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Digital Download
Digital Access Monthly Newsletter
June 2025
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The Digital Download is your place for monthly updates from the Colorado Digital Access team.
The Digital Access Team is led by the Office of the Future of Work (OFW) in partnership with the Office of eHealth Innovation. The state’s digital access infrastructure work is supported by the Colorado Broadband Office, which oversees Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) and other broadband infrastructure funding.
Before jumping into our regular newsletter, we wanted to share an update about OFW’s leadership. OFW Director Katherine Keegan has accepted a new role as the Lead for Workforce Systems Coordination to implement Governor Polis' Executive Order on “Reimagining the Future of the Postsecondary Talent Development System in Colorado” to meet the needs of learners, employers and the economy. Katherine has been a passionate champion of digital access, and she will be missed. We know she will bring great vision to her next role and wish her all the best.
Following Katherine Keegan’s transition, CDLE’s Employment and Training Division Director Kelly Folks will serve as the Interim Director of OFW while the Department conducts a search for a new Director. During this transition, OFW will continue its work without interruption. The current team structure, initiatives, and partnerships will remain in place.
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Digital Access Plan Updates
What’s Next?
Although the State Digital Equity Act Capacity Grant funding has been terminated, the Digital Access Team’s work continues. Funding would have allowed the state to provide financial and staffing support to convene regional digital access coalitions, as well as to finance their unique digital access projects.
Over the last three years, the Digital Access Team has engaged with individuals, community based organizations, and local and municipal governments. A Digital Access Working Group supported the team in creating Colorado’s first Digital Access Plan. Team members traveled across the state, to Rural Philanthropy Days events, Colorado Broadband Office Roadshow stops, and national conferences. They also shared information and ideas with state digital equity leaders across the country, and presented at broadband, health, adult education, and older adult meetings.
The Digital Access Team will continue to build and strengthen relationships, and to move forward with implementing as much of the Digital Access Plan as possible. We want to keep building on the awareness and relationships that we have all worked hard to cultivate around digital access in Colorado. While making progress on digital access certainly looks different than it would have with funds from the Digital Equity Act, we believe that progress is still possible. You are what makes progress possible! We value your commitment to this work and look forward to continuing to work together.
How can you be involved?
Everyone is welcome to attend the bimonthly Digital Access Stakeholder Meetings. Anyone who works in a navigation role, including health navigators, promotoras, career navigators, and peer navigators of all kinds, can join in monthly Digital Navigator Community of Practice calls. Details for both of these virtual meetings can be found at the bottom of this newsletter.
Stay tuned as the Digital Access Team works to determine the best way for Colorado’s digital access work to move forward!
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Colorado’s Digital Access Working Group: 2025-2026
The Digital Access Team is celebrating the first convening of the new Digital Access Working Group! The working group will support the Digital Access Team as digital access projects and tools are implemented over the next year. Please welcome:
- Amanda Matl, Clearview Library District, Weld County
- Anya Dickson-Arguello, Denver Digital Equity Coalition, Denver County
- Brian Grewe, Atlantis Community, Denver County
- Erin Hallstrom, Colorado Rural Workforce Consortium, Multiple Counties
- Erin Maruzzella, Healthspan Business Partners, Multiple Counties
- Farduus Ahmed, iSAFE, Multiple Counties
- Jen Nimmo, Colorado Community Health Alliance, Multiple Counties
- John Marte, Grand County Library District, Grand County
- Kieran Hixon, Colorado State Library, Custer County
- Kirk Smith, CSU Pueblo, Adelante Connect, Pueblo County
- Linnie Pawlek, Teach by Tech, Multiple Counties
- Logan Montgomery, Veterans’ Digital Ally, El Paso County
- Maria Carreon Ayers, Carreon Consulting, Multiple Counties
- Mary Spillane, Comcast Colorado: Community Impact, Denver County
- Michael Gillett, Jewish Family Service of Colorado, Denver County
- Mike Getahun, KETO FM 93.9: Rocky Mountain Multicultural Community Radio, Arapahoe County
- Wanda Eiland, Front Range Area Health Education Center, Denver County
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 CDLE Digital Navigator, Liz Paine, providing assistance to a community member in rural Colorado during a 1:1 digital navigator appointment.
