the organization collaborated with amazon and eero to introduce the eero connectivity community donation program, a pilot initiative to improve wi-fi access for underprivileged and under-connected households. By donating 5,000 eero pros to families through local partner organizations, the program seeks to play a vital role in narrowing the digital divide by offering a reliable solution to extend internet connectivity in underserved homes. This, in turn, empowers residents to more effectively access educational, economic, and social opportunities via a reliable internet connection. In 2024, the organization expanded its partnership with amazon to engage and educate tribal and rural communities about advancements in low-earth orbit (leo) satellite broadband, in collaboration with amazon's kuiper public policy (pp).

Internet exchange points (ixps) - in 2022, the organization formed a 50/50 joint venture (jv) with allied colo, llc and its principal, hunter newby a pioneer in network interconnection infrastructure called "connected nation internet exchange points, llc" (cnixp). The purpose of the jv is to build carrier-neutral ixp facilities in 125 regional hub cities across america focusing primarily on university campuses, at research & technology parks, and adjacent to military installations.ixps are hardened, secure, data center-like facilities in which internet networks of all types "meet, or interconnect with one another, to exchange data traffic. This is called peering. Local internet service providers (isps), middle mile networks, tier 1 carriers, mobile networks, education networks, and cloud & content companies (such as amazon and netflix) connect with one another in ixps keeping data traffic local that can stay local while making the routing of data traffic to points beyond more efficient. This reduces what is called "latency, or lag time, and significantly improves regional internet performance. Ixps also serve as regional marketplaces for wholesale and backhaul competition, significantly reducing prices for local isps, universities, k-12 schools, and ultimately end-users, while also fostering new direct network pathways into and out of the region, thereby increasing the resiliency of the internet for everyone.in 2024, cnixp received a $5 million grant from the state of kansas to build its first facility on the campus of wichita state university. This facility will be the first ixp in kansas, and is expected to be operational in the 1st quarter of 2026.

Education - the organization has led a range of k-12 education initiatives aimed at closing the digital divide in schools and homes. These efforts focus on identifying and addressing gaps in school connectivity, classroom technology, and at-home internet access - referred to as the "homework gap" - particularly among vulnerable student populations in rural or urban communities.through targeted programs and services, policy advocacy, and research, connected nation works to ensure that federal and state programs, such as e-rate, deliver maximum impact. The organization collaborates with executive agencies, lawmakers, school district leaders, and private-sector partners to promote best practices that improve school network design, increase internet speeds, and reduce overall connectivity costs, ensuring all students have access to the digital tools they need to succeed.philanthropic programs: the organization works with corporate partners to implement philanthropic programs that make connectivity solutions, such as mobile long-term evolution (lte) and 5g data services, available to students for at-home use. The organization partnered with at&t to distribute more than 40,000 mobile wi-fi hotspots to schools and non-profits that serve disadvantaged students. The hotspots included 14 months of free service. Building on this momentum, in 2024, the organization leveraged the amazon eero program mentioned above to distribute some of the eeros in michigan. These advanced mesh wi-fi systems were provided to families identified through schools, community-based organizations, and digital inclusion programs, focusing on low-income and underserved communities. The initiative was designed to strengthen in-home broadband performance, enabling students and their families to access online learning platforms, telehealth services, and other essential digital resources. This partnership underscores the organization's commitment to leveraging corporate collaboration to advance digital access for all.school technology inventory: the organization has collaborated with the utah education and telehealth network (uetn) to conduct a biennial statewide school technology inventory since 2015. This collaboration has been highly successful and effective, with 100% participation from all school districts and charters in the state of utah. The inventory portal and reports play a crucial role in providing meaningful data collection, analysis, and reporting to state, legislative, and educational leaders about the state of inventory for digital learning and teaching in utah.universal connectivity imperative: cn collaborated with the state educational technology directors association (setda) and other national education stakeholders to develop the universal connectivity imperative. This involvement included participation in the steering committee and working groups, as well as serving as a lead author. The report, released in january 2025, builds on the insights and research from three previous setda broadband imperative reports. It provides a thorough analysis of internet access in k-12 education, examining both the progress made since the last report and the emerging challenges. Cn contributed valuable examples of progress and policy recommendations to help inform this national report.