April 2021: Innovate Smarter, Not Harder!
Have you been vaccinated? This past Saturday, April 24th, the Dallas Innovation Alliance and CARDboard Project assisted with online scheduling for free rides to vaccination sites in partnership with the City of Dallas, West Dallas Multipurpose Center, and other nonprofits. Guests and partners had access to our free wifi, fresh veggies, registration and much more! Thank you to all the organizations who came out to get our communities engaged in the fight against COVID! Watch for updates on upcoming (Em)powerment popup dates and locations.
What’s new in transportation? GoLINK is a DART pilot launching at the end of the month to provide on-demand, curb to curb rides for those in the South Dallas area. This pilot comes after months of research in two priority South Dallas zip codes. Researchers found that the 4 DART rail stations and the 10 bus routes are helpful for longer trips, but not for short essential trips like to the grocery store. Now residents can use theDART GoPass app or by phone to request rides. For more information on getting connected to this amazing resource, click here.
In Digital Inclusion News:
The DIA delivered a detailed presentation to civic and community leaders last Friday at the Mobile Learning Lab Community Webinar to spread awareness about the learnings and accomplishments of the Mobile Learning Lab program so far and discuss ways that new partners can get involved! For a link to the recorded session, click here.
(Em)powerment Pop-Ups: In partnership with CARDboard Project, we are bringing pop-up events that provide internet access, devices and services including vaccine registration support, transportation, and more. Check out some footage from last weekend's popup at the West Dallas Multipurpose Center! Visit our pop-up today at MLK Branch Library, details can be found below. For more information on the what and how of our (Em)powerment Pop-up program, please reach out!
Emergency Broadband Benefits: Internet connectivity is now that much more affordable thanks to the Emergency Broadband Benefit that will launch on May 13th. The Federal Communications Commission has rolled out this program to help low income families access broadband service. Families who lost a significant amount of income due to COVID-19, whose children receive free or reduced lunch, a pell grant qualifies for the Lifeline Program which entitles low income families to a similar discount on their wireless service. The FCC has emphasized that this benefit is temporary and will remain in place as long as funding lasts or 6 month after the pandemic is declared to be no longer a public health emergency. Participants are also eligible for a $100 discount on a device like a laptop or a tablet if they spend between $10 and $50 to purchase it. Registration and applications can be found here.
Smart Regions; Smart Communities
The North Texas Innovation Alliance and its members continue to drive research, collaboration and design of collaborative Smart Cities initiatives across the region. NTXIA is looking at partnerships that can help drive resiliency, digital infrastructure, transportation, data sharing and standardization. Creating 'readiness as a region' for federal investment, economic recovery and citizen engagement are on the list for this spring! Please email info@ntxia.org for more information on how to join the NTXIA on this journey!
Member Highlight: This month we are celebrating the City of Richardson on the success of its Distributed Agent-Based traffic lights. The city began the pilot almost three years ago and has been able to expand it! Preliminary results show that the installation of these “traffic smoothing” lights and sensors reduced traffic flow by 40%. This is just the beginning of the benefits that these devices can have in making travel safe for Richardson residents! Congratulations!