Digital Navigator Nook
Impact of the Digital Navigator Pilot Program
The Colorado Digital Navigator Pilot Program (DNPP) is concluding. The two-year pilot program brought digital access to hundreds of Coloradans who participated in close to 10,000 appointments with digital navigators. 100 laptops, donated by Comcast, were distributed to community members.
The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) Office of the Future of Work (OFW) partnered with Serve Colorado, the state’s AmeriCorps program administrator, in the first phase of the pilot. Two grantees, The Learning Source and Loveland Public Library, were selected to provide digital navigation services with AmeriCorps members.
In the second phase, CDLE hired eight digital navigators to serve at organizations that lacked capacity to implement an AmeriCorps program. From April to December 2024, CDLE hired five digital navigators to provide services at organizations on the Front Range that primarily served immigrants and refugees. From Summer 2024 to May 2025, CDLE also hired three digital navigators to provide services in the San Luis Valley and La Plata County. These digital navigators were based at rural workforce centers and visited other locations in those communities. In total, CDLE digital navigators were placed at 23 host sites across Colorado.
CLDE’s Digital Navigators
Between April 2024 and May 2025, the eight digital navigators (DNs) in the CDLE OFW program held 1,730 appointments. 58% of appointments were held in the Denver Metro Area; 42% were held in rural Colorado. Below is some of the key data from the 301 community members who were served.
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Language: Community members spoke 23 different languages. 40.6% spoke English and one or more additional languages. Pulaar was the most commonly spoken language other than English (34.9%).
- Project Worthmore, located in northwest Aurora, had the most appointments. The primary population served at this location were Pulaar speakers from Mauritania in West Africa. Many of these individuals were men aged 20-35 who were seeking asylum in the United States.
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Age Group: 52.5% of those served were aged 50+; 21.9% were aged 20-29; 12.9% were aged 40-49; 10.1% were aged 30-39.
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Device Ownership: 90.4% of those served own at least one device, with 79% owning a smartphone. Only 21 community members, or 8.6%, reported they own a laptop, while 37% expressed interest in obtaining a computer. For reference, 81% of US households and 96.8% of Colorado households report having at least one computer in their household.
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Digital Skills: When asked to rank their internet knowledge, 59% of those served stated they “don't understand the internet or know how to use it” or “understand the internet a little, and/or I have used it, but not very often.”
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Senior Planet Licensing Program
Applications are now being accepted for the FREE Senior Planet licensing program! During each weekly virtual course, July 28 to August 25, you will learn to deliver Senior Planet’s proprietary curriculum and bring world-class programs to older adults in their area. Sessions will be offered Tuesdays at 10 AM or Thursdays at 1 PM MDT.
To apply, you must attend an upcoming info session:
The Senior Planet licensing program is offered by Older Adults Technology Services (OATS). Questions? Email licensing@seniorplanet.org
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Digital Access Events
Digital Access Stakeholders Meeting
If you are a digital inclusion practitioner or someone who wants to know more about digital inclusion work in Colorado, please join us for our bi-monthly Digital Access Stakeholders meetings! Register on Zoom to attend the next Digital Access Stakeholder meeting, on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, from 12:00 - 1:30 PM.
Digital Navigator Community of Practice
Navigators, staff who support them, and other stakeholders are invited to attend the monthly Community of Practice (CoP), which is on the last Wednesday of each month. The next CoP will take place on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, at 8:30 AM. The topic is helping community members build confidence and overcome fear. Register on Zoom for the Community of Practice.
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Contact Us
Digital Access Team
Colorado Dept of Labor & Employment
633 17th Street, Suite, 201
Denver, CO 80202
digitalaccess@state.co.us
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