What Happened at the Smart Cities, Workforce Gaps, and Digital Equity Event?
Early this week (Tuesday, August 24th, 2021), we co-hosted an event with the Austin Urban Technology Movement (AUTM), on the intersections of workforce, smart cities, and digital equity. These topics and their intersections are vital to consider when working toward a more equitable economy. Thank you to all who attended and shared their resources, insights, and knowledge. We got to hear from a lot of amazing leaders in this space, working locally and across Texas!
Digging into what smart cities are and how they intersect with digital equity, on our first panel, we heard from three leaders working to build new collaborations and community partnerships in Austin and San Antonio:
Brian Dillard, Chief Innovation Officer, City of San Antonio
Khotan Harmon, City of Austin Digital Inclusion Fellow
Ted Lehr, IT Data Architect, City of Austin
We then heard from Jordana Barton, Vice President of Community Investments at Methodist Healthcare Ministries. With key examples and insights, Jordana helped us frame the connections between digital equity, smart cities, and workforce growth and opportunities. See her slide presentation.
After hearing from Jordana, we moved into a second panel for a deeper focus on workforce and digital equity, especially as we consider the implications for growing our smart cities’ infrastructures. We heard from leaders working both locally and at the state level:
Aaron Demerson, Commissioner Representing Employers at Texas Workforce Commission
Jennifer Harris, State Program Director, Connected Nation
Isaac Torres, Aquifer Equity, Principal Consultant
There were so many amazing resources shared during the event by panelists, speakers, and those in attendance. We had three ways to engage, through the Zoom chat, email, and a Miro board. As folks shared in chat, we also added those resources or questions to the Miro board.
We encourage you to stay engaged in this conversation through a variety of means:
Connect with some of the folks you met at the event. If you need a connection, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Mission Capital at insights@missioncapital.org or AUTM at contact@autmtx.org.
Share your resources, insights, and questions on the Miro board. It will remain live for a few more months.
Attend the second event in this AUTM and Mission Capital collaboration, focused on Digital Rights, Data, & Technology. What does your organization need to be thinking about as it navigates digital rights, data privacy, and the expansion of online services? Learn more and register here.
Check out the amazing resources (listed below) that were shared during the event by the speakers, panelists, and audience members.
Thank you again to all of our participants—our panel moderators, Madge Vasquez and Michael Ward Jr., our panelists, our speaker Jordana Barton, and our attendees who shared their resources, questions, and insights! We also want to thank our sponsors, and Truist specifically, for sponsoring this collaborative work. Check out this announcement to learn more about this collaboration.
Resources Shared:
Algorithms of Oppression by Dr. Safiya Noble
Presentation: Reliable and Affordable Broadband Internet for All
Closing the Digital Divide – CRA Guidelines doc
Automating Inequality by Virginia Eubanks
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