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Digital Equity Summits

Digital Equity Summits

Digital Equity Summit 2 (March 8, 2021)

Recorded Presentation Video:

Summit Materials:

Speaker and Panelist Bios:

Allyson Knoxis the DC education policy lead for the Microsoft Philanthropies team, managing STEM education (particularly computer science), technology in education, and student privacy policy issues at state and federal levels. She has testified before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education during a hearing, "How Emerging Technology Affects Student Privacy" in 2015 and the U.S. Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade during a hearing "Our Nation of Builders: Training the Builders of the Future" in 2013. At the state level, Allyson has testified or engaged in public meetings in the New York, Florida, Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Oregon, Ohio, and Alabama state capitols.

Panel 1

Nuha Saho, Moderator, Analyst at Schmidt Futures supporting both the Shared Prosperity portfolio and the Reimagine NY Commission, helping New York State to build back better from Covid-19. Nuha focuses his work on the intersection of social impact, product design, and technology. Prior to joining Schmidt Futures, he worked at ideas42, a behavioral design and consulting firm that uses insights from behavioral economics to address complex social problems. There, Nuha focused his efforts on working with government and private sector partners to design solutions for barriers to economic mobility, housing, healthcare, and civic engagement for our most vulnerable communities

Clayton Banks, CEO of Silicon Harlem, which works to transform urban markets into technology and innovation hubs as a way to ensure economic prosperity for all. Jose Ortiz, Jr., CEO of New York City Employment and Training Coalition, a coalition leveraging the power of its members and partners in business, philanthropy and government in an effort to create a stronger workforce development system.

Wesely Caines, Chief of Staff of Bronx Defenders, a public defender nonprofit that is radically transforming how low-income people in the Bronx are represented in the justice system. Jennifer Pringle, Project Director of the New York State Technical and Education Assistance Center for Homeless Children, which provides information, referrals, and trainings to schools, school districts, social service providers, parents, and others about the educational rights of children and youth experiencing homelessness.

Jose Ortiz, Jr., CEO of New York City Employment and Training Coalition, a coalition leveraging the power of its members and partners in business, philanthropy and government in an effort to create a stronger workforce development system.

Jennifer Pringle, Project Director of the New York State Technical and Education Assistance Center for Homeless Children, which provides information, referrals, and trainings to schools, school districts, social service providers, parents, an

Panel 2

John Windhausen, Moderator, School, Health, and Libraries Broadband Coalition. John Windhausen Jr. founded the SHLB Coalition in 2009 with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As executive director, he spearheads SHLB's membership growth and shapes its broadband policy recommendations. Previously, he served as president of the Association for Local Telecommunications Services, spent nine years on Capitol Hill, and started his career as a staff attorney at the FCC. In his role as senior counsel to the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, John was a principal staff person responsible for drafting the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and served as chief legal adviser on telecom issues to Senators Fritz Hollings and Daniel Inouye.

Myra Burden, Chief Technology Officer of the Buffalo Public Schools, where she provides strategic direction and leadership to implement the district’s information technology initiatives. Donna DeSiato, Superintendent of the East Syracuse Minoa Central School District, known for its interdisciplinary STEM learning and career development opportunities.

Jessica Dymond, Director of the Daniel Pierce Memorial Library in Grahmsville and a member of the Sullivan Broadband Local Development Corporation (LDC), which has been established by the Sullivan County Legislature to oversee the implementation of the County's Wireless Broadband Access Project.

David Giles, Director of Strategy at Brooklyn Public Library, joined the library in 2015 as chief strategy officer, overseeing Brooklyn Public Library’s strategic initiatives and partnerships, including the development of a new vision and action plan for the Library. Giles helped to design and launch the BKLYN Incubator, an innovation fund and support system for library-community partnerships. Named a 2016 “Mover and Shaker” by Library Journal, Giles has written and spoken widely on the changing role of libraries in the 21st century information economy. While at the Center for an Urban Future, a Manhattan-based public policy think tank, he was the lead author of Re-Envisioning New York's Branch Libraries, a detailed report on the capital needs of New York's over 200 branch libraries, and Branches of Opportunity, a report about the role public libraries are playing in education and community development.

Dale Breault, District Superintendent of Schools at Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES which serves 10 component districts across a service area of almost 2,500 square miles.

Donna DeSiato, Superintendent of the East Syracuse Minoa Central School District, known for its interdisciplinary STEM learning and career development opportunities.

Panel 3

Ursula Wright, Moderator, Division Director at WestEd and a member of the agency’s senior leadership team. In this role, she is responsible for leading and supporting a 200+ person team focused on fulfilling a range of K–12 education needs that bridge policy, research, and educator practice. Ursula’s immediate past position was with FSG, a global consulting firm that focuses on social impact, where she co-led the firm’s Education and Youth practice. Prior to working at FSG, Ursula was a senior member of the Obama Administration, serving as the appointed deputy in the Office of Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to her government service, Ursula was an executive at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS).

Derrick Lewis, Co-Founder of the Bronx Community Foundation, the backbone organization behind the Bronx Digital Equity Coalition.

Sharon De La Cruz, Director of Sustainability at the Point and a Bronx-based artist and activist.

Monique Tate, a community activist, leader, and consultant from Community Tech NY and the Detroit Digital Justice Coalition.

Kamran Zaman, Data Analyst at the United Way of Greater Rochester, works as a Data Analyst with RMAPI (Rochester-Monroe Antipoverty Initiative) backbone staff in Upstate New York. RMAPI is a collective, aiming to reduce poverty by improving self-sufficiency, led by three guiding principles, address structural racism, address trauma, and build community. Kamran was Instrumental in adoption of Digital Access as a basic-need for RMAPI collective and brings more than two decades of data analysis experience.

Adam Echelman, Executive Director of Libraries Without Borders and Co-Founder of Baltimore’s Digital Equity Coalition. Adam (he/his) advocates for dynamic programs that increase access to information by meeting people where they are—whether through digital literacy classes in laundromats or health workshops in churches. A graduate of Yale University, he has worked with asylum seekers at the Karnes Detention Center in Texas and has served as a Visiting Professor of Practice at John Jay College, where he co-taught a program on access to justice and legal information.