The results of digital skills training are of growing interest to policymakers and other stakeholders. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for Digital Equity Act (DEA) programs explicitly states that grantees must assess the outcomes of initiatives DEA may fund. That is not the only motivation for understanding the impacts of digital skills programs. States, counties, or local philanthropies that fund such initiatives will want to know their impacts. The goal of this article is to explore what we know about the return on investment of digital opportunity programs—programs that provide computing devices and digital skills training to those with limited experience in using digital tools and the internet. It does so by highlighting one effort to assess this work in New York—specifically the work of Connect Westchester. Using data from Connect Westchester’s assessment of its services, the article then uses secondary research that characterizes the monetary impacts on people of changes to their lives. The discussion shows that there is a positive return on digital opportunity investments that are evident in potential income boosts for clients of up to five percent of their income over time. This finding is necessarily tentative, but by walking through it, there are lessons for the design of digital skills assessment in the future.

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