Six Projects will Pitch Live at Digital Equity Challenge May 2 in Haverhill

WHAV News Staff By |

Participants, winners, hosts and judges of the 2023 Digital Equity Challenge, from left: Jonathan H. Dowst, Pentucket Bank; Kate Machet, Essex County Community Foundation; Jessica Kallin, Haverhill Promise; Jess Vilas Novas, JVN Management Solutions; Dylan Zajac, Computers 4 People; Sophan Smith, EforAll; Janelle Abreu, Lawrence Public Library; Susu Wong, Tomo 360; Mike Sweeney, Vital Tools; Mia Crabbe, Tech Goes Home; Stephanie Guyotte, UMass Lowell. Back: Louie Rabinovitz, See Yourself Health. (Courtesy photograph by Kimberly Jones Photography).

To submit Business Bulletin announcements, click on image.

An estimated, one in five Essex County residents lacks access to internet service and computers, along with an understanding of how to use digital devices.

Aiming to solve this disparity, the Digital Equity Challenge will award $10,000 in cash prizes to the most promising solutions for the region through a live pitch contest event in Haverhill. The event is hosted by the UMass Lowell Innovation Hub Haverhill and the Essex County Community Foundation.

“Through the Digital Equity Challenge, we’ve encouraged the community to use entrepreneurial thinking to develop innovative solutions to the challenges of digital literacy, access and equity, and we’ve seen great results,” said UMass Lowell’s Stephanie Guyotte, associate director of the university’s Innovation Hub Haverhill. “This year’s finalists are offering unique solutions that will positively impact our communities. I look forward to hearing them present to our judges and learn how best we can launch these ideas into reality.”

Six finalists, which represent projects that range in geographic location from Lawrence to Gloucester, will present at the Third Annual Digital Equity Challenge Pitch Contest Thursday, May 2, at 6 p.m. at the iHub Haverhill. They are Lawrence TDI Partnership for The 427 Alley Project, Lawrence ComunityWorks, Build Game Box, Minds With Purpose, Mass Association for Computer and Internet Resources and Wilderness Technology Alliance

“Our communities have come a long way in bridging the digital divide since the pandemic really revealed the depth of the issue,” said Kate Machet, director of strategic initiatives and government relations at Essex County Community Foundation. “Many of the community-based programs that have worked to increase access to devices, broadband internet and digital literacy training were started right here at this competition, by entrepreneurs who saw this challenge as an opportunity to pilot innovative, collaborative solutions.”

But Machet said there is more work to do. “We look forward to hearing from this year’s contestants about their visions for increasing access to the digital resources needed to navigate life today,” she said.

Comments are closed.