Dalila Wilson-Scott, an accomplished executive, leads Comcast Corporation’s diversity and inclusion efforts as the executive vice president and chief diversity officer.
Additionally, the New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business alumna serves as the president of the Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation, overseeing philanthropic strategies and initiatives. With a keen focus on promoting digital equity and economic mobility through Project UP, Dalila is heading up the charge to advance in these crucial areas.
Wilson-Scott exclusively spoke to Rolling Out, discussing Comcast’s initiative to close the digital divide.
When it comes to digital equity, what are the vital components and the mission of Comcast’s community impact work?
As a global media and technology company, we think about this issue all the time and how it touches all of us every day.
To be active in today’s digital economy, you need a digital skill set. According to a recent study by the National Skills Coalition, we know that 92 percent of every single job, regardless of industry – including the growth industries in Atlanta and across the communities we serve – require a digital skill set. If we want people to be economically successful, we need to help close that gap.
Digital equity gives people a path to economic mobility and is a game changer. For us, it all culminates in something we call Project UP. UP stands for Unlimited Possibilities. It’s a one-billion-dollar commitment we made and includes everything from connectivity and adoption to skills and entrepreneurship.
What are the key barriers to digital equality and how can we create opportunities to address them?
Let’s start with the basic one, which is being connected. People think about whether they live in an area with adequate access and if they can get access to reliable internet service in their homes that allows them to connect to quality education, healthcare and other resources they might need. However, the biggest barriers to Internet adoption are trust, understanding how technology works and adapting to having internet access.
That’s why we work with community-based organizations that hire and use talented individuals called digital navigators – trusted people who are trained to help others learn how to get online, use devices, and acquire digital skills. These are people who will sit down with you, think about all the things you would like to access and the goals you have in life, such as getting a better skill set for a different job or simply connecting with your family in another state.
Most of us are connected to the internet, not just for the internet itself, but because it allows us to access resources like education, job training, healthcare, and connections to family and friends.
Having someone sit with you to help you understand the value, relevance and how it can change your life, but most importantly, how to use it, makes all the difference.
It’s one thing to be connected and have an affordable and reliable device, but understanding how to access resources is what truly matters.
Ultimately, when people work with digital navigators, it makes a significant impact, with a survey finding that 85 percent of people used the internet more frequently after support from a digital navigator. We work with several digital navigator programs in Atlanta and across the country because we know that’s what truly makes a difference in being connected and achieving digital equity overall.
What are some success stories that you’ve witnessed?
Comcast is deeply committed to this work, and we recently announced a partnership that created a program called Connect 404, where we’re working with two local nonprofits, Raising Expectations and Inspiredu, to get Atlantans connected to the internet and increase digital skills.
We know these two organizations are trusted partners that have dedicated communities they work with to help people access the internet and improve digital literacy. For initiatives like this to be successful, you need to trust the partners you have on the ground.
If they can have a trusted person who knows their educational goals and how they want to leverage that skill set, we’re going to have much more success. We trust those partners to guide our work and we bring the technology and the talent to back it up.
We’re fortunate to have numerous partners across Atlanta and our entire footprint that share our dedication to closing the digital divide.
To learn more about the Connect 404 Digital Navigators Program, visit Inspiredu or Raising Expectations.
