With two Notices of Funding Availability (NOFA) and Requests for Application (RFA), the city of Sacramento is soliciting responses from vendors for a COVID-19 Digital Equity Program, and for the Sacramento Workforce Recovery Program. Time is short; responses are due Monday and Aug. 13, respectively, as federal guidelines drive a timely rollout for the initiatives. Among the takeaways:
• With the Digital Equity Program, Sacramento seeks applications for programs to “extend and enhance access to the Internet, computer equipment, and digital skills and knowledge to underserved community members and households affected” by the pandemic. Specifically, the city wants to improve broadband service and Internet access for residents with needs in either area. Sacramento has been providing subsidized Comcast Internet connections for six months, as well as devices. But Chief Information Officer Maria MacGunigal told Techwire the Digital Equity Program is an acknowledgment that residents’ needs are “more complex.”
“The program is attempting to fill all these little gaps that I guess have widened,” said MacGunigal, one of Government Technology magazine’s* Top 25 Doers, Dreamers & Drivers of 2020. “There’s an assessment component, there’s equipment, there connectivity, there’s education.”
A key part of the program will be the hiring of an administrator, the CIO said, to evaluate the needs of low-income households and individuals, connecting with not-for-profits and faith-based organizations that may already be working with these residents; and to develop case plans to manage their connectivity, equipment or educational needs.
• The program seeks tech vendors to provide educational equipment, supplies and services; public relations consulting and economic impact studies. This could involve new tech, solutions and resources – or it could bolster existing programs, Sacramento Chief Innovation Officer Louis Stewart told Techwire.
“I think for technology providers, the biggest thing is access for our citizens. And so, if you’re providing innovative methods that allow our citizens to be connected in a more equitable way and just providing access, then we want to hear from you,” Stewart said.
• The city is also seeking technology-centered responses to its Workforce Recovery Program NOFA, in an effort to find job seekers entry-level work in cybersecurity or other IT jobs – or upskill them. These, according to Kriztina Palone, Sacramento’s inaugural workforce development manager, are “lucrative jobs that are, if you will, recession-proof and are desperately needed right now.”
“We’re looking at folks who may have been in low-wage, low-skilled jobs and how do we get them to a place where they’re now earning a living wage and enough income to survive this pandemic?” Palone told Techwire.
• Money for the two programs is derived from the Coronavirus Relief Fund established by Congress in March as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Sacramento received more than $89.6 million. The Sacramento City Council has allocated $1 million to stand up the Digital Equity Program, with $750,000 destined to provide Internet connections to up to 10,000 households or individuals, and distribute up to 1,000 computers; and $250,000 improve Internet access in low-income neighborhoods.
The Workforce Recovery Program is funded with $10 million in CRF monies, with $2.5 million allocated for the youth workforce and for people age 24 or younger. In both cases, however, federal terms stipulate the city must deliver goods and services by year’s end.
*Government Technology magazine is a publication of e.Republic, which also produces Techwire.